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We are a Santa Fe, NM - based theatre company creating work that engages with the reality of the human experience - all the beautiful, delicate aspects and all of parts we'd prefer to look away from. We want to challenge audiences with non-traditional theatre that includes them and invites them to participate. To invite them to gaze into the tumultuous depths of life, and to wade in with us.
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ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE &SONS FACEBOOK (6.1.20):
Our Silence is Compliance. &Sons has been pretty quiet. As a new company, we forgot we had a platform here. That's a problem we've seen a lot of folks having - forgetting the voice and platform your privilege affords you until after tragedy has struck. Theatre has always been the art of story-telling - the art of sharing the human experience - with roots in oral tradition. An institution that exists to share the human experience cannot ignore human injustice. We know the past few weeks have been filled with outrage, fear, confusion, and sadness. Centuries have been filled that way for our Black communities. When we see the systems of oppression and violence against the Black community that were built into and are repeatedly expressed in our society, we must fight it. As participants in and beneficiaries of this system, we have a responsibility to work to change it. One aspect facing us now is police brutality and murder of Black people. It must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and if the law isn't just, it must be extended further. Black lives matter. We stand together in our demand for justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and all Black Americans murdered by police. We demand justice for all Black people oppressed by systemic racism and white supremacy. Black lives matter. What Can We Do? We will continue to participate in the push for justice for Black Americans, and the reform of the police and criminal justice systems. We must also look to our own institution. We acknowledge we have a lot of work to do. We're building an Action Plan for what we can do as a theatre company to work towards these goals. We are also writing a Diversity & Inclusion Statement into our Mission as a company. We should have done it at the time of writing the original Mission Statement. We will be releasing our Action Plan and Diversity & Inclusion Statement as we complete them, so that we can be held accountable. We cannot assume that equity and inclusion will naturally happen. It must be made part of our policy. We are also looking at how we can choose programming that will reflect that statement. We pledge to use our platform and our voice to fight for an end to these systems - not just while protests are happening internationally, but until this goal is achieved. While we are working on these things, we will also be using this page to share links to activists, articles, books, educational resources, petitions, numbers to call to demand justice, and funds you can donate to that will benefit the fight for justice for these people, their families, and the protestors. If you have a resource that has impacted you, please share it with us! To Other Theatres: We urge every Santa Fe theatre company that does not currently have a Diversity & Inclusion Statement to create one, to integrate it with their policy, and to examine their programming. We encourage other theatre companies, especially Santa Fe ones, to use their voices to join this fight and to back it up with action. Theatre is inherently political. It always has been and always will be. Not speaking on this IS taking a side, and it is the side of the oppressor. |
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UPDATE, ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE &SONS FACEBOOK (6.10.20):
Hey folks! We want to update you on our progress in regards to our Diversity & Inclusion Statement and Action Plan. We are taking our time to research, listen, and learn, so we can build these tools in a way that will support long-term change, rather than rushing to put something out that isn't effective. UPDATE: We said we were going to write a Diversity & Inclusion Statement. In our research and discussion about it, we've determined that while diversity and inclusion are important pillars for an equitable organization, those kinds of statements are not active enough. They've been around for a while and aren't making enough of a difference. Instead, we have shifted gears and are now working to write an "Anti-Racism Statement", which will highlight how we will be actively working to dismantle white supremacy in and through our company. For the sake of clarity - this will still become part of our Mission Statement and we have not made any changes to our goals regarding an Action Plan. That is still happening as well. As always, we welcome any input and discussion on these items - please feel free to comment here or send us a DM - whatever you'd prefer. One of the things that got us started on this redirect was a Q&A on Rafael Casal's instagram: @rafaelcasal. Rafael is a writer, poet, producer, and performer. He and Daveed Diggs are the writing/producing/starring team behind the film Blindspotting. He invited people to anonymously ask questions they don't feel comfortable asking. This screenshot is just one of the questions asked. You can check out the rest of it here: https://www.instagram.com/sto…/highlights/17861684950929620/ |
