With Our Board

Audit current Board makeup and create a matrix of members’ industries, expertise, age, social identity, etc. to help determine gaps, focus recruitment, and broaden backgrounds represented

Refine criteria for Board membership to value candidates with needed expertise and perspectives as much as financial resources

Develop a strong process to equip and onboard new members to include intra-Board mentorships for new members to ensure it is a welcoming space

Work with diverse identity-based organizations to broaden resources for Board recruitment

Provide initial and ongoing EDI/AR learning and brave dialogue spaces for all Board and volunteer-leadership groups

Foster empathy and communication between staff and Board members, including regular meetings between Board EDI Committee and staff Transformation Team and ongoing roundtable discussions between Board and staff members

Include explanation of the role of the Board and organizational fundraising strategy as part of staff on-boarding process

Board will work with executive leaders and cross-departmental staff team to establish succession plans

Maintain, update, and share Dashboards of EDI/AR metrics to ensure mutual transparency and accountability between the organization and the Board

Create mechanisms for sharing updates to staff regarding activities of the Board

EDI Committee to review Board-governing documents and make recommendations to the Nominating and Governance Committee for changes that embrace an equitable, diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist culture

Engaged a consultant to conduct EDI/AR learning sessions with our Board of Directors and Leadership Council

Changed Board member requirements to better prioritize experience and backgrounds in combination with financial support

Created deliberate cross-over between Board EDI Committee and Board Nominating/Governance Committee

Began paying all artists for participation in Board- and donor-engagement events

Established an online portal for our Board that, among its other functions, will enable us to monitor and track progress in Board diversity

Made EDI/AR updates a regular agenda item at full Board meetings to maintain consistent reporting and engagement

Designed a process through which the staff can contact the board directly on EDI issues.

Continued to diversify the pipeline of new board members.

Over the past few seasons, we conducted a survey of individual donors to develop a baseline of demographics.