Dear Martha Graham Dance Center:

We, the Martha Graham Alumni Antiracist Alliance (MGAAA), demand the creation of a more just and equitable work culture at the Martha Graham Dance Center (MGDC). At a time when the world is facing a reckoning of racial consciousness, the necessity of centering Black lives and addressing the enduring racism that has structured social relations within our global community has never been more urgent. There is broad agreement among MGAAA that this is not a time to “put on the brakes,” rather it is a time to accelerate a historically insufficient process of cultural change at MGDC. The financial and existential complexities related to COVID remain critical, but this cannot outweigh the pressing priorities of justice. 

We saw your statements of solidarity with Black Lives Matter and anti-racism over social media last summer. Those statements ring hollow now in the absence of your actions. What we don’t see is evidence of sustained and coordinated effort for operational policy changes in regards to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) for everyone at MGDC. While some work has been done to promote diversity at MGDC, it is not enough! The work is never done in regards to anti-racism and DEIA. 

Many of our community members have pointed out over the years that MGDC is far from immune from institutional and systemic racism that allows white supremacy culture to permeate its space. Through the work of conscious antiracism, MGAAA focuses on BIPOC so we can protect everyone’s dignity and wellbeing at MGDC. We serve as a third party to keep checks and balances on those in power at MGDC. 

MGAAA, an intergenerational and multiracial alliance of Graham artists, has constructed a list of demands that we ask MGDC to review and analyze in relation to​ ​its entire operational infrastructure. These demands are not an act of antagonism but instead a call to action. By meeting these demands of reparations, you repair and earn trust in our community. MGAAA demands accountability, responsibility, acknowledgment, and transparency. 

Publicly admit to past racial mistakes and pledge a commitment, centering BIPOC to build anti-racism and anti-oppression policies and actions within the entirety of the MGDC to protect everyone's well-being and dignity.

• 
  Learn about historical racist policies & practices within the performing arts that upheld white privilege and white supremacy culture that benefited White Artists like Martha Graham. 
• 
  Ask yourself how Martha Graham benefited from these policies & practices, i.e. credited for inventing the contraction and reflect on her cultural appropriation.
• 
  How did Martha Graham use her white privilege to directly change policies & practices for Black people?
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  How do those policies & practices continue to affect Black Artists today within the concert dance world and the Graham organization?
• 
  Re-evaluate Martha Graham’s history in relation to anti-racism vs anti-fascism. Why was Martha Graham more outspoken about anti-fascism, but not racism? 
• 
  Acknowledge how universalism in modern dance, i.e. universal gesture, universal language, and universal meaning, are problematic concepts as they contribute to the erasure of cultural specificity and invisibilize specific cultural contributions. 

Enforce within the MGDC a code of conduct that will actively combat oppressive regimes such as racism, sexism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and their intersections in its infrastructure and curriculum. 

• Bring in a trained professional anti-racist specialist to lead group talks and build anti-racists policies & procedures to gain consciousness of implicit biases and white supremacy culture. 
• 
  Mandate anti-racist/implicit bias training with a professionally trained specialist for every staff, faculty, dancer, student, board member, invited guest artists, etc. 
• 
  Supply and inform specific and concrete steps and practices to eliminate, and identify unconscious biases to elevate equity. 
• 
  Examine examples of bias within MGDC: race, gender bias, bias type castings, lack-of-representation in hiring (administration, staff, faculty, company dancers, students), tone checking, colorism, tokenism, racial gaslighting, racial microaggressions, and bias against non-Americans. 
• 
  Develop a third-party relationship for a bias report system.

Stop Black erasure: acknowledge, invest, and recognize the importance of Black representation.

• 
  Honor Black Graham artists’ labor that contributed to the development of the Graham technique and repertory beyond the contributions of Mary Hinkson. 
• 
  Representation matters. Highlight the Graham Company Black artists (past & present) in videos, books, and social media (both school and company) as much as the non-Black artists, all year round. When you see us, others will see us and not dehumanize us.
• 
  Restage Graham works on Black ballerinas like we’ve seen many times for White ballerinas. Post it!
• 
  Acknowledge the African influence in the Graham technique. 
  Invite former Black Graham artists to teach, give lectures, set pieces, and work with dancers.
• 
  Recruit, hire, keep, and promote Black dance artists, choreographers, musicians, agents, publishers, marketing directors, consultants, designers, teachers, board members, and coaches.
• 
  Actively invest in Black dancers and students; create active pathways for advancement into Graham 2, the Graham Company, and faculty.
• 
  Develop a series of forums for the students and faculty to discuss the oppressive socio-political, socio-economic cultures, and social injustices that exist within the arts.

We demand that you engage with this work now. For many of us in the Martha Graham Alumni Antiracist Alliance, examining this culture of white supremacy has led us to question our own complicity. Our relationship with Martha Graham’s legacy has also been called into question. 

As a cohort of longtime Graham artists, we approach this demand with love in our hearts for the legacy of Martha Graham and from a sense of deep integrity in wanting to see this organization make substantive changes in relation to equity, power, and privilege along many of the axes of identity and oppression. 

We want a statement of redress that includes: 

1) evidence of structural and institutional policy and culture change and,

2) evidence that you have severed ties with those who are not committed to taking these steps forward. 

The work is on you to meet this moment and we are here to hold the MGDC accountable for implementing real systemic change.

Signed,

Martha Graham Alumni Antiracist Alliance

http://www.grahamantiracistalliance.com