Hey, it’s been a while so we thought you might want to know where we’re at …
Firstly, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rosalinda Hernandez and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am Latinx— born in El Salvador, Mohkinstsis (Calgary) has been my home since immigrating to Canada during the civil war.
I joined Femme Wave in March 2020 because I wanted to be part of an organization that I felt reflected much of my values, a ‘fuck you’ to the system, an inclusive perspective, an organization that stood for intersectional feminism— a feminism that wasn’t talked about 20 years ago when I was learning about the first, second and third waves. One that was more inclusive to my lived experiences not just as a woman but as a racialized woman. I would have the chance to be a part of this radical festival, I would be part of something great.
Less than 3 months after joining the Board, Femme Wave was called-in and I didn’t know what to think— were they not the organization I had believed them to be, the organization that I had so badly wanted to be a part of the day that I applied to, that I interviewed for, and the day I was voted in?
But I stayed, and I’m writing to you today to share with you a bit about our journey— what we’ve been doing for the past 9 months and why we’ve been silent (spoiler alert: we’ve been listening, learning and reflecting).
We want you all to know that we took our call-in to heart and have spent the time since our last update committed to making meaningful and informed changes.
Together, Femme Wave’s current board and its former leadership team have been working really hard to critically identify our privileges in order to understand how to support Femme Wave’s transformation to be a more inclusive and safe space for the communities we serve.
Without a doubt, this year has been the hardest growth for the organization, the current Board, and former leadership team as we took the time to reflect on the impact of our privileges on how we can be seen and felt as allies — understanding our roles and and speaking from a place of ongoing learning and not authority, and also to center the perspectives of racialized folx around any of these topics that haven’t been represented.
So… what have we been doing?
January
- Jordan Baylon and the Colour Factor were brought on as consultants and facilitators. Jordan crafted the survey for community engagement.
- The Executive Director, Artistic Director, and Resource Director officially moved out of their paid roles and into roles as volunteers to help Femme Wave navigate through this period of emergent transition.
- Three members of the Board of Directors completed their terms or stepped down.
- None of these positions have been filled at this time, to avoid any undue or unpaid labour as we work through the first steps of the process. and as a first step in our succession plan to begin making space for the relationships and perspectives we want to co-create through this process
February
- The Transformation Survey closed, and Jordan began the work of reviewing and reflecting on the responses.
April
- The Board and former directors take part in an Anti-Black racism workshop led by Sankofa, with the support of Sled Island.
May
- The team began processing the Transformation Survey results.
- The groundwork started being built for community engagement and succession planning.
July
- Began drafting our Report to Community, based on the results of the survey.
August
- Report to Community: we’ll be releasing our full report this week on the Blog and on Femme Wave social media channels.
As mentioned, we’ve been working with Jordan Baylon and the Colour Factor to help keep us accountable and guide us through this transformation. This has entailed a lot of personal time and commitment to understanding our own privileges, participating in discovery sessions and roundtables, as well as looking at the Survey Results in depth.
The values that have been shaping our current process include:
· Prioritizing community care
· Understanding accountability
· Accepting an emergent process and slowing down
· Continuously learning for FW and our consulting team
· Having open, honest communication
· Imagination!
Two areas we will also continue to understand is what a sense of belonging means to community members and supporters, as well as being critical of what Feminism is and who feels included.
As a new board member at the time of the call-in, and a racialized woman myself, I acknowledge my perspective is both an opportunity and an obligation to ensure our organization is committed to being an inclusive space through continuous checking-in on my own privileges and how they inform my perspective.
More importantly, I feel the call-in gifted me with the agency to be critical in the space of white supremacy in Calgary’s arts space.
One moment of reflection that I had while working with Jordan and the folx at the Colour Factor that I’d like to share:
When I was a teenager, I lived for Calgary’s all ages punk scene.
(Were you there? Remember me? I was the tiny brown girl with purple and black makeup that’d be outside smoking green death in between sets…)
These were the mid-90’s and punk was unequivocally linked to whiteness. I’d go so far to say that I was the only brown kid at the shows.
Like any typical scene, the punk scene was very cliquey, and despite attending these shows alongside many of the same people for years, I never felt like I belonged. Then one day, we heard a rumour that neo-nazis were attending “Saturday’s show”, and all the sudden it became so real — this space wasn’t for me. And it wasn’t just that my safety was at risk, it was all those years of being ignored and excluded. Hurt and rejected, I didn’t speak up, or hold my place or even think that I could — instead resigning to expectation, I left the scene.
That feeling of not belonging — that’s not what I want for Femme Wave. Working next to these women for the past year, I know it’s not what they want either. I am confident to say that we’re committed to continuously learning and doing better so it is a space for belonging.
A key value from day 1 of Femme Wave has been “educating and being educated.” We appreciate having the time and space to be educated on these issues and appreciate the 2SLGBTQQIA, Indigenous, Black, and Racialized folx who have held us accountable and guided us in realigning the organization to this key value.
I want to thank all our community members who called us in and are keeping us accountable. Your voices and strength is admirable to me and means more than you’ll ever know.
Sincerely,
Rosalinda Hernandez, and the Femme Wave Team
