Cultural Equity and the Full Creative Life for All
Adopted at the in 2016
WHEREAS, cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people--including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based upon race/ethnicity, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender, social economic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion--are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial and informational resources; and
WHEREAS, Americans for the Arts has adopted a new cultural equity policy following a year-long process of engaging thousands of community leaders in 10 regions across the country representing all 50 states on this and other related topics; and
WHEREAS, Americans for the Arts has committed to provide informed, authentic leadership for systemic change to make measured progress towards cultural equity in the field, including:
- Encourage substantive learning to build cultural competency
- Improve the cultural leadership pipeline
- Generate and aggregate quantitative and qualitative research related to equity
- Advocate for public and private-sector policy that promotes cultural equity; and
WHEREAS, cultural equity is essential to a healthy and truly democratic society and critical to the long-term viability of American communities, and
WHEREAS, changing demographics are reshaping our communities in ways that are essential to their long-term health and vibrancy, and are creating new, but sometimes challenging, opportunities for different groups to interact, empathize, and engage with each other; and
WHEREAS, experiences of arts and culture can create common understanding between citizens, can encourage empathy and critical thinking about the work, and can be used to address community development and equity issues ranging from youth at risk, homelessness, and illiteracy to economic vitality, neighborhood cohesion, and civic engagement,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors commends Americans for the Arts for adopting a strong policy on cultural equity and encourages mayors to work with their local arts agencies to urge them to adopt similar policies.