For Alberta Ballet, EDII means ensuring the workplace is a safe haven for all communities we serve. A safe haven requires all of us to understand issues of power and privilege—how each of us uses that power and privilege to adapt ourselves into true allies and advocates for others.

The value the arts bring to society often fails to reach those who might benefit from it most. These events tend to attract an over-representation of certain groups and an underrepresentation of others.

The most vulnerable groups in society are 20% less likely to participate in creative or cultural activities. Ethnicity is a major factor, but so is education, income, ability, type of employment, and perhaps most importantly, having been encouraged by parents to attend or participate in the arts as children.

Parents who engaged with the arts as children will ensure their children engage with the arts as well. It becomes a self-fulfilling cycle of arts attendance: when others in society, often non-white individuals, find themselves excluded or unwelcome from arts engagement, they will have children who are excluded as well. 

Societal inequities have a devastating toll on those who experience them. The arts can play a major role in helping citizens and communities become healthier and happier, but the arts are plagued with these same inequities. Until these inequities are overcome in the arts and we figure out ways to include those who are disadvantaged, the value of the arts will continue to be limited to those who need them the least. 

Allyship

Inclusivity requires everyone within the Alberta Ballet community to understand and champion equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigeneity. It is imperative our programming, artists, staff, students, audiences and the communities we activate in are reflective of the diverse stories and voices of all Albertans.

An ally is a person whose commitment to dismantling oppression is reflected in a willingness to do the following:

• Educate oneself about oppression;

• Learn from and listen to people who are targets of oppression;

• Examine and challenge one’s own prejudices, stereotypes, and assumptions;

• Work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed;

• Learn and practice the skills of challenging oppressive remarks, behaviors, policies, and institutional structures;

• Act collaboratively with members of the target group to dismantle oppression.