Creative Equity Toolkit

On the Misuse of Cultural Safety

Critique of Israel’s genocide in Palestine and gestures of solidarity with the Palestinian people have been repressed or censored using Cultural Safety as justification. Ruth De Souza argues that the use of this term must not be dislocated from Indigenous critiques of settler colonialism.

Other peoples’ stories

Wiradjuri writer, teacher and academic Jeanine Leane ponders questions of representation and who had the right to tell another person's story.

'if non-Indigenous people are still only encountering Indigenous people via the works of non-Indigenous writers/historians/filmmakers/artists, then are they really encountering us at all?'

Out of Context #5: Appreciation vs. Appropriation of Cultural Musical Objects

A 10-part series that addresses the topic of cultural appropriation as it intersects with both Western European-based classical music and the broader social landscape.

'I do not doubt [John] Cage’s sincerity with his use of the I Ching, and his emersion into Zen and Japanese culture was probably deep and profound. But in a world where we celebrate the ideas of individual geniuses like John Cage, how do we also acknowledge the source communities for these ideas?'

Participatory Grantmaking Aims to Dismantle Power Imbalances between Funders and Communities

An interview with Urban Institute fellow Jasmine Johnson about participatory grant making. It provides insights into some of these knowledge gaps through a qualitative study of 10 funders in small, midsize, and large cities across the USA. Johnson gives key takeaways from her study in this interview, three things to consider before adopting participatory grant making and the challenges of using this funding model.

Partner Power

This 'Technique for Building More Authentic Community Partnerships Right from the Start' offers a model of consultation and collaboration used by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History in the US to build an exhibition in collaboration with the community. Includes a video on conducting a meeting and worksheet with sample questions, using active listening and open-ended questions.

“It felt more equal...rather than appearing as though we were just trying to tick a box on community engagement.”