What follows is a growing archive of arts-related online news, media, posts, and resources that have emerged in the context of uprising against the tyranny of white supremacy, racism and anti-black violence that has been activated since the late spring of 2020. Some earlier resources that have re-surfaced in current context are included as well. This page is intended as a space to archive some of the conversations being had about this moment as I encounter them so they can be engaged now, returned to later, and seen together in one place. It feels like a way to take the temperature of the moment, and builds on other (obsessive) archival processes, like this tracking of news related to the intersection of global pandemic and arts ecologies.
I will continue to update this page until I grow too exhausted to do so. If you come across resources you think should be added, do let me know.
~Deborah Goffe
UPDATED MAY 6, 2023
RECENT NEWS:
Nataki Garrett to Leave Oregon Shakes Amid Emergency Fund Drive (Rob Weinert-Kendt for American Theatre, May 5, 2023)
Helping People of Color Find Their Footing in the Arts (Zachary Small for The New York Times, April 11, 2023)
MoMA Apologizes for Kicking Out Black Artist From Installation (Taylor Michael for Hyperallergic, March 29, 2023)
The Black Artists Claiming More Space Than Ever Before (Emily Lordi for The New York Times, March 25, 2023)
I Was a Museum’s Black Lives Matter Hire (Lise Ragbir for Hyperallergic, March 2, 2023)
Devising Our Future Through a Commons-Based Approach (Jamie Gahlon with HowlRound, February 16, 2021)
Wet Ink Ensemble Statement Regarding Emily Johnson’s Letter to PEAK Performances at Montclair State University (February 16, 2021)
New York Live Arts Statement on Emily Johnson Letter (February 15, 2021)
ALL ARTS Responds to Emily Johnson’s January 22 Letter to Montclair State University (February 12, 2021)
Statement in Solidarity with Emily Johnson (a petition initiated by Creating New Futures, February 12, 2021)
On Forms and Lines of Flight (Kenneth Bailey, February 5, 2021)
Montclair State University Statement Regarding Emily Johnson (February 4, 2021)
Black Art Is in High Demand. But Telling Our Stories Comes at a Cost (Chad Sanders for Time, January 29, 2021)
A Letter I Hope in the Future, Doesn’t Need to be Written (Emily Johnson in Medium, January 22, 2021)
Decolonization Rider (Emily Johnson/Catalyst)
Tokenism vs. Representation: How Can We Tell Them Apart? (Theresa Ruth Howard for Dance Magazine, Jan 19, 2021
Dancing While Black: 8 Pros on How Ballet Can Work Toward Racial Equity (Gabrielle Salvatto for Dance Magazine, Jan 18, 2021)
For Diversity Leaders in the Arts, Getting Hired Is Just the First Step (Robin Pogrebin with The New York Times, Jan. 17, 2021)
Celebrating King the Activist (Not Just the Dreamer) in Art (Seph Rodney with The New York Times, January 15, 2021)
How a $970,000 award represents hope and change for a Black L.A. dance company (Makeda Easter with Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2021)
Why Black artists should spend 2021 forging our own paths — not trying to fix broken institutions (Rodney Diverlus for CBC Arts, January 15, 2021)
Major Arts Group Leader Steps Aside Amid Workplace Complaints. (Melena Ryzik with The New York Times, December 18, 2020)
What the Staatsballett Berlin Case Tells Us About the Power of Artistic Staff (Theresa Ruth Howard for Dance Magazine, December 16, 2020)
For Immigrant Dancers, the Stakes Are High to Find Work During the Pandemic (Cory Steig for Dance Magazine, December 14, 2020)
Chloé Lopes Gomes Speaks Out About Racial Harassment at Staatsballett Berlin (Chloé Lopes Gomes As Told To Laura Cappelle in Pointe Magazine, December 1, 2020)
We Need New Institutions, Not New Art: Coco Fusco writes on why “equity won’t be achieved by a new biennial, another emerging artist of color survey, or a record auction sale by a Black artist.” (Coco Fusco in Hyperallergic, October 26, 2020)
