A call to action for the safety of LGBTQIA+ creators of color

January 2

Report from What You See In-Depth on November 14, 2024

A CALL TO ACTION FOR THE SAFETY OF LGBTQIA+ MAKERS OF COLOR
by Mirte Hartland

In the theatre sector, there is more and more room for polyphony. For unique and idiosyncratic stories, told by makers who previously did not always get a stage. LGBTQIA+ makers of color often work in environments where Western ideas prevail. Does the context of theatre change enough with these makers? What is needed to offer these makers a safe working environment? On November 14, a panel of LGBTQIA+ makers of color discussed this with other makers, programmers, marketers and directors from the theatre field. The conversation was part of the program of What You See, the arts festival about gender and diversity in Utrecht. Physical performer and theatre maker Çiğdem Polat put together this afternoon and invited writer and performer Jasper Albinus and actor and storyteller Nasim out to share their work and experiences. Milone Reigman, theater maker and expert in creating safe spaces for makers of color from her role as former artistic coordinator of Huis Utrecht, led the conversation and invited the audience to be constructive. 'We are done with just talking about diversity and inclusivity, this is a call to action!'.

SAFETY IN THE THEATRE
Çiğdem Polat introduced the afternoon with a fragment from her performance Göbek Aşkı. A penetrating and visually powerful work about the grey area between rejection and acceptance that was recently performed at Amsterdam Fringe. A piece whose artistic process was overshadowed from the start by the question of whether it would be safe to perform in the theatre. Çiğdem: 'The question of whether I would not endanger myself too much became so dominant that I could not delve into my artistic process. That is why I started thinking about the preconditions for performing this piece.' The concept of safety has multiple meanings here. It refers to the threat of physical violence against queer people from within their own community. Or a threat of violence that can have a disastrous effect on the lives of family members in the country of origin. But it is also about the insecurity that arises from micro-aggressions, unsafe encounters with people in and around the theatre and people from the audience who, for example, bombard a maker with personal questions about intimate subjects after the performance. Çiğdem: 'It is important to create more sensitivity in organisations that want to offer space to unheard stories, but do not yet have tools for a safe environment.'

COMING OUT CULTURE, MARKETING AND PRESS
What these makers encounter within organizations is the presence of the Western coming-out culture in which someone is in or out of the closet. If someone is out of the closet on stage, it is assumed that this is the case always and everywhere. 'If you put it on the floor, then it belongs to everyone', says a maker in the audience. The many nuances that exist in this are often still unknown territory from a Western perspective. Someone can create a performance in which they are completely open, but for example, do not want this to be made explicit and findable online due to family. This can mean that different words and images have to be used in marketing and communication than in the performance. How can you say the same thing with fewer safety risks? It is often not yet customary to let makers participate in the content decision when images and text are released that are not part of their own marketing campaign. This requires taking the experiences and safety of these makers seriously and listening carefully and adjusting assumptions and working methods. By brainstorming together, a marketer can work with a creator to find out how to reach an audience with a tailor-made marketing campaign.

Critics sometimes seem to find it difficult to write about a performance when they are asked not to use certain words. For the performance Göbek Aşkı, several reviewers applied and were informed about the safety risks of the performance. They were given the suggestion not to use words that could possibly evoke violence and were offered alternatives. They were also asked about the possibility of sending the piece to the creator briefly before publication. Some reviewers dropped out. Çiğdem: 'It seems like a kind of avoidance. Never mind, this is too complicated, we won't do it.' Nasim: 'They may be afraid that they will write something that is not intended. Sometimes people think that it goes against press freedom when they are asked not to use certain words, but is it clear that it is about the safety of the people on stage and their families?'

ATTITUDE AND SYSTEM CHANGE
The goodwill of organisations is great, but when time pressure increases, the attention for makers who do not fit into the standard format decreases. Çiğdem: 'When it gets really busy, you notice that there is suddenly no more space. And that is difficult if a subject can provoke violence.' It is not just about an attitude, but also about a system change. Jasper: 'It requires an alertness that lives in the entire organisation and not just with that really cool programme maker who does notice.' Vincent Wijlhuizen of What You See describes how they, as a festival, also continue to question their system. An example of this are drag queens who cannot just walk down the street in Utrecht without running the risk of being insulted. 'It has to go wrong once before we think: we are never going to do that again. What it requires of an organisation is to be prepared to listen every time, even when it is very inconvenient. What is this person actually saying and why? And do we have any influence to improve that? And mistakes happen, we are a learning organisation.' On making mistakes, Annette van Zwoll (What You See) adds: 'But what if it really goes wrong because of a mistake? It's about the question of how we implement safety as a policy issue in an organization. Only then will safety be included in that system and that is essential.'

THE ONLY ONE IN THE ROOM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY SAFETY
Many of these makers are never asked under what conditions they can work safely and are not supported if something unsafe happens. Jasper: 'If I went for a walk outside the theatre and something was thrown at my head, I still had to rehearse and perform all day. You do that, but it is still in your body. In my opinion, there was no room to discuss that with the people in the theatre. And what do we do if the audience is here and something happens?' Makers are expected to leave a bad experience behind them on the stage and accept that afterwards there will be an audience that wants to know personal things. Jasper: 'People want more clarity, while it is already vulnerable to share it on stage.' Milone: ​​'That you are on stage as a professional, but that afterwards you are presented as an object that can be poked.' The fact that this is not often thought about says something about a lack of shared responsibility. Jasper: 'It's fun to program everyone everywhere, but I don't want to feel like I'm the only one in that whole room who is responsible for my safety.' Bringing up these topics on the spot is difficult. Jasper: 'You have to stay in that professional role. I want to be asked back by a stage, so I'm not going to make it difficult by saying something about it.' According to Milone, this is a side effect of belonging to a marginalized group: 'Then I accept that these are the rules instead of asking if it can be done differently. You don't want to be seen as difficult because then you can lose work. I've been hearing this from makers of color for 15 years and it shows a great lack of equality.'

CALL TO ACTION
All LGBTQIA+ makers of color take different risks and have different preconditions. What someone needs is changeable and differs per person. This topic requires openness and willingness to have an ongoing conversation with these makers from organizations. It is important to seek expertise from makers with experience, without them having to put their entire personal story on the table. It is not up to these makers to prove that a tailor-made approach and therefore a system change is necessary. Çiğdem: 'That we can move towards a theater culture in which I say: these are the preconditions of my performance because there are safety risks and that something is immediately set in motion'.

During this afternoon, an example was set of what a safe working environment can look like. Cameras were covered, phones had to remain in the pocket and a number of seats in the stands were marked as places where you would not be photographed. The contract was also adjusted so that not all images can be released without permission and the makers can participate in deciding what is posted on social media. Milone: ​​'It is precisely in the theater where thoughts are formed that we can transform systems.' Sometimes it is small actions with a big effect that can take a step towards a more inclusive theater field. When the willingness is there, everyone who works in this field can contribute to the safety of LGBTQIA+ theater makers of color from their own position. Let us ensure that these makers are no longer the only ones responsible for their safety.

Mirte Hartland is a singer-songwriter, writer and programmer. Currently, in addition to her work as a maker, she is a programmer at Theater Bellevue and coaches stage poets at Poetry Circle. Mirte wrote this text on behalf of What You See.

 

photo: Bete Photography

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