The following column was written by Carly Shank, artistic programs director of the University of Illinois Springfield Performing Arts Center. It was featured in The State Journal-Register on April 10, 2022. The following are excerpts from the article.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
I have been thinking a lot lately about this Maya Angelou quote. How can we better represent the range of our humanity in our artistic work? How can we not only create space for underrepresented communities, but make sure that members of those communities feel encouraged and needed in artistic spaces? How can we develop leaders from underrepresented communities so that more of the stories we tell can be initiated by them, representing their communities in the most meaningful, diverse ways?
Our Stage / Our Voices is a new program developed and sponsored by the University of Illinois Springfield Performing Arts Center in which members of historically underrepresented communities address the issues of inequality in the regional performing arts with a goal of advancing diversity and inclusion.
Area actor, director and performing artist Reggie Guyton will serve as the inaugural Our Stage / Our Voices artist-in-residence. He has worked with the Springfield Muni Opera, Springfield Theatre Center, Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield Area Arts Council, Illinois Arts Council, Blackburn College and more. His next project in the community is directing “Ragtime” at the Springfield Muni. Reggie identifies as a Cisgender Queer (Pansexual/Bisexual) Black man.