How Black Dancers Regularly Confronting Racism Can Protect Their Mental Health (Sydnie Mosley in Dance Magazine, October 7, 2020)
Lesley Lokko resigns as dean of Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York (Matt Hickman with Architects Newspaper, October 7, 2020)
Ford Foundation fund to award an unprecedented $160 million to minority arts groups (Geoff Edgers for Washington Post, September 24, 2020)
Imagining: Issue 1 (Essays by Ogemdi Ude, Maura Nguyen Donohue, and Aynsley Vandenbroucke in Imagining: A Gibney Journal; Edited by Eva Yaa Asantewaa, September 2020)
LLAB Ep 2: White Supremacy in Dance Education Pt. 2 (Michelle Gibson, Sydnie Mosley & Iyun Harrison, hosted by Antuan Byers for Pod de Deux, September 29, 2020)
LLAB Ep 1: White Supremacy in Dance Education Pt. 1 (Morgan Burns, Runako Campbell & Ricardo Hartley, hosted by Antuan Byers for Pod de Deux, September 15, 2020)
Why It’s Time To Challenge The Economic System Of The Art World (Lisa Dent on Blavity, August 24, 2020)
How philanthropy fails to support its greatest assets, BIPOC leaders, and what it should do about it (Vu with Nonprofit AF, August 9, 2020)
A Call for A Cultural New Deal for Cultural and Racial Justice (Michele Kumi Baer, Jeff Chang, María López De León, Tara Dorabji, Kassandra Khalil, Lori Pourier, Favianna Rodriguez, Nayantara Sen, Carlton Turner, Roberta Uno, and Elizabeth Webb)
A ‘Cultural New Deal’ Calls for Arts Organizations to Correct Racist Legacies (Nastia Voynovskaya with KQED, August 7, 2020)
She’s Been a Force for Change in Ballet. The World Is Catching Up. (Siobhan Burke with The New York Times, August 6, 2020)
In Richmond, Black Dance Claims a Space Near Robert E. Lee (Rebecca J. Ritzel with The New York Times, August 6, 2020)
Nora Chipaumire and Ari Marcopoulos on resisting empire through performance (Art Forum, August 6, 2020)
Bay Area theaters look to collective models to promote diverse crop of new leaders. San Francisco Mime Troupe, Cal Shakes and Hope Mohr Dance are moving away from top-down structures. (Lily Janiak with San Francisco Chronicle’s Datebook, August 5, 2020)
We Can’t Return to the Way Things Were Before. For Philanthropy the Way Forward Is Reparations (Edward Villanueva for Inside Philanthropy, August 3, 2020)
A Rush to Use Black Art Leaves the Artists Feeling Used (Tiffany Hsu and Sandra E. Garcia with The New York Times, July 20, 2020)
A message from the Earthdance board of directors with link to their 2017 Truth & Reconciliation Forum Report (July 15, 2020)
Theater Artists of Color Enumerate Demands for Change: A 29-page document released this week amounts to a call for wholesale restructuring of the system, onstage and backstage, on Broadway and beyond. (Michael Paulson with The New York Times, July 7, 2020)
How To Be A Black Choreographer And Not Die (Sydnie L. Mosley in Essence, July 1, 2020)
Dance in Community | #ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers Facebook Live Conversation Series (Naomi Goldberg-Haas, Brittany Williams, Brinda Guha, Alicia Bauman-Morale, and moderated by Candace Thompson-Zachery, with Dance/NYC, June 30, 2020)
In Response to Laban Movement Analysis Petition (American Dance Therapy Association, June 24, 2020)
Petition to Remove Laban Movement Analysis from Dance/Movement Therapy Education Requirements (Posted to Action Network by Rebecca Richardson, June 2020)
Nine Black Artists and Cultural Leaders on Seeing and Being Seen (Amy Sherald, Michael R. Jackson, Tschabalala Self, Wardell Milan, Renée Cox, Calida Rawles, Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels, Rashid Johnson, and Mary Lovelace O’Neal, The New York Times, June 23, 2020)
