July 28, 2015
The New Black Fest: African American Theatre Tackles Ferguson, Racism, and Social Injustice
There has been much talk about the lack of diverse decision makers in Hollywood. But there is also a need for diversity in the arts, as it relates to the distribution of fellowships, grants, and awards. Can you talk a little about that?
There is a lack of diversity in creative decision making, in theater in particular, and definitely in television and film. I think the reason behind that is white privilege, which also feeds into entitlement. There is a certain of level of power that the white institution wants to hold on to when it comes to how it sees the world. As long as it’s not being penetrated or challenged, it will continue to advocate for the black voice and the black narrative that it feels safe with and comfortable with. Because much of white privilege doesn’t have any interaction with blackness, except a removed interaction—via media, what they’re reading, and what the news is showing–they have a tendency to congregate around pathology, like what’s happening in the inner city; as if that’s the only black experience, and only focusing on particular things in the urban environment—high crime, single parenthood, things like that— and then they sort of tag that as being the black experience. When you have creative decision makers who are diverse, you have other voices contributing to that experience and then you begin to have a fuller perspective of what black is, what black story is, and what black voice is. That’s why it’s so important that we get into those rooms.
I have been in many of them and have often found myself in situations where a black play or two comes across the table and there’s a lot of advocacy for it. The play is usually steeped in some form of pathology, some type of deep victim-hood— and I’m like ‘Yes this is very beautiful writing, but we continue to see the same kind of play coming out of your institution and there’s so many other voices.’ Â I’m from the Midwest. My mom’s catholic and my dad was Baptist. I come from an inter-religious, inter-faith household. There’s so many complexities. [We now have] a first and now second generation who are children of African immigrants, who are also a part of the black theater collective, and those voices need to be heard and advocated for.
We spoke about the topic of gentrification in New York City and in urban areas across the country. What are the cultural implications of gentrification, in terms of maintaining our cultural heritage as African Americans?
A part of a group’s sustainability is its economic power. If we can’t stay [in our neighborhoods] because of economics, it dismantles our cultural power. If we can’t hold on to the ma-and-pop row on 125th street in Harlem because of economics, because we don’t own [our businesses] or we’ve been renting for years, then somebody else can just come in and put in a wine and cigar shop where there used to be a black-owned health food store. There has always been an effort within the black community to have economic power: to own, to go to college and bring back those skills and resources to the community to help to build those communities. There is this history of strong advocacy and movement for black economic power, which then of course helps sustain black cultural experience; but then it’s dismantled.
What advice do you have for African American artists of color who hope to respond creatively to issues of black social injustice?
I’m very much interested in collectives—collective art making— and I think there’s something to creating a community in which we’re all contributing to a project. Whether it’s a film or theater piece or dance piece, if we invest in collective creative making then there’s a way to pull all of our resources together. Bring in people who are skillful in generating financing. A creative collective shouldn’t just be all creative anymore. It’s important to bring in someone with economic skills that can help [you] understand how to generate money for the things that [you’re] doing. There are so many black, wealthy institutions that we’re not tapping into or pitching to.
To learn more visit www.newblackfest.org.