Drama Therapy Diversity

[Adam Blatner]

Hi pals, it seems to me that this might be another area of potential overlap of some 
interests and bridging for those who share the interest of the group below.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Emily Burkes-Nossiter" <erb21 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
To: <DRAMATHERAPYLST at LISTSERV.KSU.EDU>
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 11:07 PM
Subject: Diversity Committee Report from the 2009 Conference


*Call to Diversity Committee Workshop participants - If you attended the
strategic planning workshop and I did not collect your contact info,
please email me at diversitycommittee at nadt.org!  I am missing
information for some of you and would very much like to connect!  Thank
you!*

Thanks to all who participated in the 2009 NADT Community Forum on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and the follow-up
workshop/meeting of the Diversity Committee, where we set an agenda for
the next phase of our work. The forum opened a dialogue that many people
described as useful, provocative, and fun. It gave us an opportunity to
explore our thoughts, feelings, and associations to our own sexual and
gender identities, and the sexual and gender expressions of others
(family, clients, colleagues, etc.), in both thoughtful and playful
ways. Our hope is that such meditations can inform and improve our
practice. We look forward to continuing the conversation over the course
of this year and at next year's diversity forum, and welcome your ideas
for a theme for the Forum in 2010. We also welcome your comments
(positive or negative!) regarding the efficacy of the forum, which you
can direct to diversitycommittee at nadt.org or post to our Google Group at
http://groups.google.com/group/nadtdiversitycommittee. I would also
encourage you to comment on the NADT listserve.

I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm, creativity, and number of workshop
participants in our follow-up meeting to the Forum, and can't wait to
continue our work together. Our conversations touched upon many areas,
including the need to expand our knowledge base and scope of practice
beyond Eurocentric points of reference; assumptions about others that
ignore the presence of unseen differences; what is required to diversify
our body of practitioners, including the recruitment, retention, and
support of diverse students; the inadequacy and inappropriateness of the
word “diversity;” how to address bias within ourselves and our
community; and creativity as a tool for building and crossing bridges,
among others. I am very grateful for the energy and ideas generated by
the group, which we distilled into five areas in which to focus our
energies in the coming year. We formed a working group around each area
and hope that you will join our efforts by contributing your time,
talent, and ideas to transforming our association into a genuinely
inclusive community. The following initiatives represent just a few of
the many avenues through which we can develop and support diversity
within our field and practice. In addition to these, we will continue to
work on a number of other projects that are already underway, and will
keep you abreast of developments. We continue to welcome your
suggestions for and contributions to other projects or initiatives.

1. Communications
              * Work with NADT communications chair to explore and
                develop new tools
              * Develop a Wiki to build the knowledge base of our
                community through discussion of our practice
              * Develop a blog to collect stories about our work
              * Link to NADT website
              * Develop conversation on how we prioritize values in our
                methods of communication, regarding power,
                public/private alternatives, authorship, openness, etc.

2. Accessibility
              * Draft NADT accessibility policy
              * Address physical accessibility to conference
              * Address financial accessibility/fee structure for
                conference
              * Clarify ideals and allocation of resources (what we want
                vs. what can we afford)
              * Representation in brochures and other materials
              * NADT reps to marginalized groups that need and lack
                access to information about drama therapy (eg. outreach
                to predominantly non-white college recruitment fairs)

3. Creativity as Agent of Diversity
              * Representation on conference committee
              * Solicit/develop multi-cultural workshops, events,
                experiences

4. Education
              * Assessment of schools, quality of education/experience
              * Accreditation process, what is it, how can it be
                applied?
              * How can diversity committee offer support to schools?
              * Invite other departments to offer resources

5. Diversity Forum on the Road
              * Create diversity forums in different regions, bringing
                together therapists to talk about difference
              * Create more forums around specific themes
              * Online discussion – use Wiki

In the coming months, we will be develop the working groups for each
area and recruit membership. We will shortly announce the coordinators
for each sub-committee. If you would like to get involved, please
contact us at diversitycommittee at nadt.org. We welcome your thoughts,
ideas, inspirations and concerns. Please direct any comments, questions,
or reflections regarding this report and/or diversity in drama therapy
and the NADT to this address. Thanks again to all the conference
participants, for making the NADT a place to come home to!


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