Equity and Justice Work

Over the last eight years, EST has worked to become a more inclusive and anti-racist organization, most recently by working with Rebecca KellyG Equity and Justice Consulting (RKG) to delve into every aspect of our community, practices, and structure as a predominantly-White organization. Their analysis is guiding our current leadership transition as we prepare to hire new Artistic and Executive Directors, as well as create a more holistic and intentional work environment.

In order to be as transparent as possible about our ongoing work, this page will be updated with information and resources about our actions so far and our plans for the future.

The Hiring of new co-artistic leadership

Following over a year of hard work by the Transition Team and other members of the EST community, the in-depth search process for EST’s new artistic leadership has come to an end! Ushering in EST’s first shared artistic leadership model, we’re thrilled to be welcoming Estefanía Fadul & Graeme Gillis as EST’s new Co-Artistic Directors.

"I am so proud to have this brilliant team be at the head of our company. Representatives from across our entire community were able to weigh in on a process that took the better part of a year. I can truly say that this search reflected the best of EST - a theater that values community, inclusion and collaboration. I am so excited for the dynamic ideas that will come from Graeme and Estefanía, and I fully trust in their leadership as we enter into the next phase of reimagining EST."

-Sharina Martin*
Members Council Co-Chair

Formation of the Transition Team, Summer 2021

Using Rebecca's Equity & Justice Report as the blueprint, Members Council Co-Chairs, Board, and staff have worked to carry out the first action step from the report's recommendations, the formation of a Transition Team to reshape the theatre's artistic and administrative leadership. The team includes a broad range of voices from the EST community, with elected representatives from focus groups led by Rebecca (women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, people age 50 and older) and other established groups within EST: the Board of Directors, staff, Youngblood, the Playwrights' Unit, the Black Affinity Group, and the Members Council. The Transition Team have begun meeting regularly in September, and are making plans for moving forward.

Ensemble Studio Theatre: Equity and Justice Report
by Rebecca KellyG, Spring 2021

In this report, you will find collected reflections from the wider community, tools to deepen EST’s understanding of equity and justice, as well as RKG’s recommendations for leadership transitions and organizational changes. There is also a separate Appendix linked here that includes select EST organizational docs and other materials to support your work.

EST Equity & Justice Report Progress Updates by Rebecca KellyG

While Rebecca KellyG and her team were collecting information and building their report, they shared these monthly updates with our community from August 2020 to January 2021.

EST Artist Community Agreement

We have recently instituted an artist community agreement which is shared with every artist working on an EST project regardless of scale.

Statement on Body Autonomy

Ensemble Studio Theatre acknowledges that bodily autonomy is a fundamental human right. In particular, EST maintains that all women, nonbinary, and transgender people have the human right of self-governance over one's individual reproductive health and choice. We stand in solidarity with organizations doing the work to preserve people’s rights to bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and abortion access.

Blind Spot Salons (2017)

In 2017 groups from EST’s community engaged in a series of salons with Blind Spot focused on perceiving racial inequity and anti-racism. Following the final salon a group of the participants became ambassadors to help continue conversations around embedding anti-racism as a life practice of the organization. These ambassadors’ efforts led to the updating of EST’s mission statement and the equity and justice work that has followed.