TOOLS

Aesthetic Perspectives Framework – This research and toolkit, generated by the Animating Democracy program at Americans for the Arts, provides a framework for considering excellence, aesthetics, and quality more broadly and for recognizing the inequitable definitions and systems that have driven a lot of the field’s evaluation (and awarding of) quality.

Art and Equity Toolkit - The Arts & Equity Project is a research and educational initiative of Toronto Arts Foundation and the Neighbourhood Arts Network that sets out to learn from, document, and share the experiences of arts and community groups who are working to reduce barriers to community participation and collaboration.

Building Your Plan: A Cultural Equity and Inclusion Toolkit – This resource from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission provides step-by-step resources for building a cultural equity plan.

Confronting Prejudice: How to Protect Yourself and Help Others – The purpose of this resource is to educate readers on the prevalence of prejudice and implicit bias in society, including information about what marginalized groups are most likely to be harmed by prejudice. 

Equity Training Consultants – This ongoing list of equity consultants in the field was compiled through self-submissions, but provides a wide variety of individuals and organizations working in the equity and diversity spaces.

Harvard Implicit Association Test – This set of tests helps individuals see where they carry implicit biases.

Identity and Social Location Wheel – Also called the Privilege Wheel, this is an exercise, adapted from the work of ArtEquity, that allows individuals to locate themselves in various existing systems of power and privilege.

Re-tool: Racial Equity in the Panel Process – This resource, created by a consortium of funders and national arts service organizations, lays out mechanisms to center equity in grantmaking panel processes.

Guidelines for Accessible Powerpoints – A resource used for our national events adapted from resources provided by Microsoft on how to use their PowerPoint tool to make presentations that are more accessible to all.

Guidelines for Attendees and Participants – Americans for the Arts’ guidelines for session attendees to ensure as accessible and engaged a space as possible.

Group Agreements and Proposed Guidelines for Conversations About Equity – A compilation of various group agreements and guidelines for meetings and conversations, such as those related to equity, that can require a level of openness and honesty that can be challenging to achieve.

Resources and Suggested Practices for Addressing Microaggressions - A compilation of resources for people who initiate, receive, or observe a microaggression.

TEMPLATES

Statement on Cultural Equity - An editable version of the Americans for the Arts Statement on Cultural Equity, which you may adopt or adapt.

Baselined Demographic Questionnaire - An editable version of the Baseline Demographic Questionnaire fielded every 2 years by Americans for the Arts, which you may adopt or adapt.

Americans for the Arts Cultural Assessment - An editable version of the Americans for the Arts Cultural Assessment, a survey conducted internally by Americans for the Arts to assess workplace culture, which you may adopt or adapt.

Expanded Capacity Development – Across the organization, departments have created and supported a wide variety of programs and services to better highlight the pathways to cultural leadership, including the Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) Internship program—a 28-year-old program focused on placing interns historically underrepresented in arts leadership in high-quality internship and mentorship situations in New York City, New Jersey, and Nashville, TN—and the DIAL Labs and Arts + Culture Leaders of Color Fellowship, which focuses on emerging and mid-career leaders of color across the country and in the Great Lakes regions, respectively.

• Learn more about DIAL and the Arts + Culture Leaders of Color Fellowship.
• As part of its 25th anniversary year, DIAL researched past participants and found that 98 percent of DIAL alumni said the program was influential in their careers, 48 percent have careers in the arts, and 39 percent are managers or above.

Focus On The Military – The 3 million active or veteran military personnel in the United States are often neglected within our communities. The ongoing expansion of the National Initiative for Arts and Healing in the Military impacts veterans and active service members in a wide age range and geographic spread, with particular focuses on women veterans, veterans in rural areas, and minority veterans.

• A new project with the Veterans Administration created 55 new community partnerships that engaged over 1,700 veterans in arts and humanities programs.
• Learn more about the National Initiative for Arts and Health in the Military.
• Learn about Creative Forces, its sister initiative.

Cohort Creation – We have invested in new networks for different demographic constituencies including the Arts & Culture Leaders of Color Network, the Mid-Career Leaders Network, the Rural Arts Network, the County Arts Network, the Local Arts Education Network, and the State Education Policy Network. In addition, the Annual Convention, our largest annual event has seen a 15 percent increase in people of color attending since 2013, as well as more people without advanced degrees, a broader set of political opinions, and a wider set of ages.

• Find out more about the Annual Convention.

Making Equity Explicit in Policy – Both on the public and private sector side, we have been working hard to link pro-arts policy with a pro-equity stance. This has included the creation of a set of Policy Statements about issues like healthcare, immigration, discrimination, free speech, and education that intertwine the two.

• The five equity-associated Policy Statements have collectively been viewed nearly 9,000 times.
• See the various Policy Statements in our Arts Mobilization Center.

Public Sector Policy – We have pursued public sector pro-arts, pro-equity policy development through both direct action across the political spectrum (including engagement at both major political conventions) and training the field. This covers a variety of arts-related areas including tax policy, education policy, and immigration policy. Through our longest-standing partnership, with the US Conference of Mayors, in 2018 we encouraged the adoption of two equity-related resolutions—one affirming our Statement on Cultural Equity and one particularly around arts and business partnerships promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Arts Education Policy – Within arts education advocacy, we’ve been pursuing a vision of equity in access to arts education for America’s learners. This has included work on the equitable distribution of monies and policy guidance to states and local education agencies to enhance the arts as a meaningful pathway to achieving broader educational goals.

• Since 2017, the Arts Education Speakers Bureau has trained over 12,000 grassroots advocates in all 50 states. The majority of participants in programs were female (72%), were educated above a bachelor’s degree (57%), were almost a quarter non-white (23%), and many (8%) have a disability.
• A concerted effort to hold trainings in more rural areas of the country is underway in 2018-19.
• Learn more about Americans for the Arts’ work on arts education and equity.

Private Sector Policy – On the private sector side, we have worked to educate business leaders, private philanthropy, and those who work with them about cultural equity through Business Roundtables, monthly virtual conversations, and ongoing support of equity dialogues taking place among the various United Arts Funds across the country. In addition, we are developing a substantial body of work to enhance our impact and reach into the broader creative economy, beyond the non-profit space.

• Research shows that 29 percent of for-profit businesses are led by people of color, compared to just 18 percent of non-profits.

Demographic Measurement - In 2017, we created and launched a baseline demographic survey of the local arts field. The questions in this survey were developed by studying surveys used by a range of progressive associations and researchers and built a set of demographic questions that are highly inclusive and forward-thinking.

• Read the Demographics report.
• Download the survey protocol for adaption or adoption.

Assessing Field Practice – In 2018, we fielded a survey to more deeply understand how the local arts field was pursuing equity in investment practice. The resulting report sheds light on ongoing progress in the field, as well as areas where more work needs to be done.

• Read the report assessing field practice.
• View an associated document with goals and recommendations for action.

Assessing Salary, Compensation, and Satisfaction – In 2013 and again in 2018, Americans for the Arts researched the salaries and compensation of various positions in the local arts field. In the 2018 edition, we incorporated questions related to demographics and job satisfaction. This report will be published in February 2018.

Compiling Practice, Encouraging Change – In 2018, we launched the Arts + Social Impact Explorer and associated Fact Sheets, which intersect the arts with 25 other sectors, and highlight the ways that the impact of the arts is intertwined with equity. Also in 2018, our Animating Democracy program released the Aesthetics Perspectives framework, a research-backed way of re-envisioning how art is assessed in grants panels and elsewhere that centers equity and non-dominant frameworks of excellence and aesthetic quality.

• Visit the Arts + Social Impact Explorer.
• Learn more about the Aesthetic Perspectives Framework.

Adoption/Adaptation Of The Statement On Cultural Equity – We have implemented a variety of strategies to encourage the adaptation/adoption of the Statement on Cultural Equity. In the three years between the 2015 LAA Census and the 2018 LAA Profile, the percentage of local arts agencies with written statements related to diversity, equity, and inclusion jumped by 20 percent, with another 20 percent in-process on such documents. Sixteen percent of local arts agencies who have made progress directly credit the Statement on Cultural Equity.

• To download an editable template for the Statement on Cultural Equity to adopt or adapt yourself, click hereto view the editable template for the Statement on Cultural Equity.
• To see the full report on the adoption of equitable practice in local arts agencies and other research, click hereto view the full report on equitable practice in local arts agencies.

Showcasing New Voices and Ideas – Between 2016 and 2018, over 60 individuals of varied demographics whose expertise is in concepts related to cultural equity, inclusion, and social justice have joined us as keynotes and presenters at our events. We also launched the Johnson Fellowship, which is designed with a strong focus on equity, and in its inaugural year, 50 percent of the nominators and 66 percent of the artists nominated were people of color.

• Watch Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race, in her keynote at the 2018 National Arts Marketing Project Conference.
• Watch Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, in his keynote at the 2018 Annual Convention.
• Watch A Monument to Maggie, a mini-documentary made by Americans for the Arts about the creation of the Maggie L. Walker memorial in Richmond.

Storytelling and Training – Since 2016, 27 articles in ArtsLink, our quarterly magazine have focused on or celebrate projects related to cultural equity, including a 2016 issue fully devoted to cultural equity, through which we debuted the Statement on Cultural Equity. Our in-person national and regional trainings, which reach 3,000 people annually, are now all undergirded by cultural equity, and our digital ArtsU trainings, which have seen a 750 percent increase in users since 2016, reaches over 2,000 people per year in all 50 states.

