DEI programming is being cut across corporate companies and Black creatives are negatively impacted as a result.

Following the murder of George Floyd, protests for racial equity shined a light on gaps in corporate programming. Then came an influx of DEI programs, refined mission statements, and black squares on Instagram.

Companies like Sephora shut down their stores for two hours to have racial bias training and made commitments increase the number of Black-owned products in their stores.  

These corporate commitments to DEI included art museums around the country, from the New Orleans Museum of Art to The Metropolitan.

The Washington Post reported that DEI jobs reached a high in early 2023, but have already fallen by 8% already in 2024. Zoom, Google, and Meta are among the companies that recently cut DEI programming. 

For artists and creatives, this can mean a number of things. For Black TikTok creators, it can mean less brand deals. 

In February, influencer Anayka She said that she hadn’t received any Black History Month brand deals. The singer and beauty influencer has over 1.5 million followers.

In her comments, other verified TikTokers with millions of followers pointed out the same thing. 

The month had already began and they still hadn’t received any brand deals. 

In response style influencer, Asya, stitched the video and said that she said she even noticed that some companies were no longer even acknowledging Black History Month. 

She pointed out that during 2020, more brands were actively talking about Black history and issues. 

“Let’s be real, a majority of those brands said something during that time because we were telling them about themselves, we shouldn’t have to do that 24/7,” she said. “I need these brands to do what they said they was gon’ do and keep doing it, consistently.”

Around the same time, Amira Barger, the Head of DEI Communications at Edelman was noticing a similar trend. 

In a March article she wrote titled, “Why White Leaders Were Painfully Quiet This Black History Month”, Barger said she only had one public speaking engagement in February. 

“This collective silence underscores a broader concern about the state of engagement with and commitment to DEI.” Barger wrote. “It suggests to me that perhaps the greatest threat to dismantling white supremacy is the wavering resolve of white allies.”

Barger said that corporate companies had a heightened awareness of company culture following the death of George Floyd. However, she has been working in DEI before there was the formality around it that exists today. 

“In 2020 they decided DEI was important and became aware of the necessity and demand from employees and consumers,” she said. “So, we saw an influx of people being hired and departments being created”

She described the focus on DEI as a pendulum swing that is effected by numbers outside factors, including the presidential election. 

Barger said that whoever wins will have the power to create the narratives around DEI that will either garner or sway attention from it. 

However, she said she believes that the most recent sway away from DEI practices is because companies did not implement sustainable departments that were meant to last. 

“They were never serious to being with it was performative and now they're tired of being nice.” she said. “They gave us a moment to shut us up, and they thought we would.”

#blkcreatives is a collective of creators, according to their website, who are trying to ensure that the support for Black artists is not limited to the political climate. 

In their mission they say they exist to preserve sustain and elevate Black creativity. 

On their site, they even feature a “Pay Reparations” page asking people if they want to contribute to that preservation through Cash App, Zelle or Venmo. 

“Reparations gets your attention in a way those others don't and it's a statement. A statement saying that Black people, Black culture, Black creativity, we're still due reparations on so many different levels.” said Melissa Kimble, founder of #blkcreatives said. 

Kimble said she created #blkcreatives to honor Black creative icons who made it possible for Black creatives to exist today. She said the recent cuts to DEI are a result of racism but that it can be used as a moment for Black creatives to unify. 

“This can be used as a call-to-action for creatives to help each other get our business in order to where we're creating sustainable systems regardless of what's going on in different industries or our society, she said. “This country has always been difficult to navigate as a creative and artist but I do not think it's impossible for us to survive and flourish.” 

In Louisville, the Fund for the Arts has a Black Artist Fund that was created to amplify the creations of Black artists in Greater Louisville.

Recent recipient, Nipsey Green, is a multi-disciplined artist who received funding for a project he and his wife created, who said that specific opportunities for Black people are necessary because Black people need to tell their own stories. 

“Our stories and point of view is usually skewed or [made] palettable through a white lens,” he said. “Very little of the diversity in the Diaspora is ever really shown in it’s proper context.”

In Philadelphia, Jeri Lynne Johnson began her work in DEI years before the rest of the world caught up to the necessity for it. 

Johnson, a Black woman, started her work in DEI after being told she didn’t ‘look’ like an orchestra conductor. 

Lead facilitator, Liz Dreyer said that after receiving that comment Johnson founded the diverse orchestra Black Pearl Orchestra to attempt to level the playing field. 

“She was trying to flatten the hierarchies that are typically indebted into classical music.” Dreyer said. 

Soon after, according to Dreyer, Johnson began DEI Arts Consulting, to broaden her reach and help companies create similar structures to the Black Pearl Orchestra.

Dreyer met Johnson at an adaptive leadership event and have worked with each other since.

At DEI Arts Consulting, Dreyer said their goal is to help art organizations rethink their business practices. They don’t agree with making “sweeping policy changes”, instead they recommend what Dreyer called “small experiments”.

“Instead, lead a meeting differently, give feedback differently, so it isn’t just weaponizing DEI.” she said. “I can’t think of a more complex challenge than trying to create a more equitable workspace,”

These small experiments are motivated by unlearning five beliefs Dreyer said are endemic to the arts. 

One of those beliefs was that if they do work in the “western cannon” then everybody should love that because it is so “universal”. However the default for “universal” has a white and Western cultural lens. 

For example, Beethoven is revered as a transformational composer and classical artist. The Guardian said he “changed music forever” and his music is played in the National Symphony Orchestra. 

So, the assumption is that with this notoriety, there’s no way that anybody would want to play something different for a performance. 

Or, it overlooks the history of non-white composers in America who have contributed to classical music. Dreyer said that this idea is limiting and leads to the lack of diversity seen in acclaimed orchestras. 

“There’s a thought with diversity that ‘if we increase diversity, it will bring down this world class quality’” Dreyer said. “There’s room for all of it as opposed to just a slice of it,” she said. 

In a 2019 article titled, “Why Is American Classical Music So White?” by Tom Huizenga, he discusses this topic with music historian Joseph Horowitz. 

Horowitz discusses that there were multiple missed opportunities to incorporate African American music into classical music well before rappers like Kendrick Lamar performed with symphony orchestras. 

Horowitz tells the story of how a 1934 symphony orchestra led by Black composer, Dawson, broke out into applause in the middle of the show. 

“It was not in any way a normal thing in 1934 for an audience to interrupt a symphony with applause. That wasn't done because the composer happened to be black. That was done because people were stunned by the power of this symphony, which then proceeded to disappear,” he said. 

From Dreyer’s perspective, one reason for DEI’s recent setbacks is that the big sweeping changes DEI Arts Consulting warns against with their clients, is what was done in 2020. 

“They went too fast [saying] justice deferred is justice denied, as opposed to how can we step forward together,” she said. 

Dreyer continued cited the result of We See You White American Theater as an example of this. We See You White American Theater was an open letter demanding equitable and transformative practices in the theater industry.

Dreyer said that this was a revolutionary rather than reformist approach, that caused a ‘contraction’ from some organizations. Ultimately, Dreyer said that the problem lied with the labeling of DEI.

“Everyone has different definitions of diversity and equity,” she said “Instead we should be thinking about how we can be better members of our communities,”

Source list

Amira Barger: amirabarger@gmail.com

Liz Dreyer: lizmvy@gmail.com

Melissa Kimble: melissa@blkcreatives.com

Nipsey Green: nipseygreen@gmail.com