We encourage you to apply for at-will, seasonal employment or training opportunities with Williamstown Theatre Festival as we hope to be operating back in Williamstown, MA during the summer of 2021. At this time, however, we do not know if running a theatre season will be possible in light of federal, state, and local guidance concerning the global health pandemic. We encourage you to apply for these at-will positions, which will be contingent upon whether or not we can proceed with a full season. We will post an update here and will communicate directly with active applicants as our plans for summer 2021 become clear. All postings and job offers are, therefore, subject to change.
THE RESOUNDING DEMAND FOR RACIAL EQUITY AND INCLUSION in the American theatre has re-affirmed Williamstown Theatre Festival’s (WTF) commitment to providing meaningful work experience and increased opportunities for early career theatre-makers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in its 66-year-old training program. WTF has refashioned its training program with an emphasis on structured learning that presents outstanding opportunities for early career theatre-makers.
As part of an extensive EDI initiative launched in 2019, this year the full-time, year-round staff of WTF participated in training led by artEquity and completed an analysis, through an anti-racism lens, of extant decades-old practices and customs at the Festival; further inspired by the demands of the We See You, White American Theatre, the staff reflected on the current culture of the Festival. Across departments, immediately and in a phased manner ahead, changes will be implemented to continue WTF’s commitment to being an inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist organization.
It is imperative that the Festival focus its efforts on being an equitable, diverse, and inclusive cultural organization, particularly in our Professional Training Program. The work begins now.
Substantive changes to our Professional Training Program and workplace will begin in 2021, and will continue in subsequent years. On this page is an overview of the Professional Training Program and employment opportunities we aim to offer in 2021, if we are able to produce a summer season in light of federal, state, and local guidance around COVID-19.
WTF RECOMMITS TO BEING A WELCOMING, DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE
1. WTF has implemented new best practices for recruitment and hiring through an anti-racism lens and commits to greater transparency around logistics, compensation, and scope of work for all employment and training opportunities.
2. WTF has grown its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion training for the year-round team, seasonal staff, and Trustees.
3. With guidance from artEquity, WTF has formed an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion working group among the year-round staff, which will meet regularly and inform our operations in perpetuity.
4. WTF will invest in human resources by engaging a seasonal Conflict Resolution Manager to keep the Festival accountable.
5. All personnel and Professional Training Program participants will have access to identity-based affinity groups.
Taken together, these actions represent the first piece of a new approach that seeks to foster, at an increased level, a just and anti-racist Professional Training Program and workplace. WTF is committed to building back better and more equitably in 2021 and beyond.