Accountability and Care
Acknowledgement
In recognition that our work takes place within the shared, unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, we are guided by their leadership in care for the land, air and water. We are committed to ongoing, respectful relationship with communities by continuous learning, honouring protocols, and foregrounding cultural practices within our programs. We recognize the aims and actions associated with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the global justice goals inherent in this declaration.
Our Commitment
Other Sights is committed to creating and ensuring inclusive and equitable spaces for gathering, working, presenting, collaborating and engaging with artists and publics; challenging and disrupting colonial systems that perpetuate the discrimination of historically and persistently marginalized groups; reconciliation with Indigenous communities; and anti-racist and trauma informed approaches to working.
As part of our commitment, we ask a series of reflective questions in relation to our daily operations and also with each project that we work on:
- How can we foster positive environments that are “safe” for both artists and communities to thrive? We care about the people and public(s) we work with.
- How can we take up space differently? We amplify a diverse range of voices and perspectives.
- How can we ameliorate, and when possible, remove systemic barriers in relation to access and resources? We ensure everyone has space and access.
- Who’s doing the work? We work to ensure marginalized communities are not being expected to carry additional burdens.
- Where’s does an invitation come from? We offer clear and respectful communication and aim to be transparent about expectations.
- Who gets to experience public art and how? Who is this for an how should it/does it operate? We challenge assumptions about the publics engaged by the project.
Inclusive and Equitable Space
An inclusive and equitable space at Other Sights means:
- Time is devoted to listening and also raising up voices of those whose interests are at stake in our projects and communities;
- Varied ways of being, thinking and communicating are respected and invited;
- Project partners, staff, volunteers and artists are free from discrimination on the grounds protected under the BC Human Rights Code;
- Equal opportunity for employment and advancement is upheld.
Project Delivery
Throughout the initiation and execution of our projects, we centre the voices of those with relevant lived experience and respect traditional and alternative forms of knowledge production, stewardship, dissemination and collaboration. We are committed to ensuring that our projects reflect the concerns of our community and that the artists with whom we work reflect the diversity of our community.
Audience Accessibility
We recognize that our audience members have diverse needs and many experience barriers to accessing arts programming. When presenting projects to the public, we are committed to ensuring good practices in accessibility for individuals with disabilities and those from language minorities. This includes at minimum, the use of closed-captioning for virtual events and ASL interpretation at live events when it is requested or otherwise identified as necessary. For all of our events, we invite individuals to make requests for accommodation so that we can support their full participation.
Sectoral Change
We acknowledge that systems and processes at play in our sector continue to cause discrimination and harm to those from historically and persistently marginalized communities. In order to improve equitable access for all, we commit to destabilizing these systems by continually developing our own knowledge and practices and challenging our peers to do the same.
To provide informed, authentic modelling for cultural equity, we strive to:
- See diversity, inclusion, and equity as connected to our mission and critical to ensuring the well-being of our staff and the arts communities we serve.
- Identify and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs and services, and continually update and report organization progress.
- Identify and consider underlying unquestioned assumptions that interfere with inclusiveness.
- Advocate for and support board-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact our organization’s work, and how best to address that in a way that is consistent with our mission.
- Advocate for public and private-sector policy that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity.
- Challenge systems and policies that create inequity, oppression and disparity.
Accountability
Other Sights Producers and Staff are accountable to the Other Sights Board of Directors. The Board reviews the organization’s processes annually to ensure these commitments are being upheld.
Management and Evaluation
While acknowledging that we operate within institutional systems such as the non-profit societies act and the organizational structures of ‘board’, ‘staff’, etc., we work to promote non-hierarchical relations within our collective framework. We make decisions by consensus and work to flatten hierarchies based on identity such as education, race, ethnicity, gender expression, sexuality, class, professionalization, age, and ability in considering succession and hiring, partnerships, and programming.
Producers undergo processes of annual self-evaluations that are presented to the collective and staff. Staff undergo an annual review led by appointed members of the Producer team, during which they are asked if there are ways the Producers can better support their work. Annual HR reports that summarize the reviews are presented to the Other Sights Board of Directors.
Workplace Policies
Other Sights’ commitments to Staff are outlined in legal agreements that include the responsibilities of the Producers and Staff member, the terms of employment, fees and payments including contributions to expenses and vacation pay, and processes of mediation in the case of any disputes.
Producers are committed to creating spaces of trust where dissent, disagreement or second thoughts can be safely explored by respecting difference and by remaining accountable for our actions. If a Staff person has a concern they feel has not be adequately addressed or resolved, they are encouraged to bring it forward to the Producer team or to the Other Sights Board of Directors. Producers and/or Directors are committed to engaging external mediation to help reach resolution.
Policy Evaluation
This Accountability & Care document is reviewed, at minimum, every five years to ensure it remains relevant to the organization and addresses the urgent concerns of our community.