The opera has also done social impact work in-house through its social equity team and at the administrative Board level. Last fall, before I came on board, the opera held very implicit and intentional conversations with the Japanese American Citizens League around “Madame Butterfly” on racial and social equity in opera. What is the history of social equity work at Seattle Opera? This interview has been edited and condensed. This opportunity with the opera, explains ObeySumner, is about helping build an equitable model at an arts organization.Ĭrosscut interviewed ObeySumner to hear more about what equity and representation work will look like at Seattle Opera. An appointment in 2017 to the Seattle Renter’s Commission was a personal as well as ironic milestone: ObeySumner was homeless between the ages of 9 and 25. They (ObeySumner prefers they/their pronouns) have worked as a community organizer and is the founding executive director of the Eleanor Elizabeth Institute for Black Empowerment, which is named in honor of their mother and grandmother. ObeySumner grew up in Philadelphia and is pursuing a master’s in public administration at Seattle University. We hope to provide theatrical experiences that can also help to undo oppression with PoC storytellers, directors, and performers.” “Now is a time for decolonization in art, entertainment and more,” says ObeySumner about a role that, according to the opera, will encourage more access to communities of color. Adds Gabrielle Nomura Gainor, the opera's media relations manager, about the hire: “We recognize that perpetuating the notion of historical accuracy of the European origins of our art form have created barriers to communities of color.

Seattle opera