Message from the FDC President

To the membership,

My name is Nathania Bernabe and I am the new president of FDC. I wanted to take the time to check in and update you on our progress. After the election I was introduced to my team on the board and executive level and set out two major goals:

Create a diverse community through FDC with an empowered inclusive ethos
Connecting our membership.

We have a mountain of work ahead of us but I am excited for the passion and support I have been offered through my team and active members of this organization.

We would like to extend our thanks for your patience with us these past months. With the board taking in new members, including Treasurer, FM Representative and President, we have been hard at work getting everyone updated on current situations and initiatives moving forward.

During this time we are setting clear intentions for our future plans as we work diligently. We are strong in our commitments to making changes within our organization.

FDC is still examining and re-working our current leadership structure, and are working toward removing gatekeeping powers. We are also still in the process of discussing the expansion of our curriculum and an update of the current glossary.

On top of attending our own personal diversity and inclusivity training. We have been hard at work trying to find a strong anti-oppression training program for our Board and Executive, in order to make sure that as we restructure our organization we are making equitable decisions. We have come to a final four options of which we are still reviewing for effectiveness and financial reasons.

As COVID-19 keeps us apart and off the training floor, we are taking the chance to review our current financial standings and fundraising committee, to best support those of the global majority once we are able to host upcoming workshops and events.

As feelings of isolation still linger due to COVID-19 we reflected on the people we have worked with. We have increased significantly in membership since 1992 and now have international reach. We have begun to create different initiatives and programs to help connect us to one another. We want to be an organization that celebrates and highlights our members for their work in our community and within their own.

As we prepare for the new future of an inclusive and diverse FDC, we must take the time to listen to the experiences of all those within our organization. To hear what you think we are missing, where we can serve you better, and how we can be an organization everyone can be proud to be a part of.

And so, as we continue to sit in a COVID standstill, we want to take this opportunity to hear from our membership. FDC will be holding a Virtual Town Hall, where we wish to hear what the membership would like to see in our values moving forward.

We are dedicated to being a part of the change needed in the arts community and as we keep building and finding best practices we encourage you during this time to keep listening and learning. We acknowledge the current climate brings a lot to process, so please do take care of yourselves and find things in your days that bring you joy.

Until we can fight together again...

Nathania Bernabe, President

Details of FDC Townhall

When: Sunday, September 20th 11:00am - 1:30pm PST
Where: Virtually Via Zoom

Moderated by Jasmine Chen

Goals for this town hall:

Hearing what issues the membership sees within the organization to aid us in progressing as an organization.

1. Updating FDC’s Core Values and Code of Conduct*.
2. Gauging interest for involvement of the Ethics Committee. With our current concerns and what is brought forward by members, our discrimination, grievance and disciplinary policies, will all see great changes through this committee.

We want to hear from you! If you are unable to attend we would still love to hear your input, please send any thoughts you may have about existing issues within the organizations, possible solutions or your suggestions for our Core Values and Code of Conduct please send them to our secretary, Brianna Johnston (secretary@fdc.ca)

Those who submit a comment can choose to have it read aloud, or kept private and given straight to the board/committee for discussion. If you would like your comment to be read out loud please try to stay within 100 words per thought.

As always, we ask that everyone come to these discussions with a sense of respect and community, with the goal of improving FDC. The purpose of the FDC town hall is to examine systemic issues and find community lead solutions. We acknowledge that experiences may sometimes be related to specific members. Although the town hall aims to look at our issues as a whole, if anyone has complaints about another member personally, please refer to the section 6.4 in the current Code of Conduct (see Policies and Procedures) which outlines proper procedures for the reporting and handling of such situations. We acknowledge that the current Code of Conduct is a living document and that we are still looking to improve on these policies.

To participate in the virtual townhall please RSVP to our Director of Administration Christopher Mott (membershipadmin@fdc.ca)
When you RSVP you will receive an email before September 20th with the zoom link.

*To look at our current Code of Conduct created by Brianna Johnston in collaboration with other FDC Members please click this link: https://fdc.ca/about-us/policies-and-procedures/