A More Equitable MayDay

Some people were not sure what HOBT meant when we said we have a problem with cultural appropriation, micro aggressions, and a MayDay process that marginalized artists of color.

We understand that most people watching the parade didn’t see any problem that needed solving.  

Though the first Sunday in May in past years may have looked like a diverse celebration, it has usually been at the expense of authentic relationships and inclusion with non-white communities. We are choosing to listen to and prioritize the lived experiences of IBPOC artists who have told us that they have felt marginalized by HOBT’s MayDay process. Changing the world starts with changing ourselves!

What MayDay Artists Have Told Us

HOBT's MayDay process brought together the work of up to 1,000 people to build a parade, festival and ceremony attended by  thousands on the first Sunday in May. Nearly every aspect of the parade and ceremony were built from scratch each year in a community build process that did not begin until April. Artistic creation of this scale in such a brief timeline fosters a sense of urgency that asked too few people to do too much work over too short a period of time, for too little compensation, particularly artists of color. The feverish pace of the work did not make time to address microaggressions, opaque decision-making, and cultural appropriation. It also replicated systemic oppressions of unpaid emotional labor for women and femmes and communities of color. 

Former MayDay artists Insights:

"[the MayDay Parade] hadn't genuinely made itself safe for people who aren't liberal in a white, South Side kind of way.... There's a lot of work to be done around the soul and identity of this space that goes beyond mission statements.” 

"It's hard to establish trust when you are invited into a space and you think it's a genuine invitation to collaborate. You share your ideas, your culture and [then] you see these ideas implemented and put on display without referencing you, your work and your culture. When it happens over and over again, you don't want to go back." 

"There was a toxic environment. There were micro-aggressions. I was overworked. Everyone else says, 'That’s the MayDay process'. We should do it with love, with care – not the way we really did it. I love this job, but I won’t be coming back. It’s not my job to explain to you what a micro-aggression is."

View the community feedback survey about MayDay conducted by Imagine Deliver, Juxtaposition Arts & HOBT

Takeaways

The quotes shared here represent many comments from artists of color that were shared both throughout the Imagine MayDay Community Engagement Survey Process and in MayDay Artist Evaluations year after year.  

MayDay artists of color tell us that these dynamics are not unique to HOBT. These are the ways that White Supremacy Culture creates obstacles for people of color in other workplaces as well as in housing, education, and the justice system.

HOBT fostered White Supremacy in our work in a way that is antithetical to HOBT’s values. We have a moral obligation to dismantle White Supremacy embedded in HOBT's process and culture.

Over the last several years, HOBT invested in MayDay Council (MDC), a group comprised of artists and community leaders representing a wealth of passion, skill, and energy for the work of creating a more equitable and sustainable MayDay.

MDC designed a new approach to the planning and production of MayDay events based on principles of equity, justice, and collaboration.

From their work, came MayDay 2022,  a shared, sustainable, community owned MayDay Season.

Culture change takes time and commitment. HOBT does not claim to have fully addressed the issue, but staff, board, and artists have a shared understanding that only by fully embracing this work can we carry the organization forward.