For my friends in the performing arts

Hi, friends. I want to share something. I don't want to do this to talk over the black voices that need to be amplified right now, but I do want to share this as an example of what individuals and organizations can do to begin to repair relationships in our performing arts community.

CW: sexual assault, racism

Several years ago I experienced repeated assaults by a castmate, both in rehearsal and onstage during performances. At the height of #metoo, inspired by the stories of many of my brave friends and colleagues, I shared the full story of my experience anonymously with an opera blog.

In less than 48 hours, I received an email from the director of that production, who had failed to act when this was reported to him. The article hadn't mentioned names, but he recognized himself. He was contrite. He acknowledged my experience and that he was complicit for allowing this to happen. He let me know about the many concrete steps he has taken at his own company (intimacy coordinators, signed zero tolerance policies, etc) to prevent this from ever happening in one of his productions again. He apologized and acknowledged that I had every reason not to accept that apology.

That apology didn't change what happened and it didn't fix it, but it did help me move forward. I forgave him.

Friends in the arts, I'm sharing this to be an example of what we need to be doing. We need to listen to what our black colleagues and friends are telling us and to raise their voices high. We need to acknowledge their experience and our contributions to that experience. We need to offer an apology and we need to not expect people to accept it. Most of all, once we've learned, we need to make active, concrete changes.

Don't get defensive. Don't try to defend your behavior when you know it's wrong. Change. Look deep inside yourself and deep inside your organization and change. Change your heart. Change your mind. Change your behavior. Keep your eye turned inward and continue the work with vigilance.

This is the only acceptable reaction when you've wronged someone, and we have wronged black artists of all kinds. Don't put up a black square or extend Leontyne's broadcast and thing you're done. You're not. If you truly want art to survive, we all have to do our part to save it. It is going to be tough.

Do it anyway.