What Are you Willing to Give Up? (Part 2)

Our eleventh installment continues the conversation with our panel of guests including Robyne Walker Murphy, Toya Lillard and Durell Cooper, with our host Courtney J. Boddie from the Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie Podcast, whom are all fighting for equitable arts education for BIPOC youth. 

Robyne Walker Murphy (Groundswell) starts the conversation with a question: What is your liberation philosophy? As many nonprofit proclaim the mentality of wanting to provide social good, their intentions are up for debate. This particular question interrogates by measuring the rationale of working with communities. These questions MUST be answered before organizations target communities, because if White-dominated organizations want to work with, for example, BIPOC youth in the Bronx then they better have a reason why backed up with results.

Sadly, until recent scrutiny, predominately white organizations (PWI) have been able to use their power to dominate resources. Thinking about social justice in particular, the arts world contains PWI “leading” social change initiatives where mid-size and small BIPOC organizations are overlooked. Truthfully, smaller organizations perform more authentic work in comparison, however, White = Power = Money. For example, many negatively viewed social justice arts but when it started showing results with philanthropists securing funding towards it, individuals started to capitalize on it. Walker Murphy mentions that we need to interrogate the ways we uphold large White-led institutions that have the resources to easily gobble up the work of smaller BIPOC institutions and get funded for social justice work they do not have full comprehension on.

From a fiscal perspective, Toya Lillard (ViBe Theater) mentions this anecdote: 

Your favorite nonprofit recieved a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in the millions and laid off half its staff.

The very organizations (PWIs) that are receiving the lionshare of funding, who committed to hiring BIPOC employees to uphold Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access (DEAI), have laid-off those workers of color. Basically, organizations are hoarding resources to protect senior management while simultaneously offering the labor of teaching artists of color for profit to secure the bottom line. Lillard calls attention to the ethical problems in the field, including: 

  • Paying Workers a Fair Wage

  • Resting Upon Black Women to Readily Perform Racial Equity Work

  • Making Assumptions that BIPOC will Enlist in DEAI Work

  • Making Assumptions that No Expertise is Involved 

This enforces Durell Cooper’s (Cultural Innovation Group) notion that the systems in place were not designed to support Black and Brown individuals. He continues to mention two specific systems: Education Industrial Complex and Non-Profit Industrial Complex. Besides reflecting on systems, we desperately need moments of personal reflection. As Walker Murphy previously mentioned, if individuals and organizations cannot connect good intentions with their choices, why do it? In addition, it is crucial to an individual’s development to have opportunities to reflect on their skills needed to foster success. When someone finds their skills with outsider acknowledgement but halted towards advancing said skills, then we have to question the systems in place. “It is time to start wearing the crowns that have been given to us at birth”, Cooper says to the BIPOC community. 

We end the conversation with Courtney’s signature question - What does a racially just world look like? Morphing Robyne Walker Murphy, Toya Lillard and Durell Cooper’s testaments, it would go something like this:

For the hundreds of years of oppression that our people have recieved, we cannot accept another sorry on the matter. The time is now to view the world in an abolitionist mindset: Deconstructing poor structures and build a place for everyone. The end goal is to have Black and Brown individuals liberated to the point that they do not have to lean on institutions because BIPOC should not continually be struggling. The next generations deserve futures without hesitation or boundaries. Something beautiful is coming that we may not understand nor see, but in order to avoid catastrophe, we must detract from the oppressive systems that created this country.

Join us next week when Courtney interviews Peter J. Kuo, the Associate Conservatory Director at American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), where he serves as the Chair of the Staff EDI Committee. He is a theatre director, producer, writer, and educator focusing on raising the visibility of marginalized communities.

Robyne Walker Murphy works as the Executive Director at Groundswell, a social justice, youth development program that uses the transformative power of public art making to ignite personal and societal change. To date, Groundswell has installed over 600 murals in all five boroughs of New York City. For seven years, she served as director of the DreamYard Art Center, which, in 2012, the White House recognized as one of the top 12 out-of-school programs in the nation. Previous to her position at Groundswell, Robyne served as director of membership development and engagement at the National Guild for Community Arts Education, working closely with a national network of community arts organizations. Robyne also created the National Guild for Community Arts Education’s  ALAANA Network to recognize and invest in the growth and leadership of people of color in community arts education.

Robyne has conducted workshops and delivered keynote addresses about art and social justice at conferences and institutions across the country including New York University, City College, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, the Bronx Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, and Harvard University School of Education. Robyne is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University where she majored in English with an emphasis in African American Literature she than went on to obtain her MFA in acting from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program.  In the Fall of 2020, she was appointed to New York City’s Cultural Advisory Committee. She resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, Tarik Murphy, and her son, Ras.

Check out a recent work sample.

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Toya Lillard is a theater director, artist, activist and educator.  A native Houstonian, Toya graduated from Houston’s High School for Performing and Visual Arts. She has directed plays, developed curricula, led advocacy efforts and implemented innovative teaching artist training programs both in and out of our city’s schools. Prior to joining viBe, Toya served as Director of School Programs for The New York Philharmonic’s Education Department, where she helped to develop its nationally recognized School Partnership Program. In addition to leading viBe Theater Experience, Toya is also part-time faculty at The New School, where she teaches Global Dramatic Literature, Devised Theatre, and Portfolio 1. Toya is also an adjunct professor at CUNY CityTech, where she teaches Black Theater. Toya holds a B.A. from Vassar College, and an M.A. from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Toya serves on the Board of the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable and is an Affiliate Representative on the Board of the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance.

Durell Cooper is one of the nation’s most prominent  cultural strategist specializing in systems change and collaborative thought leadership. Prior to founding Cultural Innovation Group, LLC, he was a program officer at the new york city department of cultural affairs (DCLA). Here is a recent work sample: Flow Web Series (Episode 1). He also worked at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, INC. In the marketing department conducting outreach to veteran service organizations and for Lincoln Center education recruiting and training teaching artists as well as several community engagement initiatives aimed at increasing equity and inclusion in NYC public schools. Prior to that he was a public school teacher. Durell is also a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy. 

Durell is a highly sought after public speaker presenting at lincoln center education’s summer forum, the New York City arts and education roundtable’s face to face conference, and for the National Guild for Community Arts Education as well as other engagements. Durell is a 2018 graduate of Stanford’s impact program for arts leaders (IPAL) as well as a 2017 graduate of the National Guild’s Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI). Currently, he is pursuing his doctorate at New York University.

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