equity

chapter 3

45. PRINCIPLE 

Equity involves fair representation of all types of diversity and concerns the representativeness of these diversities in cultural organizations and institutions, as well as how they are reflected in artworks and professional recognition.

EQUITY AND REPRESENTATIVENESS 

46. PRINCIPLE

Equity involves the proportional representation of artists. In this regard: 

47. APPROACH                 

Cultural organizations must educate themselves on the codes particular to various social, cultural and artistic realities, and adapt their practices in an informed manner. They also need to fostering a diversity of stakeholders, including artists, in decision-making processes.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Decompartmentalize the artistic networks and the world of aesthetics of cultural organizations.

This can mean:

  • Actively providing creative opportunities led by black, indigenous, racialized, disabled, deaf, LGBTQ2S+, or other minority artists.

  • Raise awareness among artistic teams and artistic directors of the aesthetics of non-dominant traditions and minority cultural groups.

  • Connect informal artistic networks to institutional networks by holding public activities dedicated to meeting and networking among artists    (link).

  • Develop collaborations on an equal footing with inclusive and representative arts organizations of Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, deaf, LGBTQ2S+, or other minority artists.

  • Facilitate gatherings in various forms (workshops, games, residencies, etc.) between artists from different backgrounds, promoting creation and meetings and allowing new collaborations to emerge.

48. APPROACH                 

Social, cultural and artistic diversities must be identified and recognized through educational and awareness-raising initiatives. This will mean active and ongoing approaches that produce systemic and organizational change by familiarizing society (media, organizations, institutions and the general public) about prejudices and labeling.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Ensure that cultural spaces are safe spaces, free of cultural discrimination.

This can mean:

  • Adopt anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-racism policies, in order to make the commitments and recourses in the face of situations of discrimination within the organization explicit. (link)

  • Train teams in anti-oppressive practices, in order to foster a work environment and a space for sharing free of prejudice and discrimination and where constructive criticism is encouraged.  (link)

  • Encourage the hiring of Deaf or Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) speaking personnel, in order to facilitate communications in LSQ and the link with Deaf communities.

  • Take an influential role in determining the direction of funding programs, in order to make available the resources required for the necessary structural and organizational changes.

  • Integrate learning organization strategies, such as developmental assessment, continuing education or targeted coaching, in order to respond to the challenges encountered. (link 1) (link 2)

49. APPROACH

Cultural sectors must give artists equitable access to a range of services and programs, especially funding, as well as to open selection processes, and support or mentoring adapted to the context of the artists concerned.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Develop open and accessible selection and programming processes that promote a diversity of artists.

This can mean:

  • Implement open, public and fair audition or selection processes, ensuring equal opportunities between artists, rather than only relying on established networks.

  • Set target goals for the representation of black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, deaf, LGBTQ2S+, and other minority artists, so that actions can be monitored and evaluated.

  • Propose creative residencies for artists who are under-represented in the programming, in order to develop longer-term relationships. Example of residencies:  Place des Arts

  • Propose coaching processes to support responses to calls for projects and other competitions, in order to address the barriers encountered by artists from minority groups.

  • Propose different ways of entering contests, such as video submissions rather than lengthy bureaucratic forms.

50. APPROACH                 

Stakeholders of cultural organizations and institutions must be representative of diversity, use open selection criteria for becoming a stakeholder, and develop and maintain inclusive work practices.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Strengthen the presence of minority groups in the management and governance of organizations.

This can mean:

  • Encourage the presence of Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, Deaf and other minority groups at all levels of cultural organizations (board of directors, management, artistic programming, etc.), for example by adopting a policy on equity or affirmative hiring. (link)

  • Establish equitable juries, representing a diversity of artistic and aesthetic backgrounds, in order to promote a selection process that is open to non-dominant cultural universes.

  • Create paid advisory committees on artistic programming, whose members are representative of different social, cultural and artistic groups, that can support the organization in the development of its artistic networks, while advising on creative practices to avoid missteps.

  • Encourage the programming of emerging artists, as a complement to or in collaboration with established artists.
     Exemple of Conseil des Arts de Montréal

  • Continuously evaluate the fairness and openness of the selection processes based on their results.

EQUITY AND FORMS OF REPRESENTATION

51. PRINCIPLE

Equity pertains to the ways in which social and cultural diversity is artistically represented and concerns the justice of the collective representations of marginalized groups. In this regard:

52. APPROACH

Cultural programming must be broadened in terms of vision, curiosities and interests in order to discover and portray the plural and hybrid character of artistic forms as well as the representation of a diversity of artists.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Diversify artistic repertoires within the programming.

This can mean:

  • Promote the diversity of sources and cultural references in the programming, by introducing different artists, genres or art forms.

  • Present classics that are drawn from Indigenous, African, Latin American, Asian, Middle Eastern, Polynesian, or world cultural traditions, ensuring that the people who are the holder of these traditions play a significant role in the artistic direction.

  • Hybridize artistic genres and promote interdisciplinarity in creation, in order to provide new opportunities for collaboration and creation that advance artistic practices.

  • Integrate works by Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, Deaf, LGBTQ2S+, and other minority artists into regular programming, rather than only on the side of regular programming at special events.

  • Leave the traditional stages to experiment with other types of performance formats, which may be more suitable for certain cultural proposals (more intimate venues, relaxed performances, performances in public spaces, etc.).

