Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Pluralism Policy and Implementation Strategy
In the summer of 2021, the Parodos team was tapped to develop a Pluralism Policy and Implementation Strategy for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is Alberta’s provincial arts granting body, and is an arms-length organization connected to the Alberta Ministry of Culture and Status of Women. It is a unique and complex environment, as it operates with some autonomy, overseen by a Board of Directors, but, as it administers government funds, it is also closely connected and bound by Government of Alberta policies and regulations.
The AFA Board of Directors wanted to expand on the Government of Alberta’s Diversity and Inclusion policy with its own philosophical approach through pluralism, a philosophy grounded in equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. It recognizes and respects diversity in a society, and seeks to create opportunities to celebrate our differences through education, awareness, and intercultural sharing. The AFA wanted to harness the power and positivity of pluralism as a means to strengthen Alberta’s culture, both ‘in the arts,’ by creating more equitable opportunities for diverse artists, and ‘through the arts,’ by encouraging greater dialogue and collaboration across communities, and enhancing inclusion and a sense of belonging for audiences across Alberta.
Our team first did an audit of approximately 50 AFA policies and programs, based on a matrix we developed, to analyze the AFA’s current approach to diversity and inclusion.
We then engaged with key stakeholders to better understand their perceptions and experiences with AFA’s programs and policies, and to identify barriers they experienced that the pluralism policy could attempt to address. We also tested the concept of pluralism, which was less well-known and understood than EDIA language within the Alberta arts community.
Next, we engaged with pluralism experts from around the world, as well as other arts organizations from across Canada, to learn from them about best practices in applying pluralism and EDIA-related concepts in an arts environment.
This research and engagement became the foundation of two key deliverables: first, an internal research report that provided our findings from the audit, and that documented what we heard from the stakeholder engagement — providing a snapshot of AFA’s current situational analysis. The second report was a summary of our external research, documenting best practices, based on both our learnings, and our team’s own expertise.
Based on our internal and external research, we determined the need to expand the concept of pluralism to include more anti-oppression concepts, which we coined Pluralism+. We recognized the significant value that pluralism offered, but also felt the need to respond to community and stakeholder concerns that pluralism didn’t go far enough to address barriers and systemic harms.
In our Interim Report, we fleshed out the concept of Pluralism+, and detailed eight initial strategic recommendations that the AFA could implement to start incorporating pluralism and EDIA concepts into their operations.
We also worked closely with the Board of Directors and AFA staff to expand and rewrite their draft pluralism policy to better reflect the concept of Pluralism+, and to embed anti-oppression concepts into the policy itself.
A key aspect of any EDIA-related activity is communication, as how you talk about this fraught and complex subject matter — both internally and externally — will have a significant impact on uptake of the strategy. Therefore, we developed a foundational communications strategy for AFA, providing audience spectrum analysis, key messaging, and campaign suggestions for how to engage with AFA’s diverse audiences. We also developed an ongoing stakeholder engagement strategy for how to continue to build relationships across many communities.
As well, we developed an Evaluation Framework to guide AFA’s annual reporting responsibilities, to track successes and to document challenges over time.
One of our strategic recommendations in our Interim Report detailed the need for staff and Board training on Pluralism+ and related topics. We recognized that everyone was at different places in terms of their social justice understanding, so we needed training tools that would appeal to people who are new to these concepts, but that would also expand and deepen understanding for those who are more advanced. Time was also a significant factor, recognizing that the AFA staff and Board are all busy professionals, with limited time on their hands. So we led a workshop, grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being, for any staff and Board members who wished to attend, which provided the fundamentals of a pluralistic worldview. We then provided further resources for learning and personal reflection at their own pace, with follow-up from AFA team supervisors.
The project culminated in April 2022, with a Final Report that provided a longer lens on further recommendations, and long-term strategic implementation. The entire process was met by an enthusiastic response from both the Board of Directors and AFA staff. The Policy was officially ratified by the Board in March 2022, and the staff is currently working on our implementation recommendations.