• To view and download past issues of ArtsLink magazine, click hereto view and download past issues of ArtsLink. (members-only link)
• To access ArtsU and its hundreds of hours of learning content, click hereto access ArtsU and its content.

Supporting Staff Commitment – Each year, each Americans for the Arts staff member is required to do at least 7 hours of cultural equity-related staff training. The members of the Learning Lab committee, which coordinates most of these trainings, contribute an aggregate of about two work weeks each year, per person, to the development, implementation, and evaluation of those programs. This totals to a minimum commitment of 1,224 hours per year.

Demographic Baselining – In early 2017, we conducted the first wave of a recurring set of research to set benchmarks related to staff, board, and membership demographics. We now attach the demographic questions to other research to see trends and address systems change over time.

• To see the 2017 demographic report, as well as other research we’ve conducted, please visit the Cultural Equity Research page.

Funding – The work of cultural equity requires significant funding. As of August 2018, we have resourced core cultural equity work to support field transformation by securing over $1.5 million in associated grant dollars, with another $3.5 million pending in funding proposals to secure funder investments in shifting the field. This is in addition to between $250,000 and $500,000 that the organization contributed through general operating funds to underwrite staff time, training, consultants, and expert speakers for our ongoing internal work.

Acknowledging and Dismantling Inequities Inside Americans For The Arts
Americans for the Arts staff and board collaborate to address inequities in our policies, systems, programs, and services, and to regularly report on organization progress.

Hiring Policies – We have reviewed both the specific policies governing human resources and the processes by which those policies are developed. This has included adjustments to policies, practices, and outreach related to hiring and retention. To reach more candidates, we have expanded our methods of outreach, educated staff to ensure equity in interviewing, and adjusted the way we craft our job descriptions and hiring notices, including the removal of education requirements from most positions. We request and collect voluntary demographic information from every applicant, and believe we have seen an increase in the demographic diversity of candidates, including in terms of race, gender identity, political persuasion, disability, and age.

Policy Change – We have updated policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including: harassment, work-from-home policy, parental rights, and others. In the process of updating these policies, we have also refined our process to make the process more open to all staff. We implemented an open comment period during the review process of the Employee Handbook and have conducted staff workshops to discuss various HR policy, including retirement benefits and advancement policies.

Accessibility – A major thrust of the last two years has been to lay out policies and practices to increase the accessibility our website and our in-person events to people with disabilities and people for whom English is not their primary language. We have worked in conjunction with a volunteer advisory committee made up of members with disabilities for some of this work.

• All new web content will meet or exceed 508 compliance standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. View our web acccessibility statement.
• In terms of our in-person events, we have redesigned our on-site registration area, integrated wheelchair-accessible counters, widened aisles and redesigned session set-ups to ensure people with mobility issues can safely access seating, implemented and repeatedly enforced a microphone policy to support those with hearing impairment, distributed guidelines for accessible visual presentations and handouts, and introduced live captioning of all plenary speeches and broadcast breakout sessions.
• We have seen a 500% increase in attendance at our Annual Convention of people with disabilities since 2015.

Vendor and Contract Selection – We have come to recognize that a major tool for the organization in terms of pursuing equity sits with our financial capital. We have prioritized equity in our vendor and contractor selection by researching beyond price quotes to determine prospective vendors’ commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. By 2021, all vendors and contractors will either have to have their own publicly-accessible diversity, equity, and inclusion statement (and to demonstrate adherence) or will have to agree to abide by Americans for the Arts Statement on Cultural Equity.

Fees for Service – We have begun to address financial inequity in our pricing models through a two-year design thinking-driven process to rethink the experience of accessing Americans for the Arts’ programming and resources for arts professionals from all economic and demographic backgrounds.

• Americans for the Arts has used general operating funds to underwrite $150,000 in scholarships for our events since 2016.
• We also created, in an effort to make our membership more accessible to low income artists and arts administrators, a $30 digital-only membership.

Learning Labs - The Learning Lab is a set of internal committees, working groups, and trainings led by a volunteer staff working group designed to further goals related to organizational change. So far, this work as generated 35 staff-designed and presented workshops and trainings on issues ranging from diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) vocabulary to privilege and bias, conflict management, professional advancement, leadership, design thinking, and more.

• These Learning Lab workshops, on average, increase competency on the presented topics by 22 percent based on reporting from participants.
• For a 2-page flyer on the nature and goals of the Learning Lab, please click hereto view the goals of the Learning Lab.
• For a summary presentation on the work of the Learning Lab in 2017/2018, please click hereto view a presentation on the work of the Learning Lab in 2017/2018.

