DEIJ Commitment

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND JUSTICE ARE TOWN HALL VALUES

Land Acknowledgment

We acknowledge and honor the Indigenous communities of this region and recognize that our theatre is located on the traditional homelands of the Saclan tribe. This land was stolen from them by a series of colonizers over the last three centuries. The Saclans were part of the traditional Bay Miwok Tribe which is now part of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. We know this recognition is not enough and does not make up for the brutal genocide that ravaged the many Indigenous populations throughout this country and region and we hope to learn more about how we can be better allies with our local indigenous community members. We offer our gratitude for the care this land has received for generations and of which we are now the beneficiaries. We stand in solidarity with our Indigenous neighbors-for protection, for visibility and for recognition.

Why Now?

For years Town Hall Theatre has sought to make our space inclusive and accessible to artists, audiences, and students who identify as parts of traditionally marginalized groups.  With the heightened national racial reckoning that has occurred in wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubery, Brionna Taylor and countless others Town Hall Theatre could no longer deny that the creation of this space needed to be structured, deliberate, clear, and made a top priority.  This space also needed to be especially mindful of including the priorities and voices of traditionally marginalized groups in all levels of participation and direction.

In July of 2020 we started a deliberate process of self reflection and learning that we continue today.  What we discover in this process will inform the actions that we take as we work towards our vision of Town Hall  as an anti-racist, anti-misogynist, anti-xenophobic, anti-homophobic, anti-agist, and anti-ableist all inclusive organization. 

Proclamation Statement

It is our responsibility as a community gathering place to dismantle the systems of white supremacy that have been present in American theatre for generations.  In its place we will construct a sustainable, safe, equitable, and inclusive system where our staff, board, artists, community, and students can participate and thrive.

Vision

A Town Hall Theatre that practices the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice must have the following key components: commitment to self reflection and learning, purposeful and organic outreach, processes for accountability, and transparency in how it conducts business and creates and represents art.

Fundamental to any kind of positive change is honest self reflection and learning.  Our staff, board, and teaching artists recognize that only by taking stock of our own unconscious biases  can we hope to help our community participate in their own DEIJ journeys.

We recognize that we cannot expect trust and a confident sharing of creativity from artists and students visiting our space if we don’t visit theirs as well. We commit to being active and supportive in our community so that we can support and connect with other organizations, businesses, and individuals who share our values and goals.  We will not take leadership roles in these spaces or take up space that can and should be reserved for members of communities to which we do not belong.

Creating a sustainable and repeatable process of accountability will make sure that each person who participates at Town Hall can be assured that any concerns or issues they encounter can and will be resolved by specific action items that can be followed up on.

Transparency is a key component of DEIJ work.  By being clear and upfront with our community and artists about how we operate, what our goals are, and how we view our successes and challenges we are required to be accountable for our actions or inactions.  

Enacting Our Vision

Hiring Policy

Our goal is to have the staff, board, and teaching artist pool of Town Hall Theatre reflect the ever changing diversity of Contra Costa County.  One way we aim to reach that goal is by using the Diverse Slate Approach in hiring candidates for staff positions.  This means that no job offer will be made until we have interviewed candidates in at least 3 historically underrepresented categories. These categories are:

  • Female Identifying

  • BIPOC 

  • Veterans

  • LGBTQIA identifying

  • Disabled identifying 

Feedback and Accountability

After each project Town Hall Theatre completes we engage in a feedback process that involves everyone involved including visiting artists and volunteers.  This feedback process results in changes we can enact to do better next time and suggestions for how to upgrade our policies to be more effective.

If at any time any staff, board, Teaching Artist, student, theatre maker, or volunteer feels uncomfortable or unsafe discussing any matter with their direct supervisor, instructor, or point of contact they can always reach out directly to our Managing Director Dennis Markam at Dennis.Markam@TownHallTheatre.com or (925)283-6673; or our Board President Rob Seitelman at Rob.Seitelman@TownHallTheatre.com.

DEIJ Training and Education for Staff, Board, and Teaching Artists

Our staff and board meet for Diversity Equity Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) trainings led by a professional facilitator four times a year along with cultivating a reading repository for learnings between sessions to help continue our learning process.  Our Teaching Artists receive training at the beginning of the Fall and Spring sessions with a focus on communicating with our students.

These training sessions will continue for the foreseeable future as we view DEIJ as an ongoing process.

Being Active and Supportive in Our Community

Historically, non-marginalized people and organizations who have tried to act in a spirit of diversity, equity, and inclusion have had harmful effects on the communities they have tried to support by becoming colonizing influences.  In the spirit of learning and engaging we will be active and supportive to our geographic and artistic community where appropriate without taking leadership positions or taking spaces that should be reserved for marginalized or underrepresented communities to which we don’t belong.

We take our role as an ally very seriously and will continue to educate ourselves on ways to show up stronger. We welcome any constructive feedback from the community.

Statement in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

Town Hall Theatre stands in solidarity with the Black community, and all groups in our community that are marginalized, and we denounce the racial oppression, systemic racism and police violence that pervade our country. 

We honor the lives and memory of those who have been murdered by acts of racism: George Floyd, Adrian Medearis, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others over hundreds of years. 

Those of us who have benefited from white supremacy have a responsibility to stand with the oppressed and educate ourselves, our children and our community about racial justice, as well as examine our own unconscious biases and white privilege. 

We will strengthen our ongoing efforts within Town Hall to build an organization - staff, Board, teaching artists, technicians, patrons, students, and artists - that reflects the staff and Board of Town Hall’s strong commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. We commit to include, empower, and expand diverse perspectives on our stage. 

We have put together resources below and on our website to help all of us better understand the centuries of racism that are woven into the fabric of our society as well as organizations we can support to dismantle structural racism.  

We firmly believe and state unequivocally that Black Lives Matter and we are committed to keeping Town Hall a welcoming and safe space. 

In solidarity and justice, 

The Staff and Board of Town Hall Theatre

Statement Against Attacks on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders

While violence and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders has a long and shameful history in the Bay Area and the United States at large, hate crimes against our AAPI friends, neighbors, and families have intensified in the last year. The rise in crimes is attributed to a narrative around COVID-19 that is rooted in xenophobia, bigotry, and white supremacy and is as repugnant as it is inaccurate.

As we have said before, those of us who have benefited from white supremacy have a responsibility to stand with the oppressed and educate ourselves, our children and our community about racial justice, as well as examine our own unconscious biases and white privilege.

We at Town Hall Theatre urge our supporters, our friends, and our community to report incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to STOP AAPI HATE, an organization that tracks and responds to such incidents. You can report incidents, find out more about their mission, and support them at stopaapihate.org