Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Main Street Theater believes equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives are central to ensuring all artists have equitable opportunity to theatrical work in Houston while helping audiences to engage more deeply with the wide range of stories and ideas presented on our stages. We encourage the participation of all Houstonians in the work we create. We want our work to reflect the communities we serve. We want to accommodate artists and audience members of different abilities throughout our company, and we want there to be no physical, financial, or emotional barriers to our stages.
We will accomplish this by fostering an atmosphere of compassion and inclusiveness. We will create and maintain opportunities for engagement and discourse. We will actively examine our systems to identify barriers and seek ways to remove them. The work on our stages must reflect the community in which we exist and respect the dignity of all its members, and our work with children must be infused with these values.
Steps we are taking to create an equitable theater:
- Members of our Executive Management and Senior Staff have received training through Art Equity and continue to belong to accountability cohorts.
- In June 2021, we hired Sloane Teagle, our first Artistic Inclusion and Community Engagement Director.
- Main Street Theater’s Theater for Youth made an institutional commitment to be an Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive organization through TYA / USA .
- In August 2021, we launched our diversity panel which engages members of our organization and marginalized individuals in the community.
- In February 2022, we launched our BIPOC Fellowship initiative.
We know there is much more to be done. We will continue to work hard at making Main Street Theater an equitable place for all.
