BLKLST and the LA ARTS Establish Tools for Equity in Los Angeles Theatre
The Los Angeles Anti-Racist Standards (LA ARTS) offers tools, solutions to address institutional racism in the Los Angeles theatre community. BLKLST is a collective that empowers BIPOC with equity, diversity, and inclusion information on Los Angeles theatre companies and institutions.
(Left to Right) BLKLST Co-Founders Celia Mandela-Rivera, Tiana Randall-Quant, and A'raelle Flynn-Bolden post-interview with The Corsair in North Hollywood, CA on October 3rd,2021. (Roxana Blacksea | The Corsair)
On Sept.14, 2021, over 100 Los Angeles (L.A.) theater practitioners met to discuss an unsubtle elephant-in-the-room: racism in the L.A. theater community.
The meeting, The Los Angeles Anti-Racist Theatre Standards Community Conversation, was hosted on zoom by draftees of the Los Angeles Anti-Racist Theatre Standards (LA ARTS) and members of BLKLST.
The LA ARTS website describes The Standards as a "living document [containing] a list of the actionable changes that L.A. theaters must implement to rectify harm done and create a foundation of sustained and restorative equity." Although theaters are encouraged to sign on to The Standards, doing so is not legally binding.
Tiana Randall-Quant, one of the drafters of the LA ARTS and a co-founder of BLKLST, said the first steps to signing onto The Standards comes in recognizing that "we cannot use a system that was built by inequity."
"We cannot expect that same sort of system to fix itself," she said.
According to the LA ARTS website, "The Accountability section of [The Standards] includes an outline for an annual [Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA)] report card." The report cards will be audited by BLKLST.
Celia Mandela Rivera, creator and co-founder of BLKLST, explained that the creation of BLKLST was partially inspired by "The Negro Motorist Green Book," a guidebook which assisted African-Americans at safely traversing the U.S. during the Jim Crow era. Similarly, BLKLST will empower BIPOC theater practitioners with the data needed to safely navigate the Los Angeles theater community.
"We use transparency," Rivera said. "Because transparency is, to me, the antithesis of secrecy. And secrecy very much grows and cultivates in white supremacist practices and in harm."
An estimation based on aggregate data listed on https://www.blklstcollective.com/
There are 165 L.A.- based theater companies and institutions listed on the BLKLST website including each theater's gross receipts, their EDIA policy, Black Lives Matter (BLM) statement, and a breakdown of the company leadership positions.
Of the theaters listed, approximately 78 percent of 272 leadership positions are occupied by whites. By comparison, approximately 9 percent of leadership positions are held by Latinos and Latinas, 7 percent by African Americans, and 6 percent by East Asian Americans. Less than 1 percent of positions are held by peoples of Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latina, South Asian, South East Asian, Middle Eastern and North African descent respectively.
No members of the Kizh Nation, who are native to L.A, nor any other Indigenous groups were represented among the theater leadership.
Rivera cites the community-centric programs of the Black Panther Party, as well as BLM’s demands for community oversight, as inspiration for BLKLST's strategy of achieving equity for BIPOC, women, and LGBTQ people in L.A. theatres.
"It is my hope and prayer that people come after us ... and not experience as much harm, or they can name their harm without so much fear of being believed, fear of resistance, fear of retaliation." Rivera said.
The BLKLST website includes a form where theater practitioners can share their negative experiences working with particular theater companies and institutions.
