October I.D.E.A.s
Each month the I.D.E.A (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) Newsletter will give you updates from PNB's IDEA Committee and Board EDI Task Force, along with PNB events, resources like workshop opportunities, and book recommendations.
PNB is Listening: New Company Members
Get to know PNB’s newest Company members Jonathan Batista, Ginabel Peterson, James Kirby Rogers, and Lily Wills, interviewed by Executive Assistant to the Artistic Director Sarah Kolat. You’ll get to hear about the experience of auditioning for PNB via Zoom, how they enjoyed their first performance with the company, and how they’re settling in to Seattle life.
PNB is Listening is an ongoing collaboration between PNB artists and staff, highlighting diverse voices within our community. Do you have a story or lived experience you'd like to share?
Email Kristen Ramer Liang at kliang@pnb.org for more information.
I.D.E.A. Media Club
The Media Club was created by the Committee Engagement Sub-Committee to discuss topics cross-departmentally pertaining to race, social justice, and the intersections of ballet outside of our monthly I.D.E.A. Committee meetings. Each meeting we will examine various forms of media to continue to explore and broaden our knowledge of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility on and off stage.
Please join us for our first virtual meeting Monday, November 1 at 5:30pm. We will be discussing the structure of the Media Club as well as the introduction of Chloe Angyal's Turning Pointe.
If you have any interest, please email LiLi Pigott at lpigott@pnb.org for the link to the Zoom meeting.
Arts Voter Guide
Have you voted yet? Ballots are due this Tuesday, November 2! We're rewatching this classic video by Dylan Wald and getting excited to do our civic duty! Have you heard about the new Seattle Arts Voter Guide? This nonpartisan guide aims to prompt dialogue between candidates and the arts community, and inform voters about candidate platforms on the arts for municipal elections in Seattle. Click here to check it out!
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month! Click here to hear more from PNB dancers celebrating their Latinx and Hispanic identities on the PNB Blog, including a PNB is Listening conversation between Amanda Morgan, Clara Ruf Maldonado, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan.
Join PNB's Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee as an at-large member!
The IDEA Committee is encouraging “at-large” membership in an effort to include and make use of the many valuable perspectives, life experiences and skill sets of our larger PNB community.
Some examples of ways that “at-large” members could participate include:
• Bringing ideas to the IDEA Committee for any of the subcommittees to work on.
• Offering to help with specific committee needs (ie. language translation, event planning).
• Supporting specific events (ie. extra hands on deck for Community Engagement events).
• Participating in the IDEA Committee’s monthly media club activities (ie. book club readings and discussions).
• Volunteering as a facilitator for IDEA Committee’s trainings of PNB staff.
• Submitting stories, events, and resources that could be shared in the monthly IDEA newsletters
Contact IDEA Committee co-leads Naomi Glass (she/her) at nglass@pnb.org or Kiyon Ross (he/his) at kross@pnb.org for more information!
Did you know?
PNB received a gift of $75,000 from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.
This grant was awarded as a part of the trust’s COVID-19 Arts & Culture Resilience Fund Initiative. This significant investment from the Trust speaks to PNB’s commitment to I.D.E.A., both to what we have accomplished so far in our journey and to all that we have planned for our future.
This grant will support 3 specific areas of our I.D.E.A. work:
• Our work with consultant Steve Sneed, a key contributor to the City of Seattle’s Race & Social Justice programs.
• Ensuring that every PNB employee is able to partake in the Race: the Power of an Illusion docu-series and trainings.
• The Seattle Arts Fellowship (SAF), a partnership with Seattle Opera, Seattle Symphony, and Classical KING FM that is committed to diversifying the administrative staff groups of classical arts organizations and promote anti-racist principles. As part of this partnership, we’ve hired Gabriela Shutt as a Fellow to work with us for 1 year as part of a cohort of BIPOC future arts leaders.
With this critical support from the Trust for these 3 areas of focus, PNB will be able to emerge from the pandemic as an organization more authentically grounded in its commitment to and manifestations of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. When we were shut down in March of 2020, we promised ourselves we’d convert our many losses into opportunities for human connection, become a destination for inspiration, and make meaningful change centering on artists, community members, and children in our school. The I.D.E.A. Continuum represents essential elements to those vitally important promises.
