Current and former BIPOC staff members at The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York(A.R.T./NY) are demanding the immediate ousting of its executive director over multiple incidents of “subversive and toxic behavior” directed towards them over the years.

In a letter addressed to the theatre organization’s board of directors, they accuse executive director, Virginia “Ginny” Louloudes, of being “toxic, abusive, and an obstacle to progress.”

The letter was initially signed by nine current and former A.R.T./NY staff members but the number of co-signers has reached 295 as of the publication of this article.

In response, the theatre’s board of directors has placed Ms. Louloudes on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Some of their accusations include:

“During the final panel adjudications for The Andrew W. Mellon Theatre New York Theatre Program, Ginny became visibly uncomfortable with the outcomes of the scoring and conversation. It was clear that many of her friends who lead predominantly white organizations and had historically benefited from this grant program were no longer going to be funded. She raised concerns about this to this panel and expressed concern about “reverse racism.” A power dynamic emerged in the room where panelists danced around her emotions, trying not to upset her while also defending their choices.“

“When preparing for the 2019 Gala, Ginny continued to mispronounce a BIPOC contract artist’s name and attempted to joke with them about her struggle to remember. After the artist made clear that this was indeed offensive and requested to move on from the topic, Ginny repeatedly commented to staff and consultants that this artist was unprofessional and overly sensitive despite more than one conversation explaining the validity of the artist’s request. On multiple occasions, her casual comments went so far as suggesting that other artists be considered for future events to avoid further interaction.”

“In 2018, Ginny called a Latinx staff member into her office and presented the employee with a list of donor names. Ginny asked the staff member to read the list and tell her who might be Latinx based on their names. The staff member declined to do this and spent time educating Ginny on the underlying racism in this request. Ginny repeatedly asked this employee to spend dozens of hours in similar conversations where Ginny would ask questions about anti-racism and thus make the employee feel obligated to provide education and emotional labor, despite the fact that this was well beyond the employee’s designated job duties. Ginny has made similar demands of other staff based on their identities (such as asking one self-identified queer employee and one self-identified West Indian employee all her questions about the LGBTQIA+ community and the West Indian community, respectively).”

“In 2019, Ginny terminated organization-sponsored Affinity Spaces for BIPOC staff members to convene in confidence. These typically took the form of company-paid lunches for BIPOC staff to meet and connect with each other outside of the office. When she disallowed future Affinity Spaces, she claimed that anything paid for by A.R.T./New York must be accessible to all staff members, which has never been considered or enforced as a policy for any other organizational purchase. “

In addition to the ousting of Ms. Louloudes, the group also made the following list of demands:

● A guarantee of no retaliation—financially, verbally, or by the withholding of services and opportunities—against the current and former staff and any member theatres that come forward in support of this call to action.

● A protected line item in the organizational budget every year to continue anti-racism, equity, and inclusion work for both current employees and member companies.

● Ongoing affinity spaces for BIPOC staff and member companies.

● The creation of a secure, transparent, and standardized practice for reporting racism and microaggressions that does not leave staff vulnerable to abuse or require them to take care of the person causing them harm.

● The implementation of mandatory racial bias and anti-racism training for all board members and staff with direct reports.

● Finalize, approve, and update the organization’s values to explicitly state anti-racism and anti-oppression as part of A.R.T./New York’s mission.

The letter finishes with the group stating:

“We demand that A.R.T./New York back up their statements against racism with concrete actions. As a pillar of the non-profit theatre community directly serving 420+ New York theatre companies, A.R.T./New York has a moral obligation to lead the charge with regard to racial justice and to lead by example.”

According to their website, “Founded in 1972, A.R.T./New York assists over 400 member theatres in managing their theatre companies effectively so they may realize their rich artistic visions and serve their diverse audiences well.”

In response to the letter, the board of directors released the following statement:

The A.R.T./New York Executive Committee is in dialogue with We Are A.R.T/New York (a group of current and former employees) and is grateful to them for raising their concerns with us and for sharing what they’ve witnessed. The Executive Director of A.R.T./New York has been placed on administrative leave as we retain outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation. We are specifically seeking a team that includes BIPOC-identifying employment attorneys; and/or to involve a BIPOC advocate in all steps of the process.
The Executive Committee and Board of A.R.T./New York fully support any and all efforts to make A.R.T./New York a better and more inclusive, equitable organization. A.R.T/New York is an evolving organization in an evolving world. We recognize the need to look at not only our current behavior but the organizational behavior that has brought us to this point. We are taking all necessary steps to bring that to fruition in an open, transparent, and collaborative manner and we are ready to get to work.

We will update this article with new information as it becomes available.

Current and former BIPOC staff at A.R.T./NY demand removal of executive director over systemic racism

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