UnSpun Theatre creates and primarily produces work on land that was part of The Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13. Based in Toronto/Tkaronto, we respect and acknowledge the traditional territories of the many Nations that have cared for this land, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat people. We know that there are many Nations and people who will remain unknown and unacknowledged, and we are equally grateful to them.
We also acknowledge that we each have a different relationship to this land. Many Black Canadians were stolen from their own Indigenous lands, and many of our other neighbours came to Canada to escape persecution elsewhere.
Non-Indigenous people like us have benefitted from Indigenous knowledge, generosity, resources and caretaking. As settlers to this land, we know we have benefitted from the white supremacist and colonial systems in which we all work - we have had access to relationships, training and public funding. We commit to continued learning, investment, and advocacy so that we can actively take part in dismantling the many systems that perpetuate colonial and racist violence in its many forms.
For us, this means: Showing up and participating in collective actions; Being in constant contact with our elected officials to advance anti-racist and anti-colonial policy; Speaking up against interpersonal acts of violence; Making bi-monthly financial contributions to local Black and Indigenous charitable organizations; Actively teaching our daughters how to inherit this work; Attending and supporting the work of BIPOC artists and cultural events; Making work that reflects these values; Continued learning from BIPOC writers and activists.
This also means that we continue to consider our working processes, what our work looks like, and who we work with. It means that we continue to consider potential partnerships in terms of how they align with these values. It means we interrogate how we collaborate with our colleagues in ways that invite wholistic participation, rather than tokenistic representation.
Over the past few months, and as a direct response to the Black Lives Matter and Idle No More movements, we've done an accounting of our past hiring practices. UnSpun Theatre functions as an ad-hoc collective for our (Shira and Chris') own projects, and the company does not employ any administrative staff. When we looked at the artists and arts professionals we've contracted since the redirection of the company in 2010, we found that 39% of outside contracts went to BIPOC artists.
Our commitment moving forward is to issue 50% of outside contracts to BIPOC artists and we will continue to issue at least 50% of contracts to female or non-binary artists.
Because we are such a small organization, we know that it might be difficult for a contracted artist to feel safe coming to us in the case of an issue related to racist or harmful actions made by us. We are in the process of designing an accountability system that would allow for safe and/or anonymous reporting.
When we think about how we continue to decolonize the work we make and the way we make work, we must also consider who has access to our work. We understand that accessibility is not an afterthought, rather we must design our work to be accessed in many ways and by as many people as possible, and that this design work must occur at the very beginning of each project and be fully integrated into each piece. As we move forward, we are dedicated to making work that is flexible enough to respond to audiences' varied needs and that prioritizes meaningful connections with our audiences rather than profit. We will be explicit in understanding the access needs of our colleagues as well as our public.
Please contact us if you have thoughts or ideas you'd like to share!