An Open Letter to New York City’s Cultural Institutions (representing current and former black and brown employees from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Opera, The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum, and other cultural institutions via #ForTheCulture, June 2020)
The Black Artists for Freedom Artists’ Statement (a collective
of black workers in the culture industries, June 2020)
An Open Letter to Atlanta Ballet (Celeste Pendarvis on Instagram, June 19, 2020)
Queer Art Workers Reflect: Lola Flash Questions Why Folks Are “Forgetting” Tony McDade and Nina Pop (Dessane Lopez Cassell with Hyperallergic, June 19, 2020)
I Said, Can You Hear Me Now? Dear White American Dance Community (International Association of Blacks in Dance, June 2020)
Juneteenth Black War Dance Action Toolkit (Brittany Williams, Nana Chinara, Jennifer Harge, Ricarrdo Valentine, Orlando Hunter, Alexis Reneé, and Heather Himes, June 2020)
Black Dance Scholarship by Black Dance Scholars (compiled by Angela Ahlgren, Melissa Blanco Borelli, Clare Croft, Anthea Kraut, Lizzie Leopold, Amanda Reid, with consultation from Jasmine Johnson with Dance Studies Association, June 18, 2020)
What Are We Rehearsing For? Politics and Praxis of Rehearsal in a State of Emergency (A roundtable facilitated by Anna Martine Whitehead via Arts + Public Life and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, June 16, 2020)
Join NYC Dance Leaders in the Juneteenth March for “Justice, Dignity and Equity” (Caroline Shadle with Dance Magazine, June 16, 2020)
Black Goldsmiths Staffer “Withdraws labor” Over Institutional Racism (Hyperallergic, June 15, 2020)
Queer Art Workers Reflect: Anaïs Duplan On “Becoming a Better Lover”—Not Just in a Romantic Sense (Dessane Lopez Cassell with Hyperallergic, June 15, 2020)
Dismantling White Supremacy within Dance Institutions – A Response – (The Dance Union, June 15, 2020)
PNB’s Amanda Morgan Is Raising Her Voice Against Injustice (Lydia Murray with Dance Magazine, June 15, 2020)
A Model for the Dance World We Want (Siobhan Burke with New York Times, June 12, 2020)
The Monumental Impact of Black Lives Matter Protests (Hyperallergic Podcast, June 12, 2020)
Open Letter to the Dance Community on Taking Action in Support of Black Lives (DanceNYC, Jun 10, 2020)
Four Black Artists on How Racism Corrodes the Theater World | playwright, Lydia R. Diamond; the actor Jelani Alladin; director, Kenny Leon; and Penumbra Theater artistic director, Sarah Bellamy (Interviews by Laura Collins-Hughes, Michael Paulson and Salamishah Tillet with The New York Times, June 10, 2020)
The spreadsheet that shook the theater world: Marie Cisco’s ‘Not Speaking Out’ list (Jessica Gelt with Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2020)
An Urgent Performance From Patrisse Cullors, a Founder of Black Lives Matter (Elisa Wouk Almino with Hyperallergic, June 9, 2020)
Dancing Bodies That Proclaim: Black Lives Matter (Siobhan Burke with The New York Times, June 9, 2020)
We See You, White American Theater (A statement of demand for “a more equitable and safe space for all BIPOC communities in our nation and inside of the American Theatre”)
Canadian cultural institutions have silenced Black voices for years. Can we write a new chapter? (Amanda Parris with CBC Arts, June 8, 2020)
Performing Whiteness (Sarah Bellamy on The Paris Review, June 8, 2020)
Dread Scott on Art and Rebellion (As told to Zack Hatfield with ArtForum, June 8, 2020)
The Majority of College Dance Programs Focus on Western Techniques—and It’s Shortchanging Students’ Artistry (Shannon Woods with Dance Magazine, June 8, 2020)
Floyd Case Forces Arts Groups to Enter the Fray (Robin Pogrebin and Julia Jacobs with The New York Times, June 7, 2020)
The New White House Fence Is Getting Covered In Protest Art (Kelsey Proud, Julie Strupp, Jenny Gathright, Nathan Diller, and Tyrone Turner with DCist, June 7, 2020)
Preserving the Integrity of Black Dance: Panel Discussion (Moving Spirits of Color, June 7, 2020)
