The Broadway League is committed to continuing the conversation about diversity in our industry. We acknowledge our industry’s past practices and only through engaging in challenging conversations can we begin to see change. Starting in 2012, The Broadway League has hosted a series of Diversity Summits. These summits invited together members of the Broadway community and our union partners to share best practices in recruiting and retaining staff from the BIPOC community. Activities included peer-to-peer information sharing and facilitated discussion. From the work done at these summits every union has been encouraged to start an EDI program.
After the cultural reckoning in 2020, it was imperative to continue the work done in the original Diversity Summits. As Broadway began to reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic, together with our union partners, The Broadway League resumed the conversations with a goal of expanding opportunity and creating a diverse workforce. New Summits were convened with members of the Broadway community. In conjunction with SDC, programs have been initiated to dismantle access issues and broaden opportunities. Together with AEA, we created space to explore bias and the need for diversity in our industry virtually in October 2021.
We look forward to keeping this tradition alive in future summits with a focus on expanding business diversity. Going forward, we will focus on our Broadway League membership and look at how the industry has cultivated EDI as one of its business priorities, including developing new strategies to aid in the recruitment, retention, and promotion of BIPOC individuals on and off stage. Activities will include peer-to-peer discussion topics relevant to some of the priorities in our workforce, industry, and audience. Discussions will highlight race, social justice, inequities, sustaining long-term progress, and more.
