Black Lives Matter.

In this time of great turmoil and righteous uprising, Chicago Dancemakers Forum joins our arts colleagues across the nation to speak out against White supremacy. George Floyd and generations of Black people have been violently robbed of their lives through cowardly and heartless acts of White supremacy.  We are all injured by the evils of racism and we are united in declaring unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. We feel grief and rage in the living, breathing human bodies which we are blessed to inhabit. We also feel love and determination. We stand together in demanding the safety, wholeness, and wellness of Black people and for dismantling White supremacy and all systems of subordination.

Dancers have a unique understanding of the body as the core of all human experience. Within our community there are artists who express their humanity through dance despite paralyzing trauma resulting from the long history–and the present moment–of anti-Black racism. Chicago Dancemakers Forum is committed to funding the work of Black artists alongside White artists, Indigenous artists, and other artists of color; we honor the cultural origins and expressions of BIPOC dancemakers in Chicago. We pledge to strengthening relationships between artists and organizations across the deep divides in our city. We believe that dance and dance artists can be a meaningful part of making change in our society.

As an organization, Chicago Dancemakers Forum recognizes that we have a lot of work to do to combat White supremacy and we know that de-centering Whiteness requires our constant attention, effort, and action over time. It took us a while to issue this statement; we wanted consensus and some concrete actions to share with it. Here are the changes that we are making right now:

1. Investments: Chicago Dancemakers Forum will transfer its reserved funds to investment products at a Black-owned financial institution and build relationships there to support and encourage artists and other organizations to bank and invest there also.

2. Grants: Get money into the hands of artists who suffer disproportionately in this time of crisis. In addition to delivering our core Lab Artists program, Chicago Dancemakers Forum will leverage our cash reserve and fundraising platform to provide past BIPOC awardees and finalists with new one-time unrestricted cash grants in 2020.

3. Structures and Practices: Identify and enact strategies to de-center Whiteness at all levels of our organization and to compensate all contractors and employees with equitable pay. Chicago Dancemakers Forum will conduct detailed analysis and change our structures and practices so that BIPOC leaders and artists will want to, and are able to, participate in our organization.

Chicago Dancemakers Forum Staff, Board, and Consortium members.

Angel Ysaguirre, Baronica Roberson, Bob Faust, Christopher Barrett Politan, Elise Butterfield, Ginger Farley, Kaylan Knutson, Kim D. Ricardo, La Mar Brown, Lucy Jaffar, Peter Taub, Shawn Lent.

The work of Chicago Dancemakers Forum is supported by a committed Consortium of Chicago dance stakeholding organizations: The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, High Concept Labs, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Arts Chicago, Pivot Arts, Rebuild Foundation, Ruth Page Center for the Arts.

Photo: George Floyd protests in Uptown Charlotte, 5/30/2020 (IG: @clay.banks), via Unspash