EdTA deepened its efforts to improve racial equity throughout the organization – and theatre education at large.

DEIA Successes

EdTA views diversity, equity, inclusion, and access as integral to its core value “people matter.” In 2022, the organization continued its work toward goals to address racial equity, which is the biggest gap for both the theatre education community and the association. Here’s a look at our most important progress for the year:

ETF expanded a pilot for the Pathway program in Cincinnati and Atlanta, encompassing five schools by year end. Inspired by the late Craig Zadan, Pathway provides $10,000 grants to schools for students in communities of color to work with industry professionals of color while performing works that encourage dialogue around racial equity.

EdTA events prioritized diverse representation within the programming, with people of color making up 35% of Theatre Education Conference presenters and 45% of International Thespian Festival workshop presenters.

EdTA increased participation by people of color in committees and as content contributors. People of color now make up 50% of the education steering committee, which advises on teacher resources and evaluates workshop proposals.
The Learning Center added more DEIA-focused resources for teachers, expanding an ongoing webinar series on social justice and culturally inclusive teaching.

Through a grant from Ohio Arts Council and in partnership with the Cincinnati Black Theatre Artists Collective, EdTA commissioned playwrights of color to create monologues specifically for use by young theatre artists of color. EdTA made the monologues available for teachers to share with their students in the Learning Center.

EdTA continued work on two DEIA-focused grant initiatives. It completed a $50,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant to pilot technical theatre curriculum for low-income middle school students in Baltimore. In partnership with the National Art Education Association, the National Association for Music Education, the National Dance Education Organization, and the New York City School District, EdTA began the first year’s work on a five-year, $8.5 million U.S. Department of Education grant to promote equity, diversity, inclusion and social and emotional learning leadership through the formation of teacher learning communities nationally