Orlando Shakes is proud to support
Central Florida’s Diverse Community
In the summer of 2020, Orlando Shakes made the following statement of our commitment to the Black community.
At Orlando Shakes, we stand against injustice. We condemn systemic racism and brutal acts of violence against Black people. We stand by our Black colleagues, patrons, friends, neighbors, and the entire Black community.
Orlando Shakes will:
- Invest in stories about the Black Experience
- Fund artistry and programs that celebrate Black Lives
- Strengthen our commitment to diversity across our organization
- Transform transactional Black interactions into meaningful, lasting relationships.
- Create, educate, and perpetuate safe workspaces for BIPOC** staff members
Our commitment to our diverse community has grown since that time. This page lists our commitments, goals, plans, achievements and reports.
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility [IDEA] Committee
As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, Orlando Shakes created the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility [IDEA] Committee. Its initial five-year mission is to ensure that Orlando Shakes creates an environment that not only speaks of inclusion of our diverse communities, but invites and welcomes those diverse communities to our theater as attendees, students, employees, performers, executives, and board members.
In doing so, we are proud to work alongside — and to be held accountable by — Central Florida’s Black community and leaders to ensure that we continue to do our part in fighting for racial equity in the arts.
IDEA Committee Mission
The mission of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Committee (IDEA) is to formulate IDEA goals and make recommendations for the Strategic Plan, act as a resource for members who have IDEA issues throughout the season, and to yearly review goals for accountability. Individuals will be asked by the Executive Team to serve a 2-year term and may serve successive terms on the committee.
The current IDEA committee (23-24 season) is:
Jim Helsinger – Artistic Director
Larry Mabrey – Executive Director
A. Noni Holmes-Kidd – Board Member
Shonn McCloud – Orlando Board Member/Shakes Artist
Delonte Smith – Staff Member
Roberta Emerson – Staff Member
Jesse Perez – Staff Member
David Monge – Staff Member
Report
The IDEA Committee was formed during the Orlando Shakes 2020-2021 season, and during its inaugural season, the IDEA Committee set strategic goals, which included creating a 5-year strategic plan to increase the representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC**) at Orlando Shakes so that our theater better reflects the composition of our diverse community. The report set forth below summarizes the most recent progress made on this important goal.
IDEA Committee Highlights 21-22 Season:
- Created the “Celebrating Black Artistry” fund to facilitate more Black artists and playwrights. As well as investment in developing Black staff members. Through April 2022, more than $30,000 has been raised.
- Completed anti-harassment and anti-racist training at all new employee orientations.
- Utilized Cultural Coordinator for all Orlando Shakes productions.
- 2 plays in 21-22 season were by Black playwrights with Black directors
- PlayFest 2021: 84% BIPOC** playwrights, with BIPOC** directors
- Creative teams 21-22 season: 37% BIPOC** artists
- Added 6 new members of the Orlando Shakes Board, of which 4 are BIPOC**
- 50% of new employee hires were BIPOC**
- Casting in the 21-22 season included 50% BIPOC** artists
- Creative teams 21-22 season included 37% BIPOC** artists
Our Goals
The message on our front doors proudly states, “We welcome all races and ethnicities, all religions, all countries of origin, all gender identities, all sexual orientations, all abilities and disabilities, all spoken and signed languages, everyone.” Those words are nothing, though, without action behind them.
As such, we have made it our mission and priority to proactively invest in our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [BIPOC**] communities. Our IDEA Committee, after meetings and discussions with Black members of our staff, artists, and board, has established a strategic plan that highlights five (5) key priorities, each of which entails numerous actions and directives.
Those priorities include:
- Orlando Shakes will invest in stories about the BIPOC experience. We will program more stories and plays about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC**) into our seasons.
- Orlando Shakes will fund programs and artistry that celebrate Black lives. We pledge to create a long-term “Celebrating Black Artistry” Fund to facilitate more Black artists, Black playwrights, and investment in the development of Black staff members.
- Orlando Shakes’ commitment to diversity and inclusion will be reflected across our organization. We pledge to increase the number of BIPOC** artists, staff, and board of Orlando Shakes. We will also expand our efforts to diversify our volunteers and audience.
- Orlando Shakes will grow Black and other BIPOC interactions into meaningful, lasting relationships. We pledge to reach out, connect with and invest in the Black and BIPOC** community of Central Florida, not only when we are producing a play about Black and BIPOC** lives, but on a continuous basis.
- Orlando Shakes will create, educate and perpetuate safe workspaces for Black staff members. We pledge to be a welcoming organization and theater company for our audience and for our staff, with education, accountability, and responsibility to be an actively anti-racist organization, where Black lives are respected, nourished, and heard for the important perspectives they bring to our theater and our community.
Please join us in supporting these initiatives, and in welcoming new and diverse audiences to our theater.
Orlando Shakes will fund programs and artistry that celebrate Black lives.
● The new “Celebrating Black Artistry Fund” will be used for additional Black Artists travel and compensation, anti-racism training, and development opportunities for Black staff members.
To learn more about specific actions Orlando Shakes has taken to commit to diversity in our organization and perpetuate safe workspaces for our Black staff members, please look at the Steps We’ve Taken.
Celebrating Black Artistry Fund
At Orlando Shakes, we have created a fund to facilitate more Black artists, playwrights, and investment in the development of Black staff members. Through April 2022, more than $30,000 has been raised.
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BIPOC
**BIPOC is an acronym for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The term is meant to refer to all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, while intentionally acknowledging that not all people of color face the same levels of injustice. It is notably used throughout the recent “We See You, White American Theatre” statements that were issued by a collective of BIPOC theater makers from across the country. At Orlando Shakes, we understand that BIPOC means different things to different people. As a classically based theater with its roots in Shakespeare’s plays, our goal is to expand our efforts to represent playwrights and stories beyond white European traditions. In our use of the term BIPOC, we include people who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latin American, Hispanic, Asian and other under-represented groups. We have used Black when speaking specifically about the Black community and BIPOC when speaking more inclusively as listed above.