TADA! Youth Theater Announces New Anti-Racist And Multicultural Development Initiatives

In response to systemic racism in theater and the global pandemic, TADA!, a unique Drama Desk award-winning nonprofit youth theater, has announced new initiatives and programs to support equity, diversity, and inclusion in its artistic work, education programs and employment practices. TADA! is taking action to provide equity for all people.

In December 2020, TADA! launched its new Arts Mentorship Program for theater careers beyond onstage. Members of the TADA! Resident Youth Ensemble who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) have been matched with a BIPOC Mentor. These Mentors are comprised of theater professionals in a career that young people are interested in learning more about and gaining basic experience.

"We want to give our Resident Youth Ensemble members knowledge of other careers in theater besides performing," said Janine Nina Trevens, TADA! Executive and Producing Artistic Director. "We want to provide our youth with direct access to BIPOC professionals in playwriting, composing, lyric writing, directing, stage management, producing, lighting, sound, set, props and costume design, music directing, and more."

"The new Arts Mentorship Program will be an incredible and invaluable opportunity for the Ensemble to dig deeper into a career in the arts, giving them more professional options in the future," Ms. Trevens continued. "We are also providing payment for both the Mentor and the Mentee for their participation in the program."

More information can be found online: https://www.tadatheater.com/amp

TADA! is committed to providing every child regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, nationality, or immigration status an affordable way to experience the joy of musical theater. The Arts for All Initiative provides free tuition to BIPOC students with a self-expressed need to attend TADA! award-winning arts education classes and theater training programs. No child will be turned away because of their inability to pay.

Since the sponsorship program started in June 2020, 60 additional children have participated in TADA! classes and camps, and no family has been turned away. Registration is still open for TADA!'s winter play-building semester classes. For more information, please visit: https://www.tadatheater.com/financial-assistance.

TADA! Youth Theater has taken several steps to diversify its staff, board, and leadership team. This includes changing our board of directors requirements and job description, while also restructuring our board to being a more anti-racist entity. These updates emphasize the many different ways board members can contribute to the organization that are unique to their personal experiences, talents and community relationships, and not based solely or mostly on financial participation at a specific level.

In response to the global pandemic, the Education department has pivoted to providing virtual programming. Due to this shift, the Education department is ensuring that it is serving and supporting the changing needs of its students, schools, and department while also furthering our commitment to being an anti-racist organization by changing our approach to the hiring process of our teaching artists. Annually, TADA! hires and employs up to 20 professional Teaching Artists to educate, inspire, and empower students all around the world in educational classes, workshops, and in-school residencies. Rebooting the Teaching Artist roster involved creating a responsive hiring rubric based on TADA! Teaching Artist Competencies. The competencies and rubric will be reviewed yearly and evolve based on the programming needs for the fiscal year.

"As an organization, we have been unpacking and analyzing what it means to be an anti-racist organization," says Katy Knowles, TADA! director of education. "This has led us to redefine our values, especially as we continue to shift our programming to meet the demands of the virtual landscape during a global pandemic. It's important that our students work with mentors and role models that reflect the communities we serve."

TADA! is also diversifying where it posts job offerings and actively seeks BIPOC job posting resources so that we have a more racially-diversified pool of applicants. TADA! is currently seeking a Director of Development Advancement, Assistant to the Executive and Producing Artistic Director, Musical Directors, Set, Costume and Lighting Designers and Assistant Stage Managers. For more information, please visit https://www.tadatheater.com.

In order to help support and expand the organization's actions, TADA! is crafting an EDIJ (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice) Plan to make the organization more inclusive and equitable.

The EDIJ Planning Committee is being assembled now, with meetings planned from February 2021 through June 2021. The Committee will be composed of a diverse group of TADA! Past & Current Staff, Ensemble Members, Ensemble Parents, Alumni, Alumni Parents, Past & Current Artistic Staff, Past & Current Board Members, Past & Current Teaching Artists, and some funders and partners.

The committee will be tasked in reviewing existing policies & procedures, set timelines and goals, and create a plan for our continued improvements. Anti-racist work is ongoing, and we hope to continue learning and growing in the many years to come. As a staff, we have been examining our existing culture within TADA! to begin making changes, including an ongoing anonymous anti-racism feedback form for better reporting of and responses to incidents.

TADA! Staff has attended many trainings, webinars, and conferences to learn what anti-racism actually means and how we can change individually, as an organization, and within our communities.

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