Cultural Assessment – Americans for the Arts conducted an initial internal cultural assessment survey in 2015, and followed up with a second assessment in 2018. The Cultural Assessment covers general thoughts about the organization’s commitment to equity, staff dynamics, conflict management, mutual respect, transparency, and equal treatment.

• The assessment shows a 59 percent jump in staff agreeing that decision-making processes within the organization are clearly communicated, a 25 percent increase in staff who indicate they feel comfortable discussing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion with fellow colleagues, and other signs of progress.
• We continue to need to improve in terms of trust in leadership, feelings of mutual respect and understanding, and common and transparent standards and policies.
• For a template of the questions asked on the 2018 Cultural Assessment, please email [email protected].

Values and Behaviors – As part of our ongoing staff engagement, a committee drawn from across the organization developed “Values Leading to Behaviors,” a document that lays out five organizational values adopted by both board and staff, as well as the specific behaviors that embody them, and a “Staff Agreements” document, which outlines the shared agreements we have made with each other. These document have been translated into our annual review process and into our day-to-day work in meetings and interactions.

• To see the “Values Leading to Behaviors” document, please click hereto view the values, behaviors document.
• To see the “Staff Agreements” document, please click hereto view the staff agreements.

Americans for the Arts Cultural Equity Progress Report 2016-2018
This report compiles much of the work done by the Americans for the Arts staff between the adoption of the Statement on Cultural Equity in April 2016 and August 2018.

Demographics of the Local Arts Field, 2017
This report outlines the demographics of the local arts field based on responses from over 3,000 members of the field to 12 demographic questions. This research will be done every 2 years.

Strategies to Encourage Equitable Investment by Local Arts Agencies
This document is the result of a six-month process with an advisory group of external stakeholders interested in moving the local arts field, with its $2.8 billion dollars in annual expenditures, towards equity in investment. It provides 4 goals and 5 recommendations for action for the field.

Equitable Investment Policies and Practices in the Local Arts Field
This research report outlines the findings of a survey module appended to the 2018 Local Arts Agency Profile that specifically focused on equitable investment policies and practices. It includes an executive summary as well as detailed findings. This research will be conducted every 4 years.

Definition of Cultural Equity

Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.

Acknowledgements & Affirmations

• In the United States, there are systems of power that grant privilege and access unequally such that inequity and injustice result, and that must be continuously addressed and changed.
• Cultural equity is critical to the long-term viability of the arts sector. 
• We must all hold ourselves accountable, because acknowledging and challenging our inequities and working in partnership is how we will make change happen.
• Everyone deserves equal access to a full, vibrant creative life, which is essential to a healthy and democratic society. 
• The prominent presence of artists challenges inequities and encourages alternatives.

In keeping with our ongoing work around cultural equity, Americans for the Arts has prepared the following statement concerning harassment and misconduct.

Americans for the Arts in all matters related to employees, board members, committee and task force members or volunteers is guided by a set of principles outlined in our Board of Directors manual, Employee Handbook, Values Statement, and our Statement on Cultural Equity, which was unanimously adopted by the Americans for the Arts Board of Directors in 2016.  In these statements Americans for the Arts embraces values, policies and practices that ensure that all people are represented and treated fairly in the work of our mission, places of work, and delivery of service, without regard to race/ethnicity, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizen status, genetic predisposition, marital status or religion.  When accusations of inequity arise, including harassment on the basis of any of these characteristics, whether verbal, physical, or any other, Americans for the Arts is committed to taking corrective action against such inequities within our policies, systems, programs, affiliations, and services.  Such corrective action may include discontinuing relations with or to taking disciplinary action against anyone found to have violated this policy, whether employee, contractor, board member, volunteer, customer, member, vendor or other.  Americans for the Arts will deliberately and swiftly investigate every accusation.

Modeling Through Action

To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, we strive to…

• Pursue cultural consciousness throughout our organization through substantive learning and formal, transparent policies.
• Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and report organization progress.
• Commit time and resources to expand more diverse leadership within our board, staff, and advisory bodies.

Fueling Field Progress

To pursue needed systemic change related to equity, we strive to…

• Encourage substantive learning to build cultural consciousness and to proliferate pro-equity policies and practices by all of our constituencies and audiences.
• Improve the cultural leadership pipeline by creating and supporting programs and policies that foster leadership that reflects the full breadth of American society.
• Generate and aggregate quantitative and qualitative research related to equity to make incremental, measurable progress towards cultural equity more visible.
• Advocate for public and private-sector policy that promotes cultural equity.

The Board of Directors of Americans for the Arts would like to acknowledge the original board members, artists, staff, and community leaders who, in 1988, came together to create Americans for the Arts’ first diversity statement.

Download the Statement on Cultural Equity

Below is a PDF of Americans for the Arts’ Statement on Cultural Equity. We’ve also included an editable version in Word for your convenience to use as a working model for your organization if needed.