COMMITMENT TO ANTI-OPPRESSION & INCLUSION

The Arts Club Theatre Company theatres, offices and rehearsal halls are located on the unceded, ancestrial, traditional shared lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations. Specifically, the BMO Theatre Centre and the Granville Island Stage are located within Coast Salish village of Sen̓áḵw. We are grateful to work and create on these lands as we work towards decolonizing our art-making practices and company policies.

Arts Club was founded in 1964 by a group of passionate, dedicated and strong-willed artists who set out to produce great theatre. While we are proud of the amazing accomplishments by these brilliant trailblazers, we are aware that several of the systems that allowed this company to grow and prosper were harmful to and excluded many of our fellow theatre artists and practitioners. We are also aware that many of these systemic barriers still exist.

Theatre is community. The Arts Club strives to be a space for all members of this community, where, through imagination, curiosity, and storytelling, we can share compassion and empathy for others. As a company made up of hardworking arts administrators, technicians, artists, and creators, we are fiercely dedicated to being an organization that respects and uplifts historically underrepresented voices in all jobs, always. Our artists, staff, and audiences should represent and reflect the community, and we are committed to uncovering and dismantling the barriers that prevent talented artists and patrons from engaging with us. Our offices, rehearsal halls, dressing rooms, lobbies and stages should be supportive spaces for artistic exploration, expression, collaboration, and conversation. We do not want marginalization, hate, bigotry, or microaggressions to exist in any of these spaces; yet we recognize that by virtue of the colonial systems upon which this company was founded, ongoing work is required in order to dismantle these structures. We commit to actively seeking our own learning, to listening to the artists we work with, and to implementing their feedback and suggestions. Especially in the current climate, it is more important than ever for theatre to remain a safe and supportive space where our collaborators are free to authentically be, to challenge themselves, and to expand artistically.

What are some of the steps we’ve taken to make these things happen, and where are we at in this stage of the process? The complex answer is that we are embracing a journey of continuous growth and adaptation in an ever-evolving world.

In July 2020, we outlined a clear Statement of Actions, which you can find in the “Our Story” part of our website, here. Once a year we reflect on and report our progress and the steps we are dedicated to taking as we move forward in the year to come. We invite you to read through our past and current statements. Our Statement of Actions and Commitment to Anti-Oppression & Inclusion are led by our EDIA committee—a diverse group of staff members who meet regularly to discuss openly and honestly about creating necessary change at the Arts Club. The committee also ensures that our staff take part in yearly in-person EDIA training, including attending workshops on anti-racism, accessibility, decolonization, and 2SLGBTQIA+ representation. This training began in January 2022 and remains ongoing.

At the end of 2019, we hired a Company Manager to be the Artists’ go-to person for all needs during their contracts. Every Artist hired by our company will receive the same onboarding practices, information, and opportunities to voice their needs before they enter the rehearsal hall, as well as during rehearsals and the run of the show. These conversations will be strictly confidential, and we encourage Artists to have an open conversation about their access needs with our Producer at time of offer, so we can ensure that they are accurately reflected in the contract. We have an on-site “People & Culture Specialist,” who is available to staff and contract artists for consultation and discussion. In addition to this, the Arts Club has a confidential, third-party HR phone line should anyone need further support: 604-688-3879.

In 2020, we worked with a Community Liaison and an Accessibility Coordinator to help us better understand barriers and how we can move away from the systemic racism and ableism that exist at the Arts Club. In 2024, we worked with an Indigenous Engagement Coordinator to help foster relationships and facilitate ongoing dialogue with the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations on whose land we work, and to help us continue decolonizing our practice so that we can better support Indigenous artists and staff. The work done by these three positions has permeated every department in our organization, and these conversations and learning opportunities remain ongoing. It has also allowed us to expand and create new relationships with communities with which, historically, the Arts Club has not collaborated. The Accessibility Coordinator is now a permanent position within our Education department, and we are working towards securing funding for the Indigenous Engagement Coordinator position to also be permanent.

Thanks to the work and dedication of our part- and full-time staff, we are proud to be taking meaningful steps towards making theatre at the Arts Club more accessible for all. Our initiatives include sighted-guide training for staff, relaxed performances, relaxed auditions for artists, child-care offerings at auditions, enhanced approach to contracting in relation to actors’ autonomy over hair, body make-up, access needs, etc. We recognize that achieving our goals requires ongoing reflection and adaptation. We deeply value the feedback of the artists we collaborate with and, through our post-engagement survey, offer a platform for them to share their experiences—anonymously if they wish. Their insights help us continually improve our spaces and practices to better serve everyone who walks through our doors.

We realize that every Artist comes to the Arts Club with their own lived experience and access needs. We look forward to working together to make this experience an engaging, artistic, and fruitful one. We sincerely encourage open, honest dialogue with the Artistic Team (Artistic Director, Company Manager, Producer, Artistic Coordinator) that will improve your artistic experience at the Arts Club. We also realize equity and inclusion cannot be summed up in this short statement. It is something that needs to permeate our company and our entire industry.

We create art that tells stories, amplifies voices, inspires people, and challenges our perception of society. In order to do so, we are dedicated to dismantling systemic barriers, to expanding our practice, to understanding, and to inviting new collaborators into our spaces. We expect to be held accountable for what has been laid out in this statement and we look forward to continuing to grow and move forward.

Thank you for being part of our journey.

Ashlie Corcoran, Artistic Director
Peter Cathie White, Executive Director