Festival Opera is cognizant of our opportunity to represent, invest in, and celebrate intersectionally diverse communities in the East Bay. Our region allows for meaningful, specific representation of varied experiences, including racially and ethno-culturally diverse communities, in performing arts contexts. However, continued artistic collaboration with diverse and/or underrepresented individuals within and outside of our organization requires systems of accountability that are integrated throughout our organization with emphatic agreement from our General Director, Zachary Gordin, and Board of Directors. Our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee of Board Members, Timothy Evans, Ruchi Kapila, and Nick Ishimaru is committed to creating and upholding a sustainable, systemic approach to:

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• Ensuring our artists, collaborators, and audience members feel safe in the spaces we share, and comfortable reporting any experiences to improve their sense of their safety/comfort

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• Acknowledging stakeholders’ and community members’ inclusive contributions to our systems

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• Fulfilling our role as artistic content creators for meaningful and celebratory representation in casting, board appointments, and audiences

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Festival Opera asserts that our continued growth and change is motivated by the lived experiences of many of our Board Members. We continue to create and cultivate the opera company we have always dreamed of being a part of; one that feels like a second home to the artists and audiences we love and respect. From this foundation of accountability and transparency, opera can develop new underpinnings and cultural contexts for modern audiences across intersections. Our road is not easy. With your continued engagement and feedback, we commit to new standards for the development and production of diverse programming for our communities.

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