The Five Wings Arts Council believes that arts and culture contribute to the meaning and understanding of our humanity and should be honored and celebrated. Five Wings plays a unique and essential role to ensure the arts contribute to the well-being and prosperity of all residents in Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena counties. Arts and culture can be a vehicle to spark conversations, spur social change, and make our communities strong, healthy, and above all equitable. We acknowledge that there is no one perfect way to achieve equity, but we are willing to put forth intentional effort knowing there is much work to be done.

We are committed to addressing structural inequities and increasing support in the arts for under-represented artists, arts organizations, children, and adults through the following actions:

• Intentionally seeking out and welcoming members from under-represented populations for the FWAC board of directors and staff. Committing time and resources to expand a more diverse leadership structure within our board, staff, and advisory bodies.

• Ongoing education for staff and board on topics surrounding racial equity and social justice.

• Assure that a racial and cultural equity lens informs all decision-making, programs, policies, and procedures.

• Collaborate with other organizations working toward equity in providing resources and sharing best practices to create equity for underrepresented organizations and artists.

Five Wings Arts Council Board and Staff Social Compact with the Region

• We are here to distribute public and private funding for the arts in an equitable manner.

• We are enhancers: we enhance the well-being of artists and arts organizations, and, by doing so, improve the well-being of all residents of our region.

• We are present and participating in this work to make our granting process and systems accessible to all.

• We have the ability, collective strength, and responsibility as a Regional Arts Council to develop ideas and implement structural changes to the system to better serve the region.

• We are willing to dedicate resources (time and money) in order to build relationships and strengthen diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultural communities. We are willing to change our individual and collective systems in order to engage underserved communities.

• We care deeply about the arts and our communities, and we believe in the power of the arts to transform people and communities in positive ways.

Additional Resources for Learning More About Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Words Matter: Guidelines on Using Inclusive Language at the Workplace
OHSU Center for Diversity and Inclusion Inclusive Language Guide
LGBTQ-Inclusive Language Do’s and Don’ts
The Language of Identity - Using Inclusive Language at Mizzou

Tool Kits and Samples for Arts Organizations to Implement Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Sample Toolkit for Arts Organizations for Diversity Inclusion
Sample Equity Plan
Honor Native Land: A Guide and Call to Acknowledgment
Watch: Asian-Americans in Rural America - Minnesota Women’s Press
Right To Be: Free Bystander Intervention Training
Watch: How America Invented Race/History of Whiteness in America
Read: First American Art Magazine’s publishing editor America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)