Opinion: “Another Opera for White People”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion, as engaged by arts institutions across the country, have centered performers, but what about audience members? With a few exceptions (including the diverse audience turnout for the Metropolitan Opera’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones”), opera audiences remain predominantly white.

The creation of a fictional, white character in “Emmett Till” for the sake of affirming the feelings of these predominantly white audiences is not only a perpetuation of a status quo that countless arts administrators, advocates, and activists work to dismantle, but a celebration of it.

COLUMN: Escaping Escapism - Arts Institutions in Times of World Tragedy

It would be a long shot (no pun intended) to expect orchestral musicians, for example, to put down their instruments and pick up weapons, but there are steps that can and have been made in the arts sector toward supporting the people of Ukraine during this most challenging time. What does support for Ukraine from arts organizations look like, though? It's a question that a few arts institutions have engaged directly, one that holds historical precedent, and even one that could challenge the very notion of an arts organization's role in this broad world of social and political challenge.