• Lincoln Jones, a celebrated Los Angeles-based choreographer, faced backlash for not posting a black square on his company’s Instagram in support of Black Lives Matter.
• Jones faced an uphill battle for funding, as many grant-giving institutions started to insist that applicants abide by new diversity requirements.
• Kevin Ray is suing New 42, a performing arts nonprofit in Manhattan, for forcing him and other employees to take DEI instruction and read “racially-discriminatory propaganda.”
• Following the death of George Floyd, a petition called “We See You, White American Theater” was circulated, dubbing the theater community “a house of cards built on white fragility and supremacy.”
• Keith Wann, a sign language interpreter who worked on a production of The Lion King, alleged that he was removed from the production because he is white.
• Title VII federal law—part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin—means hiring people purely on the basis of race could be deemed “a potential violation.”
• Even some artists who are far in their career are too scared to comment about the new DEI demands.
• Renowned Broadway theater producer Rocco Landesman said he started noticing DEI creeping into the arts world around 2013 and has “no doubt” that “we’re seeing increasingly coercive guidelines.”
• Bari Jones, a ballet dancer and founder of the American Contemporary Ballet, has noticed a shift in the arts world towards a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
• This shift has been noticed by Rocco Landesman, a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, who believes that DEI initiatives are becoming increasingly coercive.
• Landesman was shocked when a San Francisco school board voted to paint over a mural of George Washington because it was deemed offensive to black and Native Americans.
• Many arts funders have made social justice the criteria for grants, and some require DEI statements or demographic data from applicants.
• The Ford Foundation has dedicated $160 million specifically to BIPOC arts organizations, and President Biden has signed an Executive Order on Promoting the Arts, the Humanities, and the Museum and Library Services.
• Bari Jones is still trying to keep the American Contemporary Ballet afloat without giving in to DEI demands, and Landesman worries about what is happening to the world of art.
Published February 1, 2023
Visit The Free Press to read Rikki Schlott’s original post How Ideologues Infiltrated the Arts
