Our EDI Agenda

Equity

AAAE Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Agenda For Action
Updated Fall 2025 (Spring 2018)
Preface: Renewed Relevance  (As at November 2025)

As we enter late 2025, the larger context concerning EDIA has shifted significantly. Beginning in 2023, legislation across the United States has sought to dismantle Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA) initiatives in education, the arts, and the public sector (DEI Legislation Tracker).

Since 2025, under policy frameworks such as Project 2025, coordinated efforts to defund, delegitimize, and suppress programs, research, and professional practices grounded in equity and justice have intensified, rolling back regulations such as Equity in IDEA and closing civil-rights offices (Project 2025 Tracker). These actions threaten not only institutional progress but also the broader pursuit of justice, seeking to re-center power within entrenched hierarchies of race, class, gender, and ability.

For the AAAE, whose mission is to advance an inclusive, equitable, and resilient environment for the arts by strengthening arts administration education and preparing future leaders for a thriving creative economy, this moment demands renewed commitment.

American history has shown recurring patterns of progress and backlash regarding social justice: advances in civil and cultural rights often followed by efforts to restore exclusionary norms. The current anti-EDIA movement continues this cycle, redefining “excellence” and “objectivity” in ways that reassert Whiteness, patriarchy, and economic privilege as the norm. 

Historically, the arts have often been used as instruments of ideology. Today, the arts and by proxy arts administration education again occupy a charged position. The arts both mirror and shape social imagination; arts-administration education prepares the leaders who sustain that imagination. When policy and ideology limit whose stories are told in classrooms and arts spaces, professional networks such as AAAE become essential for ethical reflection.

AAAE membership affirms that arts administration educators are not solely preparing managers but cultivating stewards of cultural ecosystems, creative professionals whose decisions about inclusion, representation, access, and equity determine the vitality of the arts sector. The dismantling of  EDIA frameworks jeopardizes this ecosystem, risking renewed exclusion under the guise of meritocracy.

AAAE’s commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility is therefore not a transient and performative priority, it is a pedagogical and philosophical foundation of the field. Reaffirming our Agenda for Action seven years after its initial launch, AAAE recognizes that equity work in arts administration education requires ongoing examination of curricula, pedagogical standards, hiring practices, and leadership models that have historically privileged certain voices and epistemologies.

We reaffirm our commitment to equity and inclusion, to seeking global perspectives, and to ensuring representation from the communities we serve in our membership. We are extending our 2018 Agenda to include accessibility awareness. We acknowledge the variety of pathways that have brought us to this field, value the insights each of us contributes, and respect the structural differences among the programs we represent.

AAAE has made meaningful progress in EDI and the outlined in the original 2018 Agenda for Action must continue with urgency, intentionality, and transparency despite the unfavorable context.

2018 Introduction

The arts, and by extension arts administration, are often rooted in ableism, colonialism, eurocentrism, patriarchy, and unequal distribution of power favoring Whiteness and its derivatives (McIntosh, 1989). Historically, the membership and activities of the Association of Arts  Administration Educators (AAAE) are no exception. AAAE is complicit in contributing to an academic and artistic culture where diverse perspectives of various lived experiences have not been fully valued, or even represented. (For the purposes of this document, “diverse” and its variants refer not only to race, but also to the multiplicity of demographic and social categories that should be represented. For a complete picture of what is considered, please see Loden’s (2010) Diversity Wheel.)

As one of the largest and most prominent networks of higher education arts administration educators, AAAE must recognize its responsibility to cultivate a just, equitable, and holistically diverse environment for teaching and learning. We are in a distinctive position to affect change for the field because of our proximity to students, who are the creative workforce of the future. We are eager to usher in a new paradigm that elevates marginalized voices, removes barriers to participation, and demonstrates the value of arts and learning environments that are not solely informed by one dominant culture.

At the direction of the AAAE board of directors, and in response to members’ calls for action, the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Task Force aspires to empower educators to create truly diverse and equitable arts administration education environments through their teaching. After an examination of AAAE operations, scholarly research, and EDI initiatives in the arts, academia, and beyond, the Task Force has defined five areas of impact for our work moving forward:

  1. Benchmarking the Status of EDIA in Arts Administration Education
  2. Promoting Greater Diversity and a More Inclusive Environment Within AAAE
  3. Equipping Member Programs to Deliver Equitable and Inclusive Arts Administration Education to Students and Faculty
  4. Connecting the EDIA Work of Arts Administration Programs to the Field
  5. Providing Accessibility Across Its Work 

The purpose of this document is to articulate the most meaningful ways AAAE can contribute to a more diverse and equitable environment for our community. Though cultivating access, diversity, inclusion and equity in the arts is an ongoing process that extends far beyond the scope of this document, we believe we have identified AAAE’s first steps toward meaningful change. Following are key initiatives that address each area of impact.

