Driving a vibrant and equitable community
The Valley Cultural Center dba Valley Cultural Foundation (VCF) believes that all staff, board members, volunteers, talent, and residents should be able to participate in a creative life; and that the arts drive a vibrant and equitable community. To maintain transparency and uphold our integrity all events presented by the Valley Cultural Foundation are free and open to the public.
Through Cultural Equity VCF will ensure that all can fulfill the rights of cultural expression and belonging, participation, learning and livelihood.
This includes our commitment to individuals who have been historically underrepresented in mainstream arts, discourse, leadership and resource allocation; including, but not limited to, people of color, people of all ages, differently abled people, LGBTQ people, women, and the socio-economically disadvantaged.
VCF affirms that:
- The ability to express, celebrate and champion cultural tradition and heritage in our workplace and our community.
- We each have a unique role in challenging inequity and imagining new and more just realities.
- We acknowledge inequity is universal and historic; disparities and discrimination are daily occurrences that are rooted in long-standing majority privilege and power inside and outside of the cultural arts.
- Equity moves past inclusion and representation; that we accept that power has created uneven starting points for some communities and individuals. We recognize simple diverse representation does not dismantle the unequal nature of voice, resource allocation and visibility that exist in the arts and cultural system.
As a leader in the local arts community, VCF is committed to:
- Facilitating on-going, organizational and community-wide conversations and programs about race, class, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and age and income status as these issues relate to our arts community.
- Continually examine our art practices and policies to ensure that under-invested and under-represented communities participate fairly and equitably with us.
- Feature artists and organizations in our community that facilitate equity and those who champion the cause.
VCF will:
- Continue to organize and work both within the organization and the community about race, class, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and income status as these issues relate to our arts community, through surveys and ongoing conversations.
- Feature artists and organizations within our community that facilitate and promote equity.
We believe:
The ability to express, celebrate and champion cultural tradition and heritage is elemental to honest civic discourse and the well-being of our organization and our community.
As artists and cultural creators we have a unique role in challenging inequity and imagining new and more just realities.
The future health of our organization and community is contingent on inclusionary practices that move towards cultural progression.
The arts hold transformative power, they offer an instrument to amplify under-represented voices and have the ability to open a dialog for meaningful change. The Valley Cultural Foundation is listening, we hold ourselves accountable to be better, do more, and be willing to continue to learn and improve.