1. Land Acknowledgements- you saw the email I sent to Gandhi Institute explaining our thoughts about this. They have said yes and will be in contact after the director returns from vacation. (B) We have asked Ginny Fifield to come and speak with us about the needs of Native people in Monroe County and what actions we can take. She has said yes to the 15th and needs it to be by Zoom (C) Geva Theatre has been collaborating with the Haudenosaunee in the area. We would like to know how and to collaborate. Tom Perry is contacting them.
2. Officers- We would like Barry Swan to continue if he is agreeable to this. It will entail looking at the current Bylaws to see if this is approved and if not discussing changes.
3. Committee
A. New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) recently had a regional meeting. Roberta is awaiting the report from that meeting and will share with the group
B. RASE Carts- Roberta is participating on the mental health and policing CARTS. RocACTS has a number of members participating on different carts: education, housing. All are invited to join a CART. We will keep TIAR updated.
4. Discussion Question - we would like to devote 15-20 minutes for a discussion of the following question at a future meeting:
Why are you doing this work?
Submitted by Roberta Davis
Re Geva Land Acknowledgement (and Anti-Racism) positions and actions:
Geva presents their Land Acknowledgement and Anti-Racism work as integral parts of charting an anti-racist path forward for the theater.
Geva’s Anti-Racism Action Plan is detailed here: https://gevatheatre.org/diversity-inclusion/
The Plan has four parts:
Disrupting Inaccurate Histories and Exclusions
Revising Policies and Practices to Adhere to Anti-Racist Values
Creating Greater Equity in our Artistic Process
Building Inclusive Community Relationships
Their Land Acknowledgement work is briefly summarized in part 1 on the Diversity & Inclusion page linked above (and in the Playbill at every performance) AND is covered in covered in greater detail in the Geva Journal here: https://gevajournal.wordpress.com/2020/10/14/whose-land-are-we-on/
Comment: Much of the account is from Native American sources and perspectives. We can be grateful for the work that Geva and their partners have done for the entire Rochester Community. Missing from the Geva accounts are the continuing struggles of the Haudenosaunee peoples to maintain their sovereignty and culture in the present day.
Parts 2-4 document the work that Geva is doing in an on-going examination of their history, policies, and practices to identify where they need to change to become an anti-racist and transformative theater company.
Comment: To their credit, Geva is committing to actions that are measurable.
And following part 4, Geva reports on their Progress with real numbers and honesty about their late start and the long way they have yet to travel.
Comment: Would it be that our own religious and social organizations would follow the example that Geva has set.
Comment: The Progress reported is from 2021. More recent data does not seem to be publicly available.
Tom
TIAR EXECUTIVE/AD HOC MEETING
Date: August 3rd 2023
Present: Tom Perry, Rich Codding, Roberta Davis, Gaynelle Wethers, Becky Elwell, Rev. Bill Spilly and Mary Sutton
We will be meeting every two weeks staring 8/15/23. I have extended our group to include members interested in active participation. We have an Ad Hoc Committee section in our bylaws. I have named this group “The TIAR Action Committee." Our main goal will be to design a TIAR Annual Meeting Agenda. We have as a group decided that our focus will be Race, Book Banning and the effect of Christian Nationalism. We will keep our focus on Local Boards of Education, Library personnel, and Local Community representatives. Roberta has sent an email to the Ghandi Institute and you should have received this letter and her notes.
Duties: Richard and Becky will meet to review and organize our current Membership list. Gaynelle with the help of all willing to make calls will call each member on this list and ask them to rejoin. John Noranha has resigned from the Board and the GRCC representative. Another task for Becky and I will be to sort out the terms of Board members and Officers and recommend a Slate after each Board member and officer is contacted. Barry Swan is recuperating from surgery so his activity will be limited.
Tom Perry gave his report; we have $3,845.56 in our account. Becky reported that we have only 22 paid Memberships.
Roberta reported on the PAB which is alive and well and the ROCACTS which is undergoing reorganization. Mary reported on attending the Phase one and two of the County Climate Plan. Upcoming events include Baden St. Campaign, a Climate Accelerator Meeting on the 24th and our Action Committee Meetings August 15 and 29th. If there are other events please advise Rev. Todd Goddard he is keeping our Web page up to date!
Respectfully Submitted, Rich Codding
Richard Codding / Secretary TIAR