Full transparency--we have mixed feelings about Ginny’s departure from A.R.T./New York and the way it has been handled. We found A.R.T./New York’s press release about her departure to be disappointing, full of meaningless platitudes and containing no reference to the events that led to her stepping down, i.e. our letter and the years of harm inflicted upon BIPOC staff members. While that may not be the intention, this erases us from the process in a glaring way.
The coalition understands that there are legal considerations at play in terms of what the organization can and cannot say about the situation. Despite those legal parameters, we find that this press release is just a whole lot of words that say nothing of concrete substance. To be clear, we are not advocating for the erasure of Ginny’s legacy. We do not look to “cancel” her contribution; instead, we are advocating for holistic and complete framing of the events leading to her departure.
The Coalition finds it hard to understand how A.R.T./New York can reconcile its desire to be a leader and example to the field with its consistent lack of authority, transparency, and backbone in its public messaging.
Ginny stepped down before the formal investigation into her behavior could even begin, which is frustrating given the amount of time and work we put into telling our own stories and collecting accounts from many of you in the community. Staff members on the coalition have been working hard to make sure that an internal audit of the organization’s practices, which would include an examination of how past harms occurred and how they can be prevented, is a top priority over the next several months. But yet again, this means that those most harmed at the organization continue to be the driving forces behind our own healing when the mechanisms promised to us by those in power fail to materialize.
At the end of the day, Ginny’s departure, along with Risa’s extension as our Interim ED for an extra six months, is a net positive. Over the past several months since we sent our letter, A.R.T./New York’s staff has been able to come together and work with each other on beginning to truly shift the culture of the organization, something that would never have been possible during Ginny’s tenure. There continue to be roadblocks in our path and power structures to dismantle; many of Ginny’s enablers still exist at A.R.T./New York. We have a very long way to go, but the organization is already in a different place than it was 6 months ago.
The coalition hopes to have a more collaborative working relationship when it comes to the search for a New Executive Director slated to begin early in 2021. We hope that this is a process that involves the coalition, our membership, and community stakeholders - all of us - at the beginning and does not inform us of things after they’ve happened, as is listed in our original letter of demands.