The board and staff of Theater Latté Da are undergoing an organization-wide assessment to rebuild and reimagine our processes, plans and purpose with a lens of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access. 

Since July of 2020 Theater Latté Da has employed the following actions towards that goal.

UPDATE: AUGUST 2024

GENERAL ORGANIZATIONAL UPDATE

Artistic Director search:

• Latté Da successfully completed the search process for our new Artistic Director in partnership with Evolution Management Consultants

• The total applicant pool for the search included approximately one-third BIPOC candidates from across the country, and there continued to be significant BIPOC representation at all stages of the interview process

• The search resulted in the hire of Justin Lucero

IDEA Resource Circles:

• Under the leadership of Justin, Theater Latté Da began reflecting on its stated IDEA commitments and looking for next generation opportunities for its future; Justin's experience (both lived and as a researcher) offered new insights and a natural moment for organizational IDEA goals reassessment.

• The staff IDEA Committee, now a “resource circle,” added Justin along with Morgan Gray, Gillian Constable, Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, and Allen Weeks; the Circle met twice monthly to prepare topics for all-staff IDEA meetings, which occurred once per month

• Both the staff and Board IDEA leadership groups were reframed as "resource circles," providing anti-racism tools, educational readings, and organized activities to support our staff and Board in learning and living our values around IDEA

• The Circle organized a handful of IDEA-oriented outings, including a Board and staff viewing of The Color Purple film and a trip to see Wine in the Wilderness at Penumbra Theatre, featuring Nubia Monks (Celie in our production of THE COLOR PURPLE)

• The practice of opening meetings with "IDEA sightings" was expanded to all full Board meetings to better align with the processes followed for staff meetings; “IDEA sightings” provide a forum to elevate and discuss instances relating to our IDEA work at Latté Da, within our personal spheres, our community, nationally, and in popular culture

Board of Directors:

• BIPOC representation within the Board of Directors increased from 33% to 35%.

PRODUCTION & MARKETING/FRONT OF HOUSE UPDATE

Company-wide IDEA Centering:

• Each Latté Da project launch included a reading of our IDEA commitments

• Each Latté Da project launch included an introduction of our guest artists to our staff IDEA Resource Circle leaders for everyone to know whom to reach out to for IDEA-related concerns; as opposed to a single per-production “IDEA liaison,” this group approach of staff IDEA leaders provides a wider set of people at various levels of positional power for greater options for our artists to tap into

Company Milestone Co-Production of THE COLOR PURPLE:

• Our co-production of THE COLOR PURPLE played locally for 8 weeks to near-universal critical and audience acclaim

• The production then transferred for an additional 5-week run at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY

• The national co-production, the first such arrangement in our history, provided an opportunity for Black artists from our community to share Alice Walker’s essential story and offered months of employment and artistic opportunity for a company of primarily Twin Cities-based Black performers

• Latté Da continued to seek out opportunities to be intentional in our selection of vendors to provide additional avenues of support and visibility to BIPOC-led businesses; this included a partnership with Black Garnet Books to stock copies of The Color Purple novel for sale at our concessions stand, and the use of local, Black-owned restaurants to cater parties and events

PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL ACCESS UPDATE

General:

• In Season 26, Access Coordinator Gillian Constable bolstered the programs already offered and introduced new access services to further our goal of making our theater accessible to people from all walks of life

• Theater Latté Da reaffirmed our commitment to providing more variably priced single ticket and season subscription offerings, allowing for greater financial access for all Twin Cities theatergoers

• During the 2023-24 season, Latté Da spent $20,000 on physical accessibility programming and subsidized over $175,000 in financially accessible tickets for folks who needed it

New physical access measures introduced in Season 26:

• Four Braille Playbills available at the box office - free to take home

• Four bariatric chairs available on the sidebars to accommodate patrons who desire more space and higher weight-bearing seats, and one additional chair available with a higher weight-bearing capacity. 

Discount opportunities introduced in Season 26:

• Row A for All: provides variably priced Pay-What-You-Can tickets in Row A and select balcony seats for all Theater Latté Da patrons on Wednesday and Thursday evenings throughout the entire season

• Comps and Discounts for Affiliate Partners: show-specific partnerships with organizations whose mission aligns with the themes of the show

New discounts opportunities announced for Season 27, including:

• “39 & Under” Ritz Club Subscription Package: designed specifically for emerging theatergoers 39 and under; eligible patrons can subscribe to the entire season for $199.50 and enjoy all subscriber benefits

New access goals:

• Improve our digital accessibility for our website, social media, and email blasts

• This process would begin with a website review by professional Disability-Focused Usability Testers, professional digital accessibility Digital Accessibility Consulting, Support and Remediation

• Purchase our own Open Caption equipment and update our Open Caption software

• Research other access services that could be feasible for our offerings, for example:

• relaxed performances

• performances with supertitles in different languages

• childcare matinees

ARTISTIC UPDATE

Artistic Director, Justin Lucero, and Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Works, Elissa Adams, remained committed to maintaining and growing Theater Latté Da’s efforts to create and facilitate inclusive and diverse creative teams at all levels of the artistic process: 

• Theater Latté Da continued to constitute all creative teams to include racial and gender diversity

• 44% (4 of 9) of our new works projects had BIPOC creative team member representation

• Our $20,000 NEXT Generation Commission was awarded to Jay Adana

• Early in Artistic Director Justin Lucero's appointment, he requested and received grant support by the McKnight Foundation in a proactive effort to build connections among peer Twin Cities arts leaders; via their Arts and Culture Program’s administrative budget for convening/networking, the grant supports the connecting, sharing, and learning from participating directors, specifying prioritization of theaters of small and midsized budgets that are led by BIPOC leaders

• Artistic Director Justin Lucero's positionality as a BIPOC leader in the musical theater industry led to his invitation to participate in a book launch panel at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, offering a response to Dr. Josephine Lee’s impactful new book “Race in American Musical Theatre" published by Methuen