Writing Barn Progress Report October 2020

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An Open Letter from Bethany Hegedus

In June we informed our customers what more we could take on as a literary organization serving writers globally as we each work to end systemic racism, and especially the foothold white privilege has in the publishing industry.  

A few weeks later, we unveiled The Writing Barn Manifesto and made public what two principles the WB staff and WB Fellows would stand in to further the Writing Barn’s mission to deepen our process and perfect our craft as we retreat, create, and celebrate. 

My stand as Owner/Founder/Creative Director is focused on:

We work to create inclusion and equity within the publishing industry.

And with that in mind, as we head into the fall, we wanted to share a progress report of steps taken, and what more there is to do, as we believe transparency and input are key. 

October 2020 Progress Report:

In June, we committed to the points in bold below, with specifics that follow between June and October 2020. 

Continual amplification of BIPOC voices, and to develop programming that is more inclusive and at times exclusive: solely to BIPOC creatives. 

Our social media continues to amplify BIPOC voices and Equity & Inclusion issues. Please note, we took on the Brown Bookshelf Call to Action and in doing so committed to:

  • Prioritize the work of midlist Black authors/illustrators by providing a significant and sustained investment of financial and other resources.
  • Map out concrete marketing strategies that include valuable input from Black book creators
  • Collaborate with multiple constituencies in the Black children’s lit community, including but not limited to: Black media/Social media influencers, Conference coordinators, Festival Directors, Black Booksellers, Black educators/librarians, Black Marketing Professionals, and Reviewers.
  • Expand hiring practices to increase the number of Black professionals in publishing at every level.

This November, we are offering Exploring Paths to Publication for #ownvoice authors and illustrators with Andrea Loney. After a deep, meaningful, and fun conversation with Andrea, we scheduled this 6-week class exclusively for #ownvoice authors. Andrea will instruct the group, supported by WB Fellow/TA Nick Solis. 

 

Continual amplification of LGBTQIAP+ voices, and to developing programming that is more inclusive and at times exclusive: solely to LGBTQIAP+ creatives. 

Our annual Rainbow Weekend Intensive, the first for YA & MG LGBTQIAP+ writers in the country, was postponed in April due to the coronavirus. It will be online in November, with incredible faculty: Cory McCarthy, Amy Rose Capetta, Diana Pho, and Patrice Caldwell. With the move to online, the price point dropped, making this event more available to Rainbow writers globally, as well as an influx in scholarships with members of the Writing Barn community donating funds from The Funny Women Intensive payments, when prices there were reduced as well. 

In support of furthering the work of bringing Rainbow voices to publication, we have added on an evening session in January, where the main faculty will come back together with all the attendees and have a virtual session on revision progress and querying and marketing as Rainbow writers, free of charge. 

Increased partnerships with various writing organizations that are BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ led/directed.

We held two free open Mic Nights in collaboration with two other amazing Austin based literary organizations. The first being with The Lenguas Locxs Writer Collective, a writers group and workshop in Austin, TX for women, femme and non binary writers at all stages of writing experiences to form a community of support and mutual growth. The second was an epic night with Interfaces, a community initiative that works to nurture and amplify marginalized artists in the Austin, Texas area through IDEA-conscious arts programming. We hope to partner with more orgs across the country and provide more programming accessible to writers everywhere. 

Providing reading lists and other resources to our wide array of teaching artists and writer customer base. 

We will soon be assembling these resources with the aid of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee members. (More about that effort further on.) Look for more updates on this initiative in our next progress report. 

 

Creating continual scholarship funding for marginalized voices, economic need, and neurodiverse writers. 

Our internal scholarship fund is growing with donations from WB intensive attendees, whom we asked to donate funds when intensive price points lowered as we went virtual for intensives this year. From these funds, we have been able to award 2 full scholarships and several partial scholarships to our Intensives, Classes, and more! 

Additionally, previous scholarship recipient, Phil Hoetzel sponsored a $300 scholarship, the exact amount he was awarded several years ago, which was awarded to a writer attending PB I. A WSS partial scholarship of $250 was granted to a female writer by a female business owner, wanting to honor her grandmother, whose voice and creativity was stifled in her lifetime. Awards to #ownvoices writers were granted 3 full scholarships into the Courage to Create community, in over $1050. Author Mackenzie Lee donated $1100, which has been awarded to two trans/nonbinary or gender queer writers to attend the Virtual Rainbow retreat. 

We have also offered scholarships for our youth programming. Three BIPOC or LGBTQIAP+ teens with economic need who attended Pen to Paper, our summer teen writing-intensive, were awarded scholarships, and we will be offering more youth scholarships for our upcoming virtual classes for kids and teens.

We look forward to increasing awareness of partial and full scholarship opportunities, as well as seeking resources for increased funding. 

Opportunities for social justice conversations, specifically for white writers within our community, to be sure bias and privilege is addressed.

As we move into the fall, and early 2021, we hope to host potential conversations for white writers who are educating themselves with readings and private book groups and to transition that learning into equitable actions white writers can take to be better allies and confront white privilege within themselves. 

A diverse and inclusive roster of teaching artists. 

Please peruse our fall offerings. You will see an amazing array of #ownvoice authors facilitating classes for ALL writers. We are looking forward to nailing down our Jan-June 2021 classes in the coming months, as well. Here is a selection of highlights. 

Craft webinars from:

  • Natalia Sylvester
  • Christina Soontornvat

Half-day classes from:

Full-day class from:

And 6-week classes from:

We welcomed new and returning WB Fellows for the fall and will soon add our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee members to the team listing, as we continue to seek and support a diverse and inclusive roster of volunteers.

Attending diversity, inclusion, and equity training on an ongoing basis. 

The staff continues to seek and attend training, both free and paid, to support our internal structures as we seek to transform publishing from the country club model of the past to the community garden of varied voices that are needed. 

As we continue the work ahead, we understand our efforts may not suit some of our white cis-gendered writers. We have received anonymous feedback via surveys after one instructor asked for pronouns to be included on the Zoom platform, and have had a loss of income when it was made clear that in our new online offerings #ownvoices would be prioritized and protected when it comes to what is deemed safe and acceptable content. We have also suggested revisions to online content when culturally insensitive phrasing has been used, directly reaching out to writers, who have welcomed the knowledge and embraced the need for change.

While it is not our intention to alienate or divide, nor is it our intention to discount white cis-gendered voices (I am one myself), it is our intention to be a writing organization that is reflective, inclusive, and honors all of humanity through story and through organizational efforts to engage the literary lives and careers of the writers who choose to study with us. Should you have any questions or input, please email us at info@thewritingbarn.com. 

We have more work to do.

We’re holding a meeting with our new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee early this month (October 2020). Our next progress report will include insights and initiatives discussed during the meeting, as well as a more in-depth introduction of the members of the committee.

This DEIC is composed of trusted members of the writing community and we’re excited to introduce them properly soon. In the meantime, please welcome: Nick Solis, Sara Fajardo, Aileen Johnson, Nancy Bo Flood, Norris Atkins, Jyoti Gopal, and Nicole Chen.

This is an amazing group of people who will help us improve our understanding of many complex issues, and then help us implement the changes needed to improve our own space in the community.

You will be hearing more from us on these efforts as we plan, implement, reassess, and execute. And, as always, we welcome hearing from you directly: ideas, potential partnerships, resources, and more. 

“I was responsible for my every thought and action, yes; but I was also responsible for the thoughts and actions of the world. To change the world, I needed to change myself.” –  Arun Gandhi & Bethany Hegedus, from Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story