Hello EST Family,
Fall is here and so is our second Community Newsletter!
The Transition Team has spent these past few weeks reading parts of RKG's EST's Equity & Justice Report out loud together.
Please see our list below:
The Community Feedback portions (Pages 23/29-32, & 44)
Along with the Artistic Director and Executive Director Leadership portion of the report (Pages 28-30/Pages 30-33).
We have started to engage in deep conversations about where EST is and where we would like EST to go, and our goal as a collective is to provide a vision for the Artistic Director and Executive Director Leadership, and then create Job Descriptions that we feel will best reflect where we would like to go as a company. We are beginning to talk about how we can best serve EST's needs for these positions, and to help deepen our conversations, we will be reading & discussing the Shared Leadership portion of the report (Pages 39-41).
In addition to these discussions, we have put together a collection of links that we would like to share with you, to help give you some insight on where our conversations are headed. It is important that we let everyone know that EST is not the only one going through a transition period. There are several theatres across the country wanting to make change for a more equitable, inclusive, healthier organization. To read up on the links that we have collected, please click here.
We would also like to encourage you to read the PDF titled "Making (Or Taking) Space:" It is an article that talks about Initial Themes on Nonprofit Transitions from White to BIPOC Leaders and it is written by the Building Movement Project on behalf of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. Please click here to read.
Lastly,
We would like to ask you to please keep pages 43/& 45-47 of the Equity and Justice Report as a reference guide so you can get an understanding of what the Transition Team has been set up to do.
If you have any questions regarding this newsletter, or any section of the reading material, please do not hesitate to email us at questions@ensemblestudiotheatre.org or you can reach out and email your individual representative.
*Please note that your questions will be brought to the Transition Team and the Team together as a whole will answer any questions that you may have*
Sincerely,
Eliza Beckwith, Focus Group
France-Luce Benson, Playwrights Unit
Erin Cherry, Member Council Co-Chair
Bjorn Dupaty, Black Affinity Group
Jahna-Ferron Smith, Youngblood
Linsay Firman, Staff
Lynnette R. Freeman, EST Membership
Russell G. Jones, Board
Lou Liberatore, Members Council
Mariel Sanchez, Staff Affinity Group
Elizabeth Van Dyke, EST Membership