Black Lives Matter - Our Pledge to Black Artists and Arts Organizations

Black lives matter. We mourn the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others that have been murdered – both those we have seen and those that came before cell phone cameras were available to bring them to light. It is long past time for this country to take action to address systematic injustice and police brutality. We believe this issue is everyone’s responsibility to address. Triangle ArtWorks stands with our Black brothers and sisters in their rightful demand for justice and equality.

What took us so long to make our statement? We wanted to put actions in place to back our words. Our mission is to support the arts sector in the Triangle as a business community. This business community includes Black artists and arts administrators at all stages of career development.

We have not done enough to reach out to Black artists and administrators. We need to do better to ensure our programs are designed to meet their unmet needs. So here is what we’re pledging to do immediately:

• Create an online directory of Black artists and arts organizations working in the Triangle to promote and amplify their voices and involvement in the Triangle arts community. If you would like to be included or have a suggestion, please submit here.

• Expand our Board Outreach Committee to include members from the public. This Committee will hold Triangle ArtWorks accountable by looking at where we are falling short on serving the entire arts community and how we can better create resources and programming to reach these communities and serve these needs, with a focus on artists and arts administrators of color. If you are interested in being a public member, please apply here.

• Continue to work internally and in the community to improve our inclusion efforts.

We love and support you.

The Triangle ArtWorks Team