We at the Ashland New Plays Festival acknowledge our complicity in racist structures and pledge to move forward with concrete actions. Beginning in 2021,

• We pledge that at least 50% of the plays we present each year will be the work of BIPOC playwrights.

• We will launch a new initiative called “Pass the Pen,” which will reserve fifty spaces for invited BIPOC playwrights to submit plays for consideration in our Fall Festival, free of charge.

• ANPF’s board and reader leadership will form a Reader Recruitment Committee, which will work to recruit and welcome BIPOC readers from the community.

• All ANPF board, staff, and readers will commit to unconscious bias training.

• At our annual retreat/strategic planning session we will undertake an annual review process to hold ourselves accountable. If the steps outlined above do not yield necessary change, further action will be taken.

We are deeply committed to supporting theatre artists during this time of crisis in funding for the arts. We ask that you stand with us as we reach toward a more equitable and ethical future.