AREA OF IMPACT #1

Benchmarking the Status of EDIA in Arts Administration Education

Unfortunately, no exhaustive sources of information about the relative status of diversity, equity, and inclusion in arts administration or within arts-administration education exist. Therefore, it is upon AAAE to facilitate the collection of this data. This work will not only be a service to arts-administration education but also to arts administration as a whole. Findings from the investigations suggested below will provide baseline information that will allow the organization to make data-informed choices about tactics and strategies that will best serve member institutions, the faculty they employ, and the students and arts organizations they serve.

  1.     Investigate the current demographic makeup of students, faculty, and alumni of arts-administration programs.
  2.     Conduct an assessment of membership’s support for and execution of EDIA work.

These two investigations can be part of the same large-scale project that provides foundational information for consideration and use across many functions housed within AAAE. Most important for EDI work is an understanding of who is currently served in arts-administration education and who is not. Identifying gaps in the demographic makeup of students and faculty (both full-time and adjunct), as well as alumni, will allow for strategic alignment of initiatives and programs. Finally, layering that information with a baseline knowledge and working assessment of member programs with regard to EDIA will help with future agenda setting. We have taken initial steps by interviewing and surveying a diverse sample of members for our 2024 strategic plan and through our annual member survey, however surveying the current demographic makeup of students, faculty, and alumni of arts-administration programs has been challenging.

UNDERWAY AND SHOULD CONTINUE

AREA OF IMPACT #2

Promoting Greater Diversity and a More Inclusive Environment Within AAAE

Results of member surveys consistently indicate that faculty of color are underrepresented in AAAE, even in relation to the representation of people of color within the broader field of arts administration. Other axes of diversity (for example, physical ability) may likewise be underrepresented in the organization. AAAE should take action to both proactively diversify its membership and create a more inclusive environment within the organization:

  1.     AAAE has evaluated academic standards (Undergraduate in 2018 and Graduate in 2024), bylaws (2024), the Board Development Policy (2024), and the website through an EDIA lens. The EDIA Task Force, or a subset thereof, in collaboration with organizational staff, should regularly review policies, processes, and other published materials for errors, omissions, or inadvertent use of potentially hostile language and unwelcoming visual images.
  2.     AAAE has spearheaded several initiatives encouraging membership among graduate students, emerging educators, and faculty from underrepresented communities. The EDIA Task Force believes that, in general, our students as a whole are more diverse than AAAE’s membership. Thus, by encouraging emerging scholar attendance and participation in the annual conference, we attract a more diverse community and build the population of future members. In 2023, AAAE established a Conference Travel Fund to support students and emerging faculty in attending the annual conference. The Mentorship Program (2023–present) has engaged and supported a diverse cohort of mentors and mentees. In 2025, the organization introduced a sliding fee structure for individual members, aligned with annual income.
  3.     Partner with colleges and universities serving underrepresented populations on membership and arts-administration advocacy. To achieve greater representation, AAAE will need to actively recruit members from underrepresented groups. Engagement messaging will need to be individualized and include multiple points of contact. The Task Force recommends a goal of recruiting 20% of those contacted. Additionally, AAAE can support these programs by increasing awareness of arts administration and its graduate programs among diverse student populations.
    The committee will take a proactive approach by inviting such programs to AAAE meetings and encouraging them to promote arts administration among their students, who may not yet know this option exists. The AAAE Mentorship Program, launched in 2023, has also contributed to achieving this objective.
  4.     Promote a more diverse and inclusive annual conference. To recruit and retain a more diverse membership, the conference environment and programming must be inclusive. AAAE has consistently showcased conference speakers representing diversity in artistic practices and cultural backgrounds. We have made a concerted effort to diversify the composition of the Conference Evaluation Committee, which reviews and assesses conference submissions through a blind-review process.
    AAAE’s conference team will continue reviewing the conference location and schedule through an equity lens. Additionally, they will explore opportunities to incorporate EDIA training or workshops into pre-conference programming to foster a more inclusive learning and working environment. Lastly, attention should be paid to choosing conference locations that prioritize cities and venues welcoming and accessible to all participants.
  5.     Develop a board and committee diversification plan. Homogeneity in governance boards is endemic throughout the nonprofit sector. The Task Force works closely with the Board Development Committee to diversify board and committee membership. The Task Force acknowledges current efforts and endorses continued action toward this goal. Elements of such a plan include the active recruitment of underrepresented members to committees and promotion of the benefits of committee service to the broader membership. The final slate of candidates is subject to a membership vote. This process has already led to significant diversification of the AAAE Board.
  6.     Provide AAAE staff with guiding communications principles. As AAAE helps the field become more visible and understandable to a broader audience, there should be a deliberate attempt to emphasize EDIA principles across all communications. In recent years, AAAE has conducted advocacy and outreach work to promote arts administration as a career path. As this work continues, underrepresented communities must remain a priority, and the organization should adhere to clear guidelines for inclusive and equitable communication. The Task Force will develop these guidelines and provide them to staff within a six-month timeframe.
AREA OF IMPACT #3

