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To the Ely Center Community, We are writing with an important announcement. Over the past few months, it has come to light that some members of our organization and community have been hurt, and in solidarity with them as we navigate this repair, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the Embodied Knowledge exhibition, originally scheduled to open this Sunday, until June. In the last two weeks, as we engaged in conversations with stakeholders, we’ve come to recognize that there is a great deal of trauma in our community and, sadly, too many people have been the victims of emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse. We see that we missed an opportunity to provide a space of understanding, validation, and care, and missed the opportunity to act in time to prevent a set of triggering and traumatizing experiences. Our community is in pain and we must work to heal our space and community. At the request of the Guest Curator, we are pausing to reflect on our actions and inaction, and their impacts on the local arts community. We recognize an urgent need to undertake an internal review of our operating processes, learn from this experience, and bring a heightened culture of care into the organization. Over the next 8 weeks we will take part in a series of trainings and workshops that we hope will move us to better serve our community (Preliminary SCHEDULE HERE) and foster a culture of inclusive leadership. We have contracted with Jenora Ledbetter of the Self Care Network to lead our organization in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Justice training and a Safe Space session to foster psychological safety in our work and communications. We are creating an anonymous survey for anyone who has been dissatisfied or felt hurt by their interactions with the organization, and, with the help of an independent group of trusted community members, will review the submissions weekly to reflect on which experts we need to call in to assist us and consider how we might implement changes based on the feedback. On Wednesdays in April, we will host a series of open, in person and online conversations facilitated by WABI Gallery founder artist Kim Weston and accompanied by invited guest-artists, that will allow us to listen to the needs expressed in the submissions, reflect on how the arts might be a space for healing and how the Ely Center might respond to those needs. We will participate in a series of workshops to improve our trauma-informed management and communications capacities. We have retained The Narrative Project, Connecticut’s only Anti-Racist Public Relations agency, to assist us in communicating back to you with transparency and accountability as we begin, and throughout, this process. We welcome you to participate in any aspect of our work and be part of these conversations to help shape our future and we will keep you informed of our efforts over the coming weeks. In an effort to enact and create cultural equity, we write to acknowledge that ECOCA stumbled. We rushed. We missed important signals. We hurt some people. We need to learn from this moment. Since its founding, the Ely Center has been a place for transformation and discovery; we are approaching the next few weeks in a spirit of learning, growth, and humility, and we are so grateful for your patience and understanding as we recommit to the work of cultural equity. Helen Kauder and Debbie Hesse Board Co Chairs
Statement of Values: The Ely Center of Contemporary Art acknowledges and celebrates the humanity of all who participate in our programs and our community. We are driven by the belief in the power of the arts to connect all people, and do not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, criminal record, age, veteran status, marital status, national origin, ancestry, disability or immigration status.
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