Philly Dance Community Equity & Funding Conversations
This group originated when Philly-based dance artists, administrators, and stakeholders got together in the summer of 2020 to write a letter in support of the Philly Cultural Fund, under threat of severe budget cuts. We galvanized to support the PCF and identified how its funding intersects with defunding the Philadelphia police department.
We now propose regularly holding space for one another on Zoom. Our focus is racial equity and its intersections in Philadelphia, as it relates to dance, community, funding, and institutions. Each meeting's facilitator(s)** will share clear speaking guidelines so that we can make the Zoom as safe of a space as possible, prioritizing Black and Indigenous artists' voices in the conversation.
As of now, the idea is that this space will be held/facilitated once a month to come together, build community, exchange resources and ideas (with a focus on funding, equity, & racial justice in Philly dance), and potentially break off into more action-oriented groups.
**The upcoming meeting will be facilitated by Iquail Shaheed, Nichole Canuso, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Mira Treatman, Katherine Desimine, and Anna Drozdowski. Ideas for a rotating/shared leadership structure are in the works.