IDEA Accountability Statement

 

Ensemble Theatre’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) form the basis of a three-pronged approach to accountability.

1) We are accountable to the staff, ensemble and board.

We are committed to creating an equitable and diverse workforce and environment on and off stage. When we have a depth of diversity and a spectrum of lived experiences in the room, it makes the room better. Better rooms make better institutions. A better institution:

  • Increases job retention.

  • Creates opportunities and provides professional growth for employees of colour, employees of differing abilities and LGBTQIA employees beyond entry-level jobs.

  • Pursues funding from institutions that embrace anti-racist values.

  • Prioritizes placing people from a variety of lived experiences and ethnicities in the boardroom, in its offices, in the ensemble and in leadership positions.

2) We are accountable to the theatre community at large.

As a not-for-profit theatre and charity, we are responsible to the community we serve as storytellers and to our local and national theatre community. In order to foster the next generation of theatre-makers and patrons, we must produce theatre that reflects our collective diversity. We are committed to:

  • Producing work that reflects the greater Vancouver community.

  • Championing work that deepens and diversifies the stories told on our stages and in the medium of theatre itself.

  • Shining a light on and supporting theatres that are primarily and/or historically focused on serving and representing communities of colour, communities of differing abilities and/or the LGBTQIA community, without co-opting or taking credit for their work.

3) We are accountable to the art.

We are committed to telling a spectrum of provocative, diverse stories on our stages with integrity and at the highest level of production. Greater racial, gender, sexual orientation and ability diversity on our stages will not only provide a more accurate reflection of our community but will also expand and elevate our artistic experience. In order to achieve this, we must:

  • Seek out more diverse voices who are authentically telling diverse stories.

  • Provide support for our artists and their work, including casting, rehearsal, and dramaturgical support.

  • Actively market to and recruit audiences from those communities represented on stage.

  • Invest greater financial, as well as artistic resources, on these productions.