Racial Equity Progress Report (Jan – Mar ’22)

Cheyenne Cohn-Postell, Program Officer

Diversity Equity and Inclusion

A quarterly report on our anti-racism work

In October 2021, Mass Cultural Council launched a three-year Racial Equity Plan outlining some of the internal and external steps we will take to support and encourage an anti-racist cultural sector in the Commonwealth. As part of the plan, the Agency has committed to sharing our progress on this work each quarter:

January-March 2022 Racial Equity Work Highlights

Ongoing

• Promoting, and upgrading our technical assistance and translation services.
  • We are utilizing a real-time language interpretation service to provide video content in more languages. For example, the AAPI Arts & Culture COVID-19 Recovery Program information session was made available in Cantonese.
  • While our web site offers Google Translate, we are also incorporating text in more languages than just English into our grant application process pages.
  • We are amplifying our translation service availability using a Google form to collect requests from interested parties.
• Updating the Agency’s Racial Equity Plan at every Spring Council meeting. This update focuses on re-prioritizing action steps and updating timelines accordingly.
• Amplifying the work of BIPOC individual and organization partners and grantees throughout the Agency’s communication channels. For example, check out Mass Cultural Council’s Instagram.

External

• The Public Affairs team released a trailer to promote our Racial Equity Plan.
• The FY22 Media Partnerships are focused on recruitment efforts in BIPOC Communities and promoting our Racial Equity goals. Radio spots will air in the Spring.
• KhmerPost USA & Commonwealth Magazine both ran mentions of the AAPI COVID Recovery Program.
• The Communications Manager and a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship mentor were interviewed in Spanish on Facebook Live on March 2 by El Mundo Boston about the program.
• The Public Affairs team is working on producing a promotional clip about Mass Cultural Council to increase awareness of our programs and services and support recruitment efforts.

Internal

• Program teams are meeting with the Equity & Inclusion Program Officer to audit their guidelines and applications with an equitable grant making lens. Read this document featuring Tips for Equitable Grant making that was shared with the staff.
• The Cultural, Access and Inclusion Team has added learning conversations as a standing all-staff meeting agenda item. This is an opportunity to share short videos, excerpts, or audio about racial equity and anti-racism that spark discussion and encourage self-reflection.
• The Director of People and Culture developed an acknowledgement receipt of the Agency’s Racial Equity Plan for external contractors and consultants.
• The Director of People and Culture and Public Affairs developed a Mass Cultural Career’s page as a tool to recruit, hire, and promote diverse talent. The page reaffirms our commitment of being an anti-racist workplace, and our goal to ensuring that our workforce reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. Additionally, the goal of the page is to ensure candidates have a point of contact for any requests or needs regarding accessibility, accommodations, modifications, or specific preferences we should be aware of during the hiring process.
• Starting in February, the Director of People and Culture implemented a standard “Interview Outline” intended to inform candidates on the topics they should expect to speak about when interviewing with Mass Cultural Council. This new addition continues to standardize the hiring process and is intended to increase access, transparency, fairness and ensure an equitable candidate experience.

Download the Full Progress Report (Jan-Mar 22)

Track on-going progress using our equity journey map.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion