BWW Exclusive: Karen Brown, Artistic Director of The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc - 'We See You, and We are Angry'

Karen Brown, Artistic Director of The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. has penned an article exclusively for BroadwayWorld, discussing the current movement, "Dear White American Theater," and more.

Read her article below.

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The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc, (NEC) has been in existence for 53 years and has produced some of the most relevant, transformational theatre on record. I have served in various capacities as an administrator for over 9 years. This work has been a labor of sacrifice and a path fraught with obstacles and tumult. Most importantly however, it has been a labor of joy, pride, and love. NEC has and continues to inspire young, new, and emerging artists across the spectrum of theatre disciplines. NEC symbolizes the voice of authenticity and standards of excellence. The genius of Robert Hooks, Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald Krone in creating the preeminent platform for BIPOC artist to train, work and develop can't be denied or discounted. Significantly, we see ourselves in the brilliance of the work. Our stories are reflected, our plight is illuminated while the work evokes thought, change and hope. Yet, we are not the only one.

We share honors with our partner organizations, The Coalition of Theatres of Color, a cohort of New York City-based non-profit theaters founded in 2004 by the late cultural icons, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee to address the systemic inequities culturally specific theaters face. The original members were The Billie Holiday Theatre, The Black Spectrum Theatre, The National Black Theatre, New Federal Theatre, The New Heritage Theatre, The Paul Robeson Theater, The Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center, H.A.D.L.E.Y Players, ,AUDELCO, Negro Ensemble Company, and the Afrikan Poetry Theatre. Each and every founding member institution has over 30 years of excellence. I accepted the work fully aware of what was at stake. The future of a culture is at stake, and our ability to express life with all the joy and pain inherent to our experience without censure, redaction, or other exploitive rewrites to our voice.

After reading the statement, "DEAR WHITE AMERICAN THEATER", I was extraordinarily moved by the summoned bravery documented and signatory acknowledgments of theatremakers. As an African American whose life work has been to promote the art of my cultural heritage, I MUST wholeheartedly agree and stand with the narrative accurately chronicling the fundamental inequities permeating and encompassing every aspect of the industry we serve. At every level, the requirements from the gatekeepers of a controlling culture asphyxiate the efforts of our art and artistry. It is my contention that African American theatre and theatre from communities of color is indissoluble from the existence of the American stage and inseverable from American culture. Yet we are constantly relegated to the back door, the back of the bus and to the colored drinking fountain. Our cultural perspective is belittled, our brilliance denied and our contribution unheralded, unmentioned, and devalued. We are required to do more with less access-less staffing and devastatingly less funding, and all with an undeniable and deafening silence of our accomplishments in the face of tremendous and often brutal and demoralizing obstacles.

Theatre organizations of color today are among those historically boasting longevity and celebratory distinction. Our productivity is undeniable. Yet our contribution remains trivialized. We remain at the back of the line economically. We have extremely limited access to major donors, corporate sponsorships and lastly, but most importantly, city government funding is inequitable according to racial and ethnic population data. According to the 2020 population statistics, communities of color make up about 67% of the city of New York while our cultural organizations receive yet we receive one-tenth of 1% of the total funds awarded for arts and culture in New York City/State. Moreover, and more insultingly, we are consistently perceived as beggars at a table that is being constructed on the backs of our own people. We are disallowed the ability to grow, to thrive and the ability to exist on any level other than pitiable subsistence. Today, Our institutions are in peril, facing funding shortages that may very well cripple our capacity to have our own authentic voice in generating, developing, and producing the work vital to the historic, political and cultural understanding of this nation and indeed the world. Today, we are being told we may suffer across the board funding cuts all the while we have never enjoyed the benefit of across the board funding dollars.

At this time on this land, in this country, there is a movement addressing the practice of systemic racism and its many ugly faces. Yes, it is about policing. Yes, it is about the murder of our people at the hands of those charged in our society to protect and serve. Yes, lives takes precedence. And, yes it began with the acknowledgement that historically, African Americans are methodically and systemically brutalized and violated. The killing MUST stop. But, let's address it all shall we? Racism is insidious. It is overt and covert. It is brutal and it is pervasive. In whatever we do we suffer neglect and inefficacy based your perceptions of race. Repudiation of our art steals our soul. We Can't Breathe!

Again, it is my contention that African American theatre and theatre from communities of color is indissoluble from the existence of the American stage and inseverable from American culture. Yet we are constantly relegated to the back door, the back of the bus and to the colored drinking fountain. We see you, and we are angry. You must either change or admit to the practice of your racism, be it; deliberate, conscious, unconscious, or subconscious. And by the way, "We are not asking anymore." Consider this is a demand.

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If you are a Black artist or an artist of color and would like to share your stories, your work, and your experiences, or to recommend someone else that we should get in touch with for one of our initiatives, please feel free to email us at contact@broadwayworld.com.

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