Cultural Alliance Internal Bias Scan Findings

The Cultural Alliance’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Initiative, which we launched at the 2016 Annual Meeting, took a major step forward last month with the release of the findings of an internal bias scan.

Conducted by The ROZ Group  under the leadership of Rosalyn McPherson, the scan took a deep look at the Alliance’s strengths and weaknesses in DEI issues related to both the inner workings of the organization (staff, board, etc.) and to our programs, services, communications and external relationships. Input was gathered from extensive interviews with internal and external stakeholders and via an online survey of Alliance members and other organizations. The ROZ Group also facilitated focus groups with our DEI Task Force and with local DEI professionals.

The Alliance is committed to transparency in this work, and so we are pleased to release the scan results, which were presented to a joint meeting of our Board of Directors and our DEI Task Force on May 16 at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.

To read materials from our May 16 presentation: download the executive summary, full report and the slide deck. 

With input from our DEI Task Force, the Alliance will use the scan’s findings and recommendations to create an action plan of next steps for our DEI work. The plan will look at how we can make the Alliance itself more diverse, equitable and inclusive and how we can foster DEI within the broader cultural sector. This plan will be released at the 2017 Annual Meeting in September.

Next month the entire Cultural Alliance staff will participate in a day-long anti-bias workshop facilitated by Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed.

Our thanks to everyone who participated in the bias scan and to the Samuel S. Fels Fund, which is underwriting this important work.

If you would like to discuss the Alliance’s DEI Initiative, please contact Michael Norris at 215-399-3512 / michaeln@philaculture.org or Tracy Buchanan at 215-399-3525 /   tracyb@philaculture.org. 

The work of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is made possible through the generous support of committed individuals and institutions.