Equipping Member Programs to Deliver Equitable and Inclusive Experiences in Arts Administration Education

The most powerful force for change AAAE can harness is its membership. By empowering members to evaluate and refine their own practices, we can position the field for systemic change. The Task Force recommends the following communications, professional-development, and engagement initiatives:

  1.     A Year of Calls to Action: As evidenced by record-setting attendance at this spring’s EDI webinar, members need ongoing guidance on approaching EDI topics and practices. Beginning in Fall 2018, the Task Force began publishing monthly Calls to Action on EDI topics, including: (1) making research and scholarship available in accessible formats; (2) crafting diverse and inclusive syllabi and reading lists; (3) offering paid internships as an equity concern; (4) identifying best practices for research; and (5) sharing model documents (syllabi, program/department policies, etc.). These Calls to Action are accompanied by member discussion calls offering dialogue and Q&A.
  2.     An AAAE Syllabus: Following the 2018 Agenda, the Task Force prepared a reading list and recommended resources on EDIA topics, with the goal of encouraging members to include authors from underrepresented communities in coursework. An EDI Directory has been developed on the Zotero platform. Supporting publications by scholars of color remains an ongoing goal. To that end, AAAE launched three conference prizes and a Best Student Paper Prize. Based on a 2022 member survey showing that most reading lists in arts administration remain predominantly Anglo-Saxon, AAAE has worked to promote scholarship by people of color and to facilitate publication opportunities.
  3.     Professional Development Opportunities: The Task Force recommends that AAAE continue creating additional opportunities for professional development, either at the annual conference or through virtual sessions. Training and resources should be made available on topics relevant to multiple stakeholders, such as student recruitment, equitable hiring strategies, and identifying implicit bias. One to three training opportunities per year should be pursued.
AREA OF IMPACT #4

Connecting the EDIA Work of Arts Administration Programs to the Field

Collaboration with the arts sector is essential to shaping the future of professional arts administration. Likewise, field models can inform arts-administration education. To fulfill this goal, the following objectives are proposed:

  1.     Identify and Disseminate Standard-Bearing Agendas, Practices, and Statements Related to EDIA from arts organizations. The Task Force will collect and analyze such materials to identify models and gaps and to inform classroom applications. One of the main instruments of this Agenda over the past seven years has been the EDI Research Fellowship. AAAE should strive to disseminate its findings and apply them where relevant.
  2.     Establish and Maintain a Database of Organizations Offering Paid Internships and Fellowships to students from diverse backgrounds. This database will assist students and advisors in locating supportive programs and could be expanded through partnerships with arts-focused job-listing sites.
  3.     Publicize and Reward Successful EDIA Initiatives. Recognizing strong partners who promote and support EDIA efforts in the arts and culture sector could enrich conference programming. Award nominees could be invited to present at conference sessions, fostering shared learning between educators and practitioners. Parameters for award eligibility—impact, years of service, and related criteria—should be defined.
  4.     AAAE Strategic Plan 2024–2029:
    Three of AAAE’s current strategic priorities directly advance EDIA goals:

    1. Investigate and identify barriers to participation and advancement in arts-administration programs and career pathways.
    2. Further operationalize EDIA within the organization’s internal structure.
    3. Deepen support for BIPOC, immigrant, and international arts-administration educators and learners.

The organization has launched a research group to explore barriers to participation in arts-administration education. Within this work, AAAE will also seek partnerships and resource-sharing opportunities with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

AREA OF IMPACT #5

Accessibility and Disability Justice Awareness

AAAE’s annual conference is its only in-person event. The organization has consistently selected fully accessible venues. During the recent website revamp, accessibility was prioritized, and the UserWay accessibility widget was added to allow users to adjust text and images for improved usability. Providing ASL services during virtual programming remains an ongoing goal, though it has not yet been met due to financial constraints. We will actively seek collaborations with organizations supporting individuals with disabilities to improve accessibility across our in-person and online programs.

Accountability

The EDIA Task Force, in collaboration with the Executive Director, is responsible for developing indicators to assess AAAE’s policy on equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, as well as overseeing its implementation and timeline.

Conclusion

Students and faculty from historically underrepresented groups deserve experiences free from bias and inclusive of a vibrant array of arts, artists, scholars, and practitioners. With the implementation of these recommendations and strategies, we believe AAAE members can begin the work of providing such experiences to our students and colleagues. We look forward to enacting these initiatives and countering historic exclusion and silence with justice and progress. The commitment to continue this work and provide meaningful leadership on diversity and equity is upon us, and we welcome the board’s partnership and support as we pursue it.

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