Actors ‘ Equity Association Applauds the Establishment of NEA Chief Diversity Officer Role

Actors' Equity Association celebrated the news this week that the National Endowments of the Arts (NEA) will create a chief diversity officer for the first time in the agency’s history.

“This is thrilling news for the future of the NEA, and we are grateful they heard the voices of the workers who asked them to create this role,” said Al Vincent, Jr. executive director of Actors’ Equity Association. “The NEA is key to ensuring Americans from all backgrounds have opportunity to experience art locally and earn a living creating it. We look forward to working with NEA leadership to help drive inclusion further in their grantmaking process.”

Earlier last year, Equity joined with arts, entertainment and media industry unions to release a federal policy agenda for inclusion in the arts, which included a call for the NEA to hire a chief diversity officer to drive inclusion in the grantmaking process. Read more here.