For years, members of the Lab have been engaged in conversations for the arts and nonprofit sectors about systems and organizational change. Recently, in late 2021 to 2023, we had the opportunity to work with two different cultural institutions to envision radical new possibilities in their ongoing responses to community call-ins.
While communities try to cultivate and move leaders with progressive perspectives into positions of power and influence, what are the complementary structural, organizational and procedural changes needed to reduce the friction that marginalized people encounter when entering to work in or with institutions?
After a year helping staff consolidate internal change and researching alternative governance and accountability frameworks, we helped Buddies in Bad Times launch a call for Co-Leadership in early 2023. The recruitment process involved community participation in new ways, leading to the appointment of new leadership in August 2023.
With Dancemakers, our transformation work took the shape of a series of organizational research residencies with artists Ange Loft, Pam Tzeng, Ravyn Wngz and Shaista Latif, as well as the 2022-2023 resident artists at Dancemakers. The research culminated in early July 2023 in two weeks of workshops and a research presentation.
Both processes have been generative of more insights, and garnered positive feedback from diverse stakeholders, even while the need for continued change is ongoing…
We acknowledge the labour and space required to hold faith and complexity through imperfect new / altered processes.
We look forward to publishing the research on reimagining governance and accountability soon: What are real alternatives to the ways that Boards are configured that would truly facilitate necessary community input, meaningfully support staff, and improve accountability for all?
Photos by Gillian Mapp and Henry Chan
