First Floor Theater is unequivocally committed to operating as an anti-racist institution. We believe that white supremacy is a persistent ill that has plagued our society for too long, and that is our responsibility as an artistic organization to combat it however we can. We have been complicit through action and through inaction in white supremacy, and as a majority white company, we have caused harm. It is our intent to rectify this as a daily practice.

This work will be difficult and we will be imperfect in our pursuit of it; nevertheless, we are dedicated to dismantling the ideas, policies, and practices that uphold white supremacy in any iteration.

In this pursuit, First Floor Theater has made the below commitments.

These commitments will be a living document and updates will be given freely and transparently. The specifics enumerated are by no means an indication that the work is done, nor do they reflect the totality of the efforts that will be made in pursuit of a particular commitment, rather they are updates given in the spirit of accountability.

We will program a majority of BIPOC playwrights every season, while carefully considering which artists we choose to work with, and taking in their whole body of work as opposed to just one facet of it.
We acknowledge that we were long a majority white company and that a majority of our staff for most of our operational history was white: as such, we are consistently working to create opportunity for and to hire more BIPOC staff members, to invite more BIPOC collaborators to become company members, and to ensure our board remains reflective of the artistic voices inside the company and of the voices we program.

We have committed to minimum 50% BIPOC self-reported representation in our staff and our board within four seasons. Both met this goal in 2021; staff meets this goal as of writing.

We have engaged in and will continue to engage in anti-racism training for our staff, as well as providing anti-racism resources to our company and community.

We have worked as First Floor Theater with CROAR, artEquity, and most recently The Chicago Inclusion Project; individual members of our staff have trained or have upcoming training scheduled with additional organizations.
We will allocate financial resources in each season’s budget such that these trainings can and will be ongoing for our personnel.
We have provided actions and education to our supporters and stakeholders as a responsive measure in the past; we will do so going forward as a proactive measure.

We will work to create a company culture that is inclusive for all artists who choose to work with us.

In the fall of 2018, we adopted our Anti-Discrimination & Anti-Harassment policy to be agreed to as part of our contracting prior to any artist or administrator entering a First Floor Theater space, physical or digital. We are committed now to reviewing this document, at minimum annually, to ensure it is still reflective of the culture we strive to foster. Any time that we learn of new or more appropriate best practices, it will be updated accordingly.
We will ensure there is BIPOC representation specifically in our complaint path that is distributed to all artists who work with us. As of writing, this has been met.

We will ensure that we pay our artists equitably and competitively, as our resources allow.

We adopted a pay structure that is more reflective of time worked for actors as of 2022.
We significantly raised compensation for rehearsal room personnel in 2022 and are raising designer pay in 2023.
We are working with funders to create paid assistant and associate positions; we also intend many of these positions to be educational opportunities that are divorced from the traditional paths of entry into our field (i.e. higher education and/or unpaid or underpaid labor.)
We have eliminated 10 out of 12s.
We transitioned our staff from stipend contractors to hourly employees in 2022. All positions are compensated at the same hourly rate.
We are continuing to produce a two-mainstage season until we can ensure the financial component of all of the above goals is sustainable across a three show season.

We will listen carefully to BIPOC artists that work with us, to ensure that their artistic voices and practices are nurtured while they work with us.
We will hold ourselves and others accountable for practices that are racist, cause harm, and/or uphold white supremacy.

In 2023, our focus is on adopting structures and systems that support this work.
We are writing an internal policy handbook and adopting a regular post-mortem structure that includes open opportunity for anonymous feedback.
We are also incorporating new communication and meeting cultures that better allow for regular and pro-active reflection rather than reactive responses.

Last updated January 2023.

Anti-Racism Resources:

Click:

Anti-Racism Resources | White Accomplices | The Work | Anti-Asian Violence Resources
Additional listening, watching, and reading recommendations can be found within of many of the Anti-Racism Resource links above.

Follow:

@thegreatunlearn | @laylafsaad | @stopaapihate | @hateisavirus | @dribram

Listen:

Code Switch Podcast | 1619 Podcast

Chicago & National Organizations:

Act Blue has also set up a split donation resource amongst several organizations fighting racism and police brutality, which can be accessed here.

The above is by no means exhaustive. If you’d like to share additional resources and/or organizations with us, please do. We are grateful to the organizers and activists who have compiled many of the above links.