To reflect the Mission, Vision and Guiding Values of Seagle Festival, we strive to meet to the fullest extent possible within our means, the following Benchmarks & Goals.
- The singing artist has always been at the center of the Seagle Festival mission. We therefore commit to ensuring the complement of artists that are selected to participate as their authentic selves in the Seagle program reflect, at minimum, the racial demographics of our most diverse communities.
- Enact procedures to expand artist and staff recruiting to include Historically Underrepresented Serving Institutions and other racially diverse opportunities in higher learning, to ensure our ability to remain reflective of our most diverse communities at all levels of our organization.
- Engage a third-party diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant to work with the board and management staff to ensure policy changes are sound and effective, and to regularly evaluate progress. This work will include, but not be limited to, review of the board’s recruitment culture and decision-making methodologies for inherent racism and/or implicit bias, and attention to board recruiting practices to expand diversity at the board and leadership levels.
- Institute regular training in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at all levels including board, staff, and artists to counter implicit bias. This training will be required in Seagle Festival’s Code of Conduct alongside a commitment to anti-racism and anti-oppression. The Code of Conduct agreement will be signed by every board member, employee, contractor, subcontractor and artist. The policy will clearly outline how and where to report instances of racism, hate speech, or implicit racial bias, and include a clear plan of action for when such instances occur.
- Actively seek to program works that will simultaneously best serve the development of the Seagle Festival artists, and expand the repertoire of Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) and other underrepresented groups of operatic and lyric theater creators, with a goal to program at least one of these selected works in the Seagle Festival season every two years.
- Maintain socially conscious casting procedures that include recognition of an artist’s racial identity while keeping focus on their artistic strengths and abilities.
- Maintain and consistently evaluate hair and makeup policies that account for the diversity of the Seagle Festival artists by ensuring equitable access to supplies/resources specific to their needs, while also ensuring that hair and makeup staff are required to have experience and/or training in preparing BIPOC artists for the stage.
- Actively search for new works by BIPOC and other underrepresented groups of lyric theater creators for inclusion in the American Center for New Works Development incubator program, with a goal of one quarter of all projects to be representative of these creators by 2025. Additionally, working to eliminate any barriers to these works’ inclusion in the program as well as any barriers to these works entering the mainstream repertoire.
- Maintain a DEI Task Force cohort in partnership with the Seagle Alumni Association composed of alumni that represent our most diverse former artists and whose function is to not only support Seagle staff and board in DEI efforts but to hold them accountable in those efforts.
- Encourage open dialogue and feedback from Seagle artists, staff and alumni on how to improve their experience and hold space for their specific identity, should they wish to share, without fear of retaliation.
- Review of the above benchmarks and goals on an annual basis to evaluate progress and make appropriate adjustments.
