This case study examines Deaf West Theater. Through weaving “American Sign Language (ASL) with spoken English to create a seamless ballet of movement and voice.”, Deaf West teaches through practice that (1) Language and linguistic identity can indeed advance and strengthen storytelling and (2) Audiences want to see linguistically diverse and accessible stories.
Fundraising as Activism through the Community-Centric Model
Currently, fundraising in the nonprofit sector uses a “donor-centric” model in which donors’ preferences for the organization’s direction are often prioritized over community needs. In the technology realm, donor centrism demands nonprofits’ use of advanced CRM systems to carefully track donors. Community-centric fundraising has emerged as an alternative that prioritizes community needs and social justice. Community-centric fundraising not only has the power to strengthen the fundraising profession as a form of activism, but its successful implementation means that the marginalized communities our organizations seek to serve will receive the attention, care, and justice they deserve.
Planning Our Equitable Digital Future
2020 has been and will continue to be notable for all but especially artists and arts institutions. Globally we are facing the uncomfortable realities of a pandemic that has brought the arts industries to their knees, economically, particularly the performing arts. Demands for racial and social justice come with a reckoning for many arts institutions — for their own participation in the industrial model that creates inequity in hiring, programming, training, even foundation giving.
As a researcher, artist, academic and former managing director, I hope that 2020 is a year that will offering us, as an industry, a pause to rethink how to do our artistic work in more equitable, inclusive and relevant ways. To create clarity as we re-think institutional systems , it is important to turn to data about our own institutions as well as our audiences in order to become the relevant and vibrant institutions that all communities deserve. In this short article, I will connect information from the recent national survey by LaPlaca Cohen and Slover Linett, “Culture and Community in a Time of Crisis” and emerging best business practices heralded by McKinsey and Co. and other thought leaders in the business field.