Purple Carrots Drama Studio wishes to express our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement. We are a community built on inclusion and diversity, and we are committed to creating an environment that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender, age or ability. We have zero tolerance for racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny or ableism of any kind. We acknowledge that these systems of oppression are complex and weave through many areas of our work, which is why we are actively working to combat them and provide a safer space for our staff and participants.

As a company which offers specialized programming for people with varying intellectual and physical abilities, we celebrate the multitude of identities and cultures in our community and recognize strength in diversity.

We have begun conversations within our team around how to be actively anti-racist and we are currently in the process of implementing the following:

1. Staff Training: Continually explore and implement anti-racism and diversity training for all staff

2. Opening the Conversation: Creating a safe space for staff and students to communicate openly and honestly about discrimination of any kind

3. Hiring Process: Committing to hiring more BIPOC* staff throughout all future hires

4. New Policies: Creating an anti-discrimination policy and sharing it publicly*
*Our Anti-Discrimination & Harassment policy can be found at
www.purplecarrots.ca/anti-discrimination-harassment-policy/

5. Community Fund Program: Creating a Purple Community Fund program in the next year, which will provide financial support for participants in need, and fund diversity/inclusion/solidarity training

6. Outreach: Connect with communities outside of our current reach through partnerships with other community organizations

7. Feedback: Providing a system for feedback from our students and families around their experience of our program, specifically in relation to our diversity and inclusion strategies

We acknowledge that we do not have all the answers and we are just at the beginning of this conversation. We are constantly learning, and we welcome your feedback as we continue to educate ourselves and implement changes. If you ever have any feedback, questions or ideas, please contact us at info@purplecarrots.ca

To all of our black participants and families, your lives matter to us.
To the BIPOC community of Toronto, you belong in our space, and we will do our best to support you always.

All Black Lives Matter.

Sincerely,
The Purple Carrots Team.

*BIPOC is an acronym that stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour