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To Our Philly Performance Community and Supporters:

 

The Philadelphia burlesque, drag, and nightlife performance communities have been witnessing a unique and powerful movement in our shared history where we are working to shift the culture of how we show up for one another. Pillars of our communities have mobilized to put in considerable labor to foster a new norm that has creators, performers, and producers calling on each other and on ourselves to do better, particularly for our Black & queer siblings. In keeping with the momentum of the Philadelphia Black Queer & Burlesque Town Hall, the members of Sinnamon’s Spice Rack want to speak our collective values and consider the ways we commit to moving forward that are consistent with our beliefs. As a group that is explicitly queer, fat-positive, and slut-positive, we also firmly support the following movements and belief systems:

 

  • We are anti-racist, anti-fascist, and anti-capitalist.

  • We decry the systemic oppression enacted by police & military forces.

    • We advocate for the active defunding of those systems and reallocation into our communities.

  • We are in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the consequent protests.

  • We are in support of the demands presented by The Philadelphia Black Queer & Trans Performer Town Hall.

  • We are in support of Indigenous rights, immigrant rights, disability rights, and the decriminalization of sex work.

  • We acknowledge the necessity of having a troupe that reflects the diverse Philadelphia performance community.

 

As many of our members are impacted by the overlap and intersection of these issues, it is important to note that our queerness is not limited to sexual orientation. Our queerness includes actively bashing back against normative demands of gender identity, sexual orientation, body politics, and systemic oppression in its many forms.


 

What We Will Do To Continue Aligning With These Beliefs:

 

Moving forward, we will be switching from “Sinnamon’s Spice Rack” to “The Spice Rack”. The Spice Rack will be run as a collective with a core leadership group and supporting members. Our troupe has always sought to book with intentional inclusion and will continue by enforcing that the leadership team of seven members consists of at least three BIPOC members. 

 

To promote pay equity across settings, The Spice Rack can provide pay scale and finance transparency within and outside of our troupe, including baseline pay guarantees and bonuses for performers and staff. We commit to revisiting this pay structure as a group before every show to communicate how pay will be allocated. You can request more information on our compensation model by reaching out to us.

 

The Spice Rack will be rolling out a mentorship program for queer and trans performers who have been underrepresented and underresourced. The program will have open applications and consist of opportunities to grow in performing, kittening, producing, and other skill sets that we can provide. We will actively engage and support newer/underbooked performers, whether they wish to join The Spice Rack or take their knowledge elsewhere. To support our skillshare, we will encourage the use of tangible resources, such as the Philly Performer Resource Redistribution Hub & Closet. Any bookings given to participants of our mentorship program will be paid positions.

 

In the interest of continuing to make Spice Rack shows a safer environment for our communities, The Spice Rack will only perform in venues that have undergone complete training in race- and LGBTQ+-related issues taught by Black, queer, and trans instructors from reputable organizations, as per the request of the Black Queer & Burlesque Performance Community of Philadelphia.

 

Our members will continue to support and promote shows outside of our collective that align with our beliefs, and won’t allow ourselves to become complacent in the community. We welcome and encourage collaborative shows, workshops, and/or promotion with like minded performers and producers.


 

What We’re Calling On The Philadelphia Performance Community To Do:

 

  • Pay your cast equitable rates and use transparency in pay scales

  • Support shows that align with inclusivity and the demands of Philadelphia Black Queer and Trans Performance Community

  • Stop supporting venues that do not comply with anti-oppressive trainings, equity, and transparency

  • Only accept bookings with casts that have BIPOC performers and do not partake in tokenizing behavior

  • Stop creating acts that appropriate or create a parody of any BIPOC culture. We invite you to consider the context of songs/imagery and who they are for.

    • This includes digital blackface and using vernacular that is not your own (ex. tea, shade, queen, slay, etc) in mixes and real life.

  • Be aware of blindspots in regards to the history of Black and Brown people in general and in our direct community. It is important to always continue your own education.

 

This is a living document, and will be updated with additional resources below and clarifications as needed.

 

In Solidarity,

The Spice Rack

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We recommend going through the following resources, and paying labor to any BIPOC folks who created them:

 

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