FAC Theatre Company Equity Statement

It is with a renewed sense of purpose that we reopen our stages to the community. We are committed to bringing stories that heal, uplift, educate, and enlighten this upcoming season and beyond. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the year that has been. The amplification of cries for social justice for the global majority¹ across the world (especially as highlighted by the We See You, White American Theater  movement) has deeply impacted our company members both personally and professionally. This, coupled with the collective pause brought on by the pandemic, has given us the opportunity to take a serious and purposeful look at our mission, values, and practices. We want to fulfill the charge that the art of theatre demands of us—creating a safe space to tell stories of all experiences, backgrounds, and viewpoints in order to empathize, grow, and dream together.

While the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College has already released antiracist statements, we feel compelled to share how the theatre company plans to support and build upon them. After much conversation, education, and reflection, we make a public commitment to our community. We will make foundational changes to the ways in which we operate. We acknowledge that many of our practices have been problematic, including but certainly not limited to the diversity of our programming and the lack of BIPOC² voices in our spaces. We recognize these failures and promise to be better. To hold ourselves accountable, we have launched an action plan that will take us into this bright future.

We want all artists and audiences to feel welcomed and embraced in our spaces. To allow us to make strides in this effort, we are committed to the following:

• The staff of the FAC Theatre Company will continue our work in diversity, equity, and inclusion education through ongoing seminars, focus groups, and open dialogue.
• We are committed to color-conscious casting. We are dedicated to creating equitable and diverse theatre that amplifies voices from every culture. We welcome all and encourage people of every race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, economic status or any other diverse background to audition for our productions.
• We commit to curating seasons that more equitably represent the world as it truly is. This means prioritizing the voices of the BIPOC², feminine-identifying, and LGBTQ+ communities.
• We will align our creative and production teams with the shows that we produce. We will honor the stories that we tell onstage by having them be created by artists who have ownership of those stories.
• We will authentically connect to marginalized communities who may not have felt welcome here in the past. This will be accomplished by taking our work outside of the building and creating ancillary events around our existing programs.
• BIPOC² voices will be the priority of new play commissions for the foreseeable future.
• We have instituted the practice of land acknowledgements to honor the peoples who historically inhabited the lands we currently occupy.
• The FAC Theatre School, particularly our youth programs, will escalate its attempt to reach all students in the region by connecting to all school systems and investigating new tuition structures.