After decades of building inclusive art, succession is the next step | Women’s Day 2019

For this year’s Women’s History Month, the Inquirer asked five Philadelphia women at different life stages — a Generation Zer, Millennial, Gen Xer, Baby Boomer, and member of the Silent Generation: What’s the biggest issue facing your peer group right now?

When I think about the greatest issues facing women in the arts of my age, the issue is succession, and also the fact that young people disregard our acquired knowledge. So — who’s going to take our place in developing the next generation of artists and creative leaders? How do we find those people who are interested in the arts, and really want to do the work?

Sometimes I teach classes at Drexel University, and the students sound more interested in the pay and the position. I want to mentor someone who is committed to the art form itself, or to the project. But they’re more worried about the salary. After they spend all their money to go to college, they want to find a way to pay it back. I get it. These students are in a tough position. But the person I want to work with is the person who is inclined toward making a difference, rather than collecting a salary.

I started an organization called the International Association of Blacks in Dance. We have a group of youngsters called the “Next Gen” potential leaders, who we’re training and trying to find places for them that fit with their objectives in life. There are some brilliant young people out there who think, but not enough. More people are still just interested in the dollar. And it’s frightening. They need to believe the arts are important.

At this point in my life, I still don’t see myself as being successful. Our mission is still a struggle. The catchwords today are diversity, inclusion, equity. But that still isn’t the case in our world.

Being black in America is still being black in America. I could find a letter from 1982 about this — the wording is still the same. People talk a good game about diversity, but they don’t do the real work. There’s a difference between tokenism and inclusion. A company can have one black dancer and say oh, we’re integrated. But that person is never given time on stage, or only given the token role set aside for an African American. People mention Misty Copeland and her success. It took her 15 years [to get where she is]. It’s an old story, beating an old horse over and over again. That’s because much hasn’t changed.

But: If the art you produce is still good, nothing can change that. Women of my generation want to see everything we’ve worked hard to build continue to grow.

Joan Myers Brown is the founder of the Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco) and the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts. She serves as honorary chairperson for the International Association of Blacks in Dance, an organization she established in 1991. She belongs to the “Silent Generation,” born between 1928 and 1945.