In pain and rage, a protester approached police. And then he danced. (Sarah L. Kaufman with Washington Post, June 6, 2020)
Enough Already with the Statements of “Solidarity,” Arts World (Kaisha Johnson with Medium, June 5, 2020)
“Looting”: The Revolt of the Oppressed (Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar with Hyperallergic, June 5, 2020)
Cultural Institutions Heed Calls to #OpenYourLobby to Black Lives Matter Protesters (Valentina Di Liscia with Hyperallergic, June 5, 2020)
Hundreds of Cultural Workers Urge NYC to Defund Police and Invest in BIPOC Communities (Valentina Di Liscia with Hyperallergic, June 5, 2020)
To Our Communities (Paul Dennis, Barbie Diewald, Deborah Goffe, Shakia Johnson, Bronwen MacArthur, Jenna Riegel, and Lailye Weidman, June 5, 2020)
How Do We Get Each Other Through This Intact? (Kai Hazelwood with Outer Voice, June 5, 2020)
RISE UP RALLY (Resistance Revival Chorus, June 4, 2020)
These Ballet Dancers Are Calling Out Inequity at Their Companies (Jennifer Stahl with Dance Magazine, June 4, 2020)
Walker Art Center Cuts Ties With Minneapolis Police Department (Valentina Di Liscia with Hyperallergic, June 3, 2020)
Open Letter from Arts and Cultural Workers of NYC, Demanding the Defunding of the Police and Investment in BIPOC Communities (Arts Workers for Black Lives, June 3, 2020)
With a country “on the brink” does it matter if your arts venue is shuttered? (Diane Ragsdale with Arts Journal, June 2, 2020)
The Dance Union Town Hall for Collective Action (Melanie Greene and J. Bouey of The Dance Union, June 1, 2020)
THIS! Literally just brought me to tears. This is so beautiful. Our Polynesian Brothers and Sisters doing their traditional Haka for Black Lives Matter in New Zealand. The world is coming together and it is so beautiful. #blacklivesmatter #georgefloyd #breonnataylor #ahmadarbery pic.twitter.com/8zLNeQJCmr— Melany Centeno (@_NotISaidTheCat) June 1, 2020
Op-Ed: Where is Your Outrage? Where is Your Support? (Theresa Ruth Howard in Dance Magazine, June 1, 2020)
Dance Protest List (compiled by MiRi Park, June 2020)
A Reply to Nana Chinara from Gina Gibney (May 29, 2020)
An Open Letter to Arts Organizations Rampant with White Supremacy (Nana Chinara in Medium, May 27, 2020)
EARLIER NEWS AND RESOURCES NOW RESURFACING OR DEEPENING IN RESONANCE
Creating New Futures: Working Guidelines for Ethics & Equity in Presenting Dance & Performance (Yanira Castro, Laura Colby, Sarah Greenbaum, Emily Johnson, jumatatu m poe, Brian Rogers, Michael Sakamoto, Karen Sherman, Amy Smith, and Tara Aisha Willis, May 7, 2020)
How White People Conquered the Non-Profit Industry (Anastasia Reesa Tomkin on Medium, April 28, 2020)
Are College Dance Curriculums Too White? (J. Bouey in Dance Magazine, April 20, 2020)
Instigating Institutional Change Towards Decolonization (An Essay co-authored by Emily Johnson, and Roya Amirsoleymani and Erin Boberg Doughton of Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), published on Howlround, April 13, 2020)
In Our Own Words: Institutional Betrayals (Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt in Inside Higher Ed, March 24, 2020)
Statement on the Inviolability of Movement as a Right (Dance Studies Association, January 24, 2020)
Articles addressing decolonization, anti-racism, and racial equity in tertiary dance ed (unknown compiler)
Decolonizing and Diversifying Performing Arts – Resources and Databases (Momentum Stage)
Operas by Black Composers Have Long Been Ignored. Explore 8. (Seth Colter Walls with New York Times, September 19, 2019)
Moving Blind Spots: Cultural Bias in the Movement Repertoire of Dance/Movement Therapists (Ebony Nichols, Lesley University Graduate Thesis, May 2019)
Black Bodies | White Boxes (Dancing While Black Journal, Edited by Paloma MacGregor, March 2019)
Dance in the Age of Black Lives Matter (Brian Schaefer in Dance Magazine, November 30, 2016)
