About Theater of Change
The Theater of Change is a groundbreaking methodology developed as a collaboration between the Broadway Advocacy Coalition and the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School.
The Theater of Change (TOC) Methodology brings together theater artists, law / policy students and professionals, and directly impacted change agents with first-hand experience with systemic inequities that call for transformative change. TOC enables these groups to learn from each other and expand their capacity, community, and impact. Participants ultimately collaborate as equal partners to create arts-based performance pieces that have an activism strategy to advance change in these areas and policies. The methodology hinges on centering directly impacted individuals, their communities and their lived experiences in policy discourse and decision-making. The policy areas of focus include reducing mass incarceration, educational equity, political participation, and immigration.
History
In July 2016, amid a climate of ongoing racial injustice and police brutality, a group of six Broadway artists from the musical Shuffle Along formed the Broadway Advocacy Coalition (BAC). Inspired by the musical’s themes of Black excellence, they aimed to channel the power of Broadway into a force for systemic change, focusing particularly on racism and mass incarceration. But they realized that, for their artistry to have this kind of systemic impact, they would need to build creative and lasting partnerships with groups who would bring policy and legal knowledge and resources to that collaboration.
Realizing the need for a robust intersection between art and law, BAC partnered with the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School (CISC). CISC brings together lawyers, law students, and leaders directly affected by incarceration to develop collaborations and strategies for institutional, cultural, and policy change that center the full participation of those closest to the problems. CISC’s leadership recognized theater as a potent tool against the depersonalization and inherent racism in the legal system, seeing it as a way to broaden law students’ perspectives on their roles as change agents, restore hope for change, and rescript the narratives that hold racist policies and practices in place.
This collaboration has enabled BAC and CISC to merge the powers artistry with activism to propel systems change, grounded in the leadership of people with lived experience. BAC cultivates change agents who blend artistic tools and practices with knowledge and strategies about legal, policy, and culture change to reshape the narratives that underpin racist policies and sustain systemic injustices
Credits
The Theater of Change Methodology was created by Susan Sturm of the Center for Institutional and Social Change and Zhailon Levingston, Leia Squillace, Britton Smith, and Ben Wexler of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Additional contributions throughout the years have been made by Mikayla Bartholomew, Dria Brown, Nkosi Cain, Chesray Dolpha, Asad Pervaiz, Alejo Rodriguez, and all of the incredible facilitators throughout the years.
