Policy Statement

Notch partners with artists, cultural workers, arts administrators, and other nonprofit organizations. Many individuals face practical barriers and oppressive experiences because of unequal power (both individual and systemic) related to race, ability, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and immigration status. Since Notch is a reflection of the society in which we live, these uses of power may inexcusably exist within Notch as well.

Discrimination and oppression cause enormous harm and lasting trauma and can prevent people from engaging with Notch in a way that fully reflects their ability, experience, and contributions. Sins Invalid “recognizes that we will be liberated as whole beings—as disabled, as queer, as brown, as black, as gender non-conforming, as trans, as women, as men, as non-binary gendered—we are far greater whole than partitioned.” Notch is in support of the liberation of all individuals and strives to operate from an intersectional lens. We also acknowledge that intersectionality came about in the service of disrupting racism, and thus we strive to be Anti-Racist, understanding the centrality of race in all our policies, programs, and practices. Furthermore, we recognize that understanding, acknowledging, and working to eliminate oppression is a learning process for us all. Different people can be at varied stages in that process, and Notch is committed to creating opportunities for learning, both within the context of the work and within our organization's administrative infrastructure at large. Furthermore, Notch acknowledges that this learning can be fraught and challenging. Because everyone is expected to engage with these social issues as per Notch’s mission, we encourage people who have historically held an unequal share of power to remain active in their discomfort. We believe that by leaning into that social discomfort we can advance the greater movement and carry this work forward together.

Notch strives to become an Inclusive Organization that provides opportunities for learning while not forcing historically oppressed groups to educate others or be re-traumatized. Notch recognizes that individuals and groups who experience discrimination have the capacity to make choices and act on their own behalf to bring about the self-determined change that will dismantle systems of oppression for themselves and others, and that our work is to support, uplift, amplify, and advocate for their self-determined work, not to prescribe or control it.

Commitment

We are committed to anti-racism and anti-oppression principles in all areas of our internal and external work. This commitment is grounded in our belief that change is possible and that our work, and that of the artistic community as a whole, will grow stronger as oppression is eliminated.  Notch will therefore ensure that our work accurately reflects and uses the variety of knowledge of all peoples as the basis for all of our activities; that we recognize how communities have been using their own technologies toward liberation for generations; that we recognize the leadership of disenfranchised individuals and groups to bring about anti-oppressive change; and that we acknowledges the existence of discrimination and make a conscious effort to constantly challenge systemic inequities.

Notch will work to ensure that:

• Our hiring practices and partnerships strive for inclusiveness in process and practice as well as result;

• Notch is guided by, and shares with our partners and vendors, Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator's Handbook to ensure that our work is presented in an accessible way so that our audiences can engage with the art in a manner free from obstacles, barriers, and oppression;

• Our advocacy work and our marketing and communications strategy with media and the public address the diverse and combined forms of oppression facing our communities, challenge unequal power and biases that lead to oppression, and strive to offer practical solutions to eliminate this oppression, building accessibility into that strategy from the ground up;

• We invest in the careers and professional development of BIPOC artists, board, and staff, and through Notch’s work our capacity and the capacity of our communities are strengthened to develop individual leadership and advocacy potential;

• All staff, board, and associated artists in management or leadership positions (including but not limited to: directors, producers, production managers, stage managers, choreographers, musical directors,  marketing directors and community engagement/outreach personnel) are required to have regular Anti-Racism / EDIA training. Notch will pay for training as needed.

• We invest, as informed by our community partners, in the economic betterment of each community through our cultural work; we commit to raising funds from individuals and investors seeking economic justice and not the exploitation of people oppressed by poverty; we commit to engaging in transparent conversation with our community partners about our budgets; and we strive to allocate at least 60% of our program costs directly to community partners and participants (more on our moral fundraising practices here):

• Notch prioritizes BIPOC audiences for all programming by fostering reciprocal partnerships with these communities and putting a concentrated focus on investment in long-term and meaningful relationship building;

• Notch has a process for resolving concerns and complaints that may arise from communities’ experience of unfair, inequitable, or oppressive treatment within Notch;

• Every Notch project elects an EDIA Advocate as a liaison to handle on-site EDIA concerns and provide an immediate and present avenue for EDIA reporting;

• All Notch artists and collaborators are made aware of the role of EDIA Board Chair, Alexis Green, and provided with the contact information to report EDIA concerns they feel cannot be addressed with the EDIA Advocate. It will be made clear that should they need further support they have a second avenue of reporting. If they need to discuss or report an EDIA issue, Alexis can be reached at AlexisAGreen@gmail.com;

• A process is put into place to develop policies and practices that promote anti-oppression and to implement, periodic review, and improve such policies and practices where necessary. When updates have been made, the Board will receive and acknowledge all changes. ​

Conclusion

These guidelines are a living document designed to evolve alongside shifting socio-political contexts. The conversation around these issues is happening in real-time, and we must respond nimbly and with urgency. This document will be reviewed and updated by Notch’s Board of Directors (and any other parties as the Board deems appropriate) on an annual basis. Review will take place every July, and an updated version will be released no later than December unless otherwise scheduled by the Board.

The theatre is able to hold up worlds we’ve never seen before and ask “…what if?” There is great power in collective dreaming. Our work can imagine into more just futures and rewrite falsely held historical narratives. Our work is the work of reaching toward one another, across that unknowable space between us, of getting proximate, shoulder to shoulder in the dark theater, all the stories on stage we may never otherwise visit.