The recent wave of state-sanctioned violence against Black and Indigenous people, and the incredible social movements that have arisen in response, have prompted the Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre team to sit in grief, anger and discomfort; to examine the ways that we have benefitted from and furthered white supremacy and racism; and to explore the role we can play in lasting change.
This post has been a long time coming, maybe too long, and we apologize to anyone who has been disheartened by the silence on our channels for the past few months. In that time, we’ve had many challenging and heartening conversations, and have started to define a new path forward. We realize this is a movement, not a moment. We acknowledge the many generations of artists, activists and advocates who have been doing this work for decades, and those that will continue it for generations to come.
The following is an list of the initial actions we’re taking:
- Re-structuring. We have an incredible and diverse team, but we’re still holding on to an outdated hierarchy that sees our racialized staff all reporting to the only white man in the organization. Over the next several months, the staff and board will work together to find new configurations to more equitably distribute decision-making and agency within Swallow-a-Bicycle.
- Learning. The non-Black members of our team are engaged in “Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad, a 28-day challenge to “Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor”, and we are actively seeking out ongoing training in anti-racism and equity/diversity/inclusion/access.
- Developing policies and procedures (around hiring and working practices, disclosure and reporting, etc.) to help ensure that Swallow-a-Bicycle is a safe, welcoming and supportive place for IBPOC artists to work.
- An organizational audit; see below.
… and more, because none of that is nearly enough. This is the work of lifetimes, and we share all of this to help us hold ourselves accountable, now and in the future.
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One of the actions we’ve set in motion an organizational audit, going back to our founding in 2006, to document the demographics of staff, artists and board members that we’ve engaged over the years. The audit is ongoing – digging through the archives to find all the artists we’ve worked with is taking some time – but see below for a year-by-year breakdown of IBPOC representation (or lack thereof) in our staff and board.
These numbers expose ugly stories: an organization with overwhelmingly white leadership, times when white team members were paid and POC weren’t. These numbers don’t, however, capture experiences. What it feels like to be the only IBPOC team member, or the only IBPOC board member. The unconscious violence enacted on IBPOC folx by their white colleagues. The deep hurt inflicted by our unacknowledged participation in white supremacy and anti-Black racism. The labour undertaken by racialized and otherwise marginalized team members, entering into a work environment that lacked policies and procedures to support them.
The numbers, and the people behind the numbers, have started to shift in the past couple of years, and that’s the result of conscious and deliberate work, including the adoption and ongoing implementation of our Art Manifesto (https://swallowabicycle.com/who-we-are). The Manifesto is aspirational, and – to this day – we fall short of its promise. Just giving space to equity-seeking workers isn’t enough; we still need much more training, resources, supports and structures to accommodate different needs, prevent burnout and build trust. But we’re going to keep trying. This audit, this accounting of our organizational foundations, is one baby step on a long and unending path.
This excavation process is painful. It unearths feelings of shame and complicity, of hurt and trauma from past wrongs, of inadequacy and hopelessness around recent change efforts. But it’s important. In this moment, there’s a sense of urgency, a rush to action and future planning, but it’s hard to responsibly and carefully move into the future if we don’t understand where we’ve come from.
Coincidentally, and serendipitously, we engaged in this work in parallel with the development of The 35//50 Initiative, organized by an incredible group of artists – Thomas Geddes, Steve Gin, Kunji Mark Ikeda, Gina Puntil, Jenna Rodgers, Makambe K. Simamba, Michelle Thrush, Pamela Tzeng and Kiana Wu. In an open letter, they call on arts organizations to ensure that, by 2024-25, their paid, professional positions will be occupied by a minimum of 35% BIPOC and 50% female or non-binary people, to address the gap between Calgary’s demographics and current representation in the arts sector. We are fully supportive of this initiative, and it will help inform the policies and procedures that we develop in the coming months.
We echo 35//50’s call on other arts organizations – and other organizations, period – to engage in this difficult self-reflection. Transparency is uncomfortable, but it’s hard to build trust and foster change without it.
For us, there’s a lot more work to do. We need more training, more robust policies and procedures, more healing, trust-building and unlearning. We’re committed to change and, in the months to come, we’ll share more of our journey.
Thanks.
The Swallow-a-Bicycle team
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IBPOC representation in Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre’s organizational history
Contextual notes:
When we say “Core Volunteers”, it means people who played significant roles in helping to operate Swallow-a-Bicycle either for free, or for meagre honoraria. For the first nine years, that described everyone on our team; after we started paying salaries to the Co-Artistic Directors in 2015-16, we still maintained the practice of un- or underpaid volunteer labour for some team members for another three years.
“Staff” refers to team members paid at or close to a living wage standard.
The time periods are approximate; Swallow-a-Bicycle’s operating year runs August to July, but people didn’t join or leave the organization neatly at year-end.
We didn’t break down this information beyond generalized IBPOC representation – but in Swallow-a-Bicycle’s history, our staff and board have never included any Indigenous people, and only one Black person.
This data is based on perceived and indicated race. If you have any corrections, please contact us at info@swallowabicycle.com.
Finally, these cold numbers represent dozens of people whose hard work has sustained our organization for more than a decade. We appreciate all of you, but also realize that we’re complicit as an organization in benefitting from and furthering harmful systems. This reflection on our history is one step toward a more equitable, decolonized and anti-racist future.
2006-07:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 0/2 = 0%
2007-08:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 0/2 = 0%
2008-09:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 0/3 = 0%
IBPOC Board Members – 0/6 = 0%
2009-10:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 0/3 = 0%
IBPOC Board Members – 0/6 = 0%
2010-11:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 0/3 = 0%
IBPOC Board Members – 0/7 = 0%
2011-12:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 1/4 = 25%
IBPOC Board Members – 0/7 = 0%
2012-13:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 1/4 = 25%
IBPOC Board Members – 0/7 = 0%
2013-14:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 0/2 = 0%
IBPOC Board Members – 1/6 = 17%
2014-15:
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 1/6 = 17%
IBPOC Board Members – 3/10 = 30%
2015-16:
IBPOC Staff – 0/2 = 0%
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 1/3 = 33%
IBPOC Board Members – 1/9 = 11%
2016-17:
IBPOC Staff – 0/2 – 0%
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 1/5 = 20%
IBPOC Board Members – 1/7 = 14%
2017-18:
IBPOC Staff – 0/2 = 0%
IBPOC Core Volunteers – 1/2 = 50%
IBPOC Board Members – 0/5 = 0%
2018-19:
IBPOC Staff – 2/4 = 50%
IBPOC Board Members – 1/7 = 14%
2019-20:
IBPOC Staff – 3/4 = 75%
IBPOC Board Members – 4/6 = 67%
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