Continuing the conversation. A Racial Awakening in Clowning.
The conversation about diversity in the arts and the clowning world continues. I've been in several panel discussions about diversity and people of color in the circus world. In late September, The Play the Fool Festival hosted a talk called "Culture, Identity, and Clowning: A BIPoC Artist Conversation". A link to that talk is here.
On October 14, I will be in another conversation. I've been involved with a group of artists focusing on this and other diversity issues in clowning called D.R.I.V.E. Forward. We are a group of artists who see a need for greater diversity in our workplace. Our name, D.R.I.V.E., is an acronym for diversity, representation, inclusion, voice, and equity. This Wednesday, October 14, we will have a panel conversation at EdCON hosted by the American Circus Educators. https://www.americancircuseducators.org/2020-edcon/
It's taken work to find my voice as an artist/clown in this environment. I've always been comfortable doing the work. I've always been Black; this comes with me when I walk into auditions, rehearsals, and performance spaces. This recent racial awakening in the arts world presents diversity in ways it has been undiscussed. The aftermath of the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, among others, continues. I use my voice to bring attention to this issue.
Over the past few years, there has been some space for diversity in the arts. This current awakening, however, seems different. It challenges the structure of the artistic world. More people are seeing the lack of people of color as a genuine deficit for arts organizations. For many years we've missed opportunities to recognize people of color as leaders. We have also missed opportunities to serve our audiences with diverse leadership.
A song from The Broadway show Hamilton comes to mind. In the song "The Room Where it Happens," Aaron Burr sings about how he is blocked from positions of power, from having his voice heard. He wants to be in the room where it happens. He feels that he is being kept on the outside while others are making all the significant decisions. For me, I've been on the outside of these rooms. I've been excluded from these rooms of power. When Burr sings, "I want to be in the room where it happens." I know exactly what he is talking about. I hope that the current awakening will allow more diversity in leadership. Our organizations will do a better job of serving our audience when this happens. Doing this will make our clown work more accessible to everyone.
Meanwhile, I will continue to clown, to shine a light on what's joyful, beautiful, and absurd in our world. The current pandemic gives us plenty of clowning material.
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