We are delighted to have been selected to be a part of the inaugural Steelcase Social Innovation Lab’s Equity in Education Fellowship. In this two-month intensive series of workshops, assignments, and guest lectures, we’ve been developing a prototype to begin addressing some of the major concerns we’ve gleaned from our interviews through the past couple of years: sexism in academia and the art field.
After hearing from many of YOU, we know that the structures and culture of higher ed is often toxic for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, women, and people who are primary or coequal caregivers. Our identities are valued in the numbers we represent, but our experiences and needs are dismissed, diminished, or treated with hostility–and primarily due to how institutions function on antiquated systems and policies.
We also recognize that many leaders of arts and academic spaces want to be more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, but many times they are not equipped with all they need to make those changes.
One of our solutions is the project we are working on in this fellowship: Reproductive Media’s Equity Incubator. This incubator includes workshops and resources designed to help Administration of academic and arts institutions create the inclusive and equitable institutions their mission statements declare. Through a series of interviews, arts-based, hands-on activities designed to opening up conversation and pin-pointing areas of opportunity, along with our ever-growing zine library crowd-sourced from you, we offer individualized programs, tailored to academic and arts institutions and their specific needs.
We are in the process of speaking to a sampling of academic Administrators, learning from them what hinders progress, so we can better understand their needs to then help the entire institution’s community.
Interested in learning more about what Reproductive Media is doing? Check out our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reproductivemedia/
Interested in learning more about Steelcase’s Social Innovation Lab and this Fellowship? Drop by here: https://www.steelcase.com/eu-en/socialinnovationlab/
And if you are an Administrator of an academic or arts institution, and you want to be a part of our design process, reach out to us! Our organization’s email is reproductivemedia@gmail.com.
Here’s to healthier, more sustainable futures for our beloved academic and arts institutions!
Reproductive Media 