What is the QTBIPOC Community Engagement Toolkit?

The Toolkit is a resource recommending best practices for making theatre with/among QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) communities. It’s important to acknowledge that QTBIPOC communities (like all communities) include a diverse range of people, who each have different experiences and perspectives. The Toolkit doesn’t attempt to speak on behalf of QTBIPOC communities. Instead, it offers a series of questions for consideration. These questions emerge from the social justice practice of Fay Nass, a QTPOC artist, educator, and leader, who has a long history of collaboration with their peers. Along with questions, the Toolkit includes examples from Mother Tongues, an arts project that Fay led as the Artistic Director of the Frank Theatre. Mother Tongues explored the experiences of queer EAL (English as an Additional Language) communities.

Who is the Toolkit For?

The Toolkit can be a resource for non-QTBIPOC artists and organizations seeking to understand how (or whether) they can meaningfully collaborate with QTBIPOC communities. It can also be a resource for QTBIPOC artists and organizations seeking to know more about how their peers have approached meaningful collaboration.

Why is the Toolkit Needed?

On Turtle Island (a name used by some Indigenous people for what settlers call North America), power within the arts has been - and continues to be - often held by people who are white, cisgender, and heterosexual. Because of this, the needs and experiences of white, cisgender, and heterosexual communities are often prioritized. In contrast, QTBIPOC communities face barriers, harm, and exclusion. There are even more obstacles for those who are QTBIPOC and EAL, immigrants, low income, D/deaf, disabled, and/or neurodivergent. Additional privileges have been - and continue to be - granted to those who are anglophones, citizens, wealthy, hearing, able-bodied, and/or neurotypical.

Currently, funders are encouraging arts organizations to actively include QTBIPOC artists and audiences. The push for change is important, but beyond inclusion, QTBIPOC communities need to be leaders, shaping the future of the arts. They have first-hand knowledge of the industry’s injustices and are already creating alternatives. The Toolkit aims to uplift QTBIPOC leadership, by sharing learnings that come from arts projects built by and for these communities.