VISION
Community supporting each other to navigate learning and unlearning within ourselves, our organizations, and our sector for a more just future.
Working towards equity and access is an ongoing process of personal, collective and systemic change. We imagine a vibrant arts sector in which people can bring their whole selves to their work – a future where people working in arts and culture organizations are supported, well compensated, and energized by their work. In this future empowered individuals in our sector follow a path of ongoing learning, reflecting, and integration.
This project is a generative and community-based process in partnership with the BC Arts Council (BCAC), with the shared objective to support organizations in creating more inclusive, accessible, and equitable work environments. Through fostering new relationships and supporting collective learning and action, we hope to help our sector move beyond saying it supports equity and access to put these principles into action.
Photo: Wolf Willow cohort
This work is messy and complex
“To hold change is to make it easy for people with shared intentions to be around each other and move towards their vision and values, and/or to navigate conflict in a way that is generative and accountable”- adrienne maree brown
Our sector is in a time of great shift as we rebalance and find ways forward that are led by more equitable practices.
Individuals have been finding ways to engage in difficult conversations and unlearn internalized colonial behaviours. Organizations, governments and funders have been struggling to change deeply embedded structures, evaluate and rebalance their work to acknowledge historic privilege and create new access opportunities.
There have been missteps and awkward outcomes, and also some tangible changes. No one has all aspects of access and equity figured out. Our intention is to provide a framework of support so that this program holds up rather than drains the people in our sector.
We must do better
Historically, the sector has been constructed to amplify and support the voices of some while marginalizing and appropriating from others and this pattern continues into the present. Through the Pathways program we hope to collaborate with individuals and organizations who are working to transform our sector, and organizations committed to change to collectively work to make our sector a more supportive place for Indigenous, Black, racialized, Mad, disabled, and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, and all arts, culture, and heritage organizations, professionals, and volunteers.
