UPDATED 8/17/22:
For theatre people in NYC, SafeWalks is holding their Fall 2022 volunteer meetings this September. Please RSVP here. These SafeWalks help protect fellow community members who are feeling unsafe while commuting by offering a presence in escorting them to and from subway stations.
UPDATED 3/24/22:
Help Keep AAPI Theatre Workers Safe: Support the AAPI Transportation Fund! With the 360% rise in Anti Asian violence in NYC, AAPI theatre workers are at a higher risk of not getting home safely. AAPAC and Indie Theater Fund have launched the AAPI Transportation Fund.
If you’re AAPI and work Off-Broadway or Off-Off-Broadway, apply for $250 micro grants here: bit.ly/AAPITF_app.
To donate and help more AAPI theatre workers get home safely, visit: bit.ly/AAPITransportationFund.
Also, our friends at Ma-Yi Theater Company and the The Public Theater have put together a Resources for Community Safety list:
UPDATED 3/16/22:
On March 16, 2021, eight people, including six Asian women massage workers, were killed at three spas in the Metro Atlanta area. Today is the Day of Remembrance for the one-year anniversary. On behalf of TCG, Adrian Budhu signed this collective statement. Please review the March 16 Remembrance Messaging Guidance & Toolkit and many of the actions outlined below to #StopAsianHate today and every day.
UPDATED 2/25/22:
On February 23, Ma-Yi Theater Company and The Public Theater reported that a performer from Yip's Dragon Style Kung Fu and Lion Dance had been attacked on their way to perform as part of the celebration of The Chinese Lady's first performance. You can read their report of what happened here. This act of violence occurs amid a terrifying 339% rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, two-thirds of which have been targeted toward women. We mourn some of the recent lives lost, including
Christina Yuna Lee in New York City as well as Sihui Fang and Mary Ye in Albuquerque, and are sharing resources from Anti-Racism Daily's recent Stop violence against AAPI women post:
We're continuing to follow Ma-Yi Theater Company and The Public Theater, as well as CAATA, on ways we might offer our support. We encourage everyone in the NYC area to the see the production of The Chinese Lady and celebrate the performers and production teams.
UPDATED 8/24/21:
Review this comprehensive, crowd-sourced document, Active: Asian American Community Resource/Dono Post. The resources include: #StopAsianHate organizations, community resources, mutual aid, volunteer opportunities, and events, all listed by state
UPDATED 6/18/21:
THE VISIBILITY REPORT: RACIAL REPRESENTATION ON NEW YORK CITY STAGES covers employment statistics by race for actors, playwrights, composers, librettists, directors and designers for the 2018-19 season for all of Broadway and the 18 largest non-profit theatre companies in New York City. It is the only publicly available report of its kind.
Click here to access the Visibility Report.
Click here to read the Press Release.
UPDATED 6/3/21:
Opportunity boost: Free Training for our AAPI* Theater community and extended families (16 to elders)! A 2-hour workshop with IMPACT BOSTON and trainer Adriana Li on Facing AAPI Race-Based Harassment & Self-Defense Training. This training is being offered free with the generous support of CAATA and TCG to our AAPI* Theater Community and your families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Asian American Pacific Islander communities have faced increased race-based harassment. This class introduces strategies that can be helpful in the face of race-based harassment, with opportunities to practice in role-plays against a mock assailant. This class covers:
- Adrenaline management skills to regulate our own emotions
- De-escalation strategies to use with the assailant
- Verbal boundary setting techniques
- Best practices for bystander intervention when witnessing harassment or other unsafe situations
This class is for AAPI identified and presenting individuals, and intended for folks 16 years and up. ASL interpretation will be provided.
UPDATED 4/27/21:
Honolulu Theatre for Youth released an episode of their television program The HI Way, sharing their collective, creative response to Asian American hate.
UPDATED 4/7/21:
American Theatre publishes a triptych of articles connected to anti-Asian hate and racism:
-Asians Under Attack: A Theatremakers’ Round Table
-Invisibility and Objectification Can Kill: American Theatre’s Anti-Asian Problem
-No, LA Stage Alliance Didn’t Fold Over a Single Anti-Asian Blunder
UPDATED 4/02/21:
TCG's First Fridays - Responses to Anti-Asian Violence
TCG is postponing our discussion on April 2 with playwright Young Jean Lee to hear from our Asian and Pacific Islander (API) colleagues leading the responses to Anti-Asian violence. Working with Young Jean and other organizers, such as artists from the Consortium of Asian American Theatre Artists (CAATA), the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC), and Design Action, TCG First Fridays - Responses to Anti-Asian Violence will center the voices of API theatre makers, hold space for dialogue, and issue calls for support and action. Please join us on Facebook and on YouTube at 7pm ET on April 2 as we show up for our API colleagues and friends.
------------------------
UPDATED 3/25/21:
Video - Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists (CAATA) presents: Theatre Artists Against Anti-Asian Hate. Stronger Together. And Stronger than Ever.
UPDATED 3/24/21: CAATA and AAPI Theatre Leaders issue statement denouncing AAPI hate.
------------------------
UPDATED 3/24/21: From CAATA: "Calling all members of the AAPI community! CAATA invites you to share your experiences with pandemic-related anti-Asian hate as part of our #HadABadDay social media campaign. Click here to learn more about how you can participate."
------------------------
UPDATED 3/23/21: We'd like to share the ongoing coordinated efforts by Eric Ting, Jenny Koons, CAATA Board President Leslie Ishii and many others, who are gathering online to discuss responses to the horrific spree killings of Asian Americans in Atlanta. Please click here for more information about these efforts and here to make a gift to support CAATA and the organizers of this work. Thank you so much!
------------------------
ORIGINAL MESSAGE 3/19/21:
After learning about the horrific gun violence in massage parlors in the Atlanta-area, we’re writing to offer solidarity to our Asian and Pacific Islander colleagues, and to share actions we all might take in support. We know that anti-Asian racism and misogyny are not new in this country. This act of domestic terrorism is part of systemic white supremacy that reaches back to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the incarceration of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor to the rise in hate crimes against API communities caused by Trump’s election. The roots run deep, and so our commitment to #StopAsianHate must persist past hashtags as we work in solidarity to build systemic anti-racism in our theatre ecology and beyond. We’ve also included some resources below to invest in Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
To all our API theatres, colleagues and friends -- we’re writing today to offer our support in the wake of the violence in Atlanta. We hope you’re taking care of yourselves today, knowing that caring for your community is something you do every day. You do it whether the rising violence against Asian and Pacific Islander communities is in the news or not. We’re so grateful for that work. If there’s something you’d like us to communicate to the field through our platforms like American Theatre and the TCG Circle, please let us know.
The scourges of gun violence, misogyny, and white supremacy in this country must be dismantled, and we look forward to working with all theatre people to use our power as culture-makers to end it.
Teresa Eyring & Adrian Budhu, on behalf of TCG’s Staff and Board of Directors
Support API theatres, theatremakers, and community-based organizations: