Black Boston: Transforming the Arts

Watch a recording and read a recap of Black Boston: Transforming the Arts, held on October 13, 2020.

Recap by Claudia Chiappa

On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC), together with Boston University Diversity & Inclusion, and WBUR CitySpace, hosted “Black Boston: Transforming the Arts,” the fourth and final event in the Black Boston Series, which highlights transformative Black leaders from across Greater Boston and provides a forum to examine our city’s progress toward inclusive access, equity, and opportunity—and where we still fall short.

Moderated by Crystal Williams, Vice President and Associate Provost for Community & Inclusion at Boston University, the discussion featured three panelists: Makeeba McCreary, Chief of Learning and Community Engagement at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts; Catherine Morris, Founder & Executive Director of BAMS Fest; and Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Executive Director of Front Porch Arts Collective, Professor of the Practice at Tufts University and Visiting Lecturer at Boston University.

The panelists discussed the current arts scene in Boston and how Black artists fit in. The speakers agreed that while Boston is full of talented and diverse Black artists, the scene is often dominated by white artists.

“The Arts scene in Boston is rich, it’s historical, it’s generational, complex, segregated,” said Morris. “But it has the opportunity to shift change and challenge how the city views Black arts.”

Parent said that the Black arts community in Boston is unique in the nation and incredibly diverse, but so far predominantly white institutions have been controlling the narrative especially in the theatre scene. McCreary agreed and stressed the importance of not waiting for permission to take up space and occupy these spaces. The key, she said, is the new generation.

“There’s young people that are ready to do that,” noted McCreary. “The more we can encourage them to really take up space, the more the fabric of the city will change and the more we will see of Black arts.”

This does not mean that previous generations do not have a role to play, but rather the opposite. It’s important to support young Black artists financially too, by properly paying them and by providing them with the right spaces.

“Resources are real,” explained McCreary. “That might be an area where we do have to be supportive…We can’t just give these young people pennies to get their work done, we need to make sure that they can eat, we need to make sure that they can pay their rent.”

Parent discussed the importance of genuine intentions behind narratives that target Black audiences and tell Black stories. When a show is being produced by predominantly white institutions, you must ask yourself what the intentions are and whether the producers genuinely value the story and its meaning.

“We have to be intentional about rewriting narratives, we have to be intentional about making spaces welcoming, we have to be intentional in general about how you want to engage with communities of color that have been the recipient of disingenuous engagement,” said Parent.

The topic then shifted from the production of plays to its audience. Williams recounted often going to plays and noticing the lack of Black people among the audience, not only in theatre but also in other fields of arts.

“We actually need to balance the scales and in order to do that we need to privilege the conversations of the audience being Black and brown, we need to privilege the presence of art and artists that are Black and brown,” said McCreary.

Morris said that this can be traced back to what she considers an historical problem of Boston, of how the city was built and structured: there’s not enough Black and brown owned venues and institutions. This perpetuates a specific kind of culture in the city which, in turn, has an effect on how Black people view art and on the kind of art they think they can access. So how do we change people’s perception?

“The problem is that the platforms that support it are few and they are not always managed by us, it’s by other institutions,” said Morris. She noted that this attitude towards arts won’t change “until we actually build it or until there is an institution authentically willing to shift, shape, mold, listen, be proactive and be intentional about working in different ways and welcoming different audiences and the content that comes with it.”

The issue of power and structure was a recurring theme during the discussion, as its dynamic impacts Black arts all over Boston. In order to see more Black representation it’s important to have more Black leaders in boards and in positions of power. Parent said that we must pay attention to if and how the city is supporting artists, to whether they are being set up for success

McCreary said it is critical for institutions that rely on donations from contributors to show that they value their communities. These are the people that can choose to support an institution, and will do so if they believe they are being valued. Especially during the pandemic, if you want to become relevant to the city and not let the arts die, you need to be very clear about who you value.

“We’re being forced to ask the question: for whom are we here?” noted McCreary. “And governance matters. The boards matter because they are the ones who have historically made these decisions.”

Another issue that poses a threat to Black arts in Boston is the Black elites’ lack of engagement with its arts community, said Morris. The absence of the wealthy Black and brown people in Boston affects what people consider valuable arts today and in the future. Generational differences create separation among Black arts, where different forms of art are put against each other. Morris said this impacts the production of arts and its progression.

Higher education institutions can also threaten or contribute to the growth of local Black arts. Morris said there are several ways institutions can make a difference: by changing criteria for their arts and residency programs so that they are more localized to brown and Black artists; by bringing in artists as guest speakers; by investing in and providing, among others.

“College universities have to change the way they do their marketing material that attracts talent here to the city,” said Morris. “Start including more Black people, start naming the institutions, or the venues, or the collectors of social movements that support the Black arts scene in your brochure.”

Realizing the importance of arts and, in particular, of Black arts is essential also for Boston’s health. Over summer Boston Mayor Marty Walsh described racism as a public health crisis. The speakers reacted to this statement and stressed the importance of viewing the arts as a way to heal together and to improve the well-being of the city.

“There is much healing to be done but before we can heal we actually have to tell the truth about what it is like to be a person of color in the city,” said McCreary. “I can’t think of a better place to have these conversations.”

“Arts are vital and arts can be healing,” said Parent. To show an example of how arts can help you heal Parent talked about his experience with #BlackOutBoston, an event organized by Front Porch Arts Collective and SpeakEasy Stage Company, where they performed a show on African American culture and gathered a Black audience to experience it together.

“That’s what #BlackOutBoston is, making a family experience,” noted Parent, who said it is a healing experience to see your own culture on stage and to enjoy it with people from your own community.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, arts had to evolve and adapt. This often meant moving performances over Zoom and Parent said that one positive consequence of this change was the increased access for people. Morris also said her work was impacted by COVID-19, forcing artists to adapt and think about what their work will look like in a post COVID world. Among other things, the pandemic helped her realize that what matters is the content.

“The content matters more than the set-up of the actual event,” said Morris. “So long as we are shaping narrative and the experience is not just centered on blackness but it is run by black people, where the authenticity is there and the relevancy is there, we’ll be able to have a much broader reach.”

“For me what COVID has done is made me look at different ways content can be shared across platforms,” added Morris.

Learn more about the Black Boston Series, watch past events and read recaps at bu.edu/ioc/blackboston