  • Propose introductory activities to certain lesser-known artistic repertoires, in order to spark the curiosity of the public and the teams, while serving as a means of sustainably integrating these repertoires into the programming.

  • Encourage contemporary creations, artistic freedom and diversity of artistic expression, in order to allow new proposals to emerge.

53. APPROACH                 

The talents and works from marginalized minority groups must be recognized and represented intelligently, fairly and empathetically in order to avoid prejudices, caricatures and stereotypes.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Familiarize and educate audiences about social, cultural, and artistic diversity through the institution's artistic programming.

This can mean:

  • Present works dealing with diversity and the realities experienced by groups that are in the minority, for example a play on autism by autistic artists.

  • Highlight the nuances and diversity in the pieces, in order to avoid becoming stuck in a presumed normality and with the objective of valuing social and cultural diversity.

  • Denounce prejudices and stereotypes with humour within the pieces, avoiding the caricature portrayals.

  • Transforming through art shared perceptions about groups that are in the minority, reaching out to the public with the intelligence and talents of the resulting artists.

  • Avoid both caricatured and stigmatizing representations and idealized representations, in favour of accuracy and nuance.

54. APPROACH                 

Works stemming from marginalized minority groups must benefit from equitable resources as well as visibility equivalent to other works in the programming.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Adequately support creations by Black, Indigenous, racialized, handicapped, deaf, LGBTQ2S+, or from other groups that are in the minority.

This can mean:

  • Establish creative budgets equivalent to other pieces in the programming for creations by Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, Deaf, LGBTQ2S+, or from other groups that are in the minority.

  • Ensure that additional support measures are put in place to support the work of Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, Deaf, LGBTQ2S+ and other artists who are from minority groups, in order to respond flexibly to specific barriers within the cultural milieu.

  • Provide tools for creation and for research to support creative processes and address the barriers faced by artists from minority groups.

  • Offer support (networking, administrative and artistic) through access points provided by cultural institutions and the Arts Council, for example, to ensure adequate support for artists from minority groups.

  • Put forward inspiring examples of how talent from diverse social, cultural and artistic backgrounds can be recognized for their true value.

  • Develop promotional strategies to reach both traditional and new audiences who can identify with the cultural references present in the program.

  • Integrate Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, Deaf, LGBTQ2S+, and other artists from minority groups into promotional campaigns to support the development in a sense of identification and belonging to cultural organizations.

  • Take an influential role in the media to develop systems for covering pieces created by Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, Deaf, LGBTQ2S+, or other groups who are in the minority, for example, by setting targets or quotas for coverage.

EQUITY AND PUBLIC AND PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION

55. PRINCIPLE

Equity pertains to public and professional recognition of artists, art forms and artworks. In this regard:

56. APPROACH                 

The mechanisms of professional recognition and artistic legitimacy must be open to all types of diversity.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Ensure that there are fair artistic criteria and open and inclusive mechanisms for artistic recognition.

This can mean:

  • Ensure a diversity of cultural references within competitions, nominations, and juries, namely by reviewing the criteria considered and the composition of evaluation committees.

  • Formally recognize artistic training completed outside Quebec, Canada, and both North American and European countries.

  • Formally recognize atypical artistic paths taken outside of institutions.

  • Develop awards of excellence dedicated to emerging artists, with an emphasis on the promotion of a diversity of artists.

  • Develop appropriate communication strategies to highlight the value of artists' works and artists from minority groups.

57. APPROACH                 

Management practices must acknowledge issues of equity by being more flexible and by recognizing the expertise of artists and cultural workers, as well as the legitimacy of their practices, regardless of the practitioners’ training backgrounds.

To implement this article, it is necessary to:  Create the organizational conditions for a sustainable transformation of the cultural environment.

This can mean:

  • Develop collaborations and partnerships with organizations specializing in equity in order to tap into their expertise to bring about in-depth transformations in the management of the organization.

  • Develop financial and regulatory incentives with professional organizations to increase the professional recognition of Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, Deaf, LGBTQ2S+, or from other groups that are in the minority.

  • Establish quota systems for the percentage of total scholarships and grants awarded to creations that take into account equity criteria.

  • Offer support (networking, administrative and artistic) through access points provided by cultural institutions and the Arts Council, for example, to ensure adequate support for artists from minority groups.

58. APPROACH

Organizations, institutions and artists from marginalized groups must actively cultivate reciprocal relations in a way that recognizes power imbalances among them, in order to offset the impacts of social tensions on how artistic propositions are received.

To implement this article, it is necessary to: Work towards the development of positive long-term relationships, based on mutual recognition and trust, between cultural institutions and artists from minority groups.

This can mean:

  • Promote the exchange and transfer of skills between established institutions and under-represented artistic groups in cultural environments, with a perspective of mutual support, the development of opportunities for joint creation, and the building of trust.

  • Ensure recurring opportunities for artistic leadership in the cultural environments for Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, deaf and other minority groups.

  • Encourage dialogue, meetings and exchanges in the face of conflict or criticism of the organization.

  • Influence approaches on cultural journalism, emphasizing the importance of equity issues in current coverage and in the training of future journalists.

  • Support the integration of pieces from outside the dominant culture into the school curriculum through collaborations with teachers.

    DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES