‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Team Commits $100G To Fight Racism In Theater, Help Fund Broadway Advocacy Coalition 2021 Forum

The producer and creators of Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen has donated $100,000 to organizations fighting racism in the theater industry, including $50,000 to the Broadway Advocacy Coalition to sponsor a 2021 continuation of the virtual forums conducted this week.

In a statement released on social media, the Hansen team – producer Stacey Mindich, director Michael Greif, book writer Steven Levenson and composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul – wrote, in part, “We have spent the last several days listening to the Black members of our companies, our community, our country, and the world, as they share with us their pain, their suffering, and their heartbreak….Like so many companies and organizations large and small, we are looking inward, assessing the personnel, policies, and systems of our show at every level, in every department, and at every location.”

The $100,000 donation will be divided in two, with half going to the Broadway Advocacy Coalition to sponsor an industry-wide “Continuing the Conversation” Forum in early 2021, and the other half going to Color of Change, a national racial justice organization committed to “keeping corporate and political leaders accountable, building game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advancing solutions for racial justice.”

The Broadway Advocacy Coalition is hosting three virtual forums this week – the third begins at 5 pm ET today – on racism within the theatrical industry and community. The Hansen team said its donation to the organization is intended to help “ensure that this is not a trending topic or a one-time outpouring of support, but an ongoing commitment to real progress, accountability and change within the theater community.”

The subject of racism in the theater industry has taken on a heightened visibility in the wake of nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Other Broadway productions and theater groups endorsed Black Lives Matter and announced donations to it and other anti-racism organizations, and more than 300 artists of color signed an open letter addressed to “White American Theater” Monday demanding change.

In the Hansen statement, the team writes, “The shameful reality is that, for all too long, the injustices and inequities endured by our fellow citizens, our peers, and our friends have gone unheard and unheeded. The shameful reality is that none of it is new.”

Here is the complete statement:

To Our Dear Evan Hansen Community,

We have spent the last several days listening to the Black members of our companies, our community, our country, and the world, as they share with us their pain, their suffering, and their heartbreak. These truths, we must admit, are not new. The systemic racism against Black people and communities is not new. A theatrical culture in which Black voices have been silenced and erased is not new. And as we mourn the unspeakable losses of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, we recognize that the brutal murder of Black people is not new.

The shameful reality is that, for all too long, the injustices and inequities endured by our fellow citizens, our peers, and our friends have gone unheard and unheeded. The shameful reality is that none of it is new.

What must be new is our commitment not merely to listen, but to act, and to act now.

As a first step, on behalf of our three Dear Evan Hansen companies, we have donated $100,000 to be split equally between two organizations, to help effect change both in our theater community and on a national level.

$50,000 towards Broadway Advocacy Coalition, to sponsor an industry-wide “Continuing the Conversation” Forum in early 2021. As we look towards reopening Broadway and returning to work, this forum will follow up on the conversation that BAC has begun this week, to ensure that this is not a trending topic or a one-time outpouring of support, but an ongoing commitment to real progress, accountability and change within the theater community.

$50,000 to Color of Change, the national racial justice organization committed to keeping corporate and political leaders accountable, building game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advancing solutions for racial justice.

And our work on examining our own practices has already begun.

Like so many companies and organizations large and small, we are looking inward, assessing the personnel, policies, and systems of our show at every level, in every department, and at every location.

We also encourage you, our Dear Evan Hansen community, to take your own action. Stand with the organizations-both national and local-that are leading this movement. We have provided some references and resources here.

Dear Evan Hansen is about community and connection. We will use our voice and our reach to apply those values in working to undo an unjust system.

Even now, while our theaters are empty, our show will not be silent.

Sincerely,

Stacey Mindich
Michael Greif
Steven Levenson
Benj Pasek
Justin Paul

The producer and creators of Dear Evan Hansen

 

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