Watergate’s Joanna Cunningham On Diversity in the Arts
In the following piece, Waterford, Ireland’s Joanna Cunningham, Executive Director of the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny, Ireland, shares her views regarding the need for diversity in the arts arguing that diversity can help the arts grow and thrive.
Joanna Cunningham, originally from Co. Kildare, Ireland and now Executive Director of the Watergate Theatre has kept the importance of the arts in every person’s life and education at the centre of her vision throughout her professional life. Joanna graduated from University College Cork with a Bachelor of Music before completing an MA in music with a focus on the social history of music and its therapeutic and educational benefits, at the University of Limerick.
Her vision has underpinned her work at the Watergate Theatre since January 2018 and before this as Music Programmer at Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford, and Deputy Director at Waterford Healing Arts Trust at Waterford University Hospital.
Joanna notes, ‘The arts and creativity are pillars of personal and community wellbeing.’
The importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts
On 6 April 2022 Sorcha Pollack interviewed civil rights and diversity campaigner Patricia Munatsi in the Irish Times. Munatsi is a Zimbabwian law graduate who works for the Irish Network against racism. Her work has a focus on diversity and equal representation across all sectors and institutions.
Through her work she says she has found that, “Ireland is a very diverse community but that’s not reflected in our institutions. I look at different companies which employ thousands of people and say on their websites they’re grounded by diversity and inclusion. But then there’s only one black person on staff.”
At the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny we strive to run an institution which reflects the diverse demographics of Kilkenny and Ireland in respect of gender, race, social and economic backgrounds as well as artistic and cultural diversity and equality.
While progress is well underway particularly with the leadership of the Arts Council of Ireland — you can view their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy here — at the Watergate we aim to ensure that people from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender-based groups are represented. We aim for this to be reflected in our programming, artistic support opportunities, staffing, audience development and outreach as well as, crucially, in governance and leadership.
From both cultural and educational perspectives research tells us that varied and diverse cultural experiences bring richness and depth to the arts enhancing community bonds and integration as well as improving health, safety, and well-being. Cultural resources contribute to improved educational outcomes, prevent early school leaving and present children of all ages and backgrounds with a fuller spectrum of the professional and educational opportunities available to them.
We know that when the arts are taught through diverse representation this leads to higher inclusion and participation rates. However, stereotyping and/or economic or affordability blocks can limit access to these opportunities meaning large segments of our communities can be cut off from what should be their civic and educational entitlement. Increasingly we are seeing diverse communities being represented in our schools. This is a crucial step.
A municipal theatre, like the Watergate, by virtue of its funding structures and mission, belongs to the community in which it stands. It should not, therefore serve the interest and needs of just one narrow cohort. It is our goal through an outreach, development and awareness campaign to broaden our reach and continuously self-assess to ensure that we are meeting these inclusion and diversity goals.
The Watergate aims to embrace the enriching and imperative goals of deep and thorough diversity, equality, and inclusion across its strategies. As part of this we wish to be part of a world which pushes cultural and artistic boundaries and work towards working with our partners throughout Kilkenny and Ireland and learning from the vision perspective and experience of people like Patricia Munatsi.
Munatsi sums it up when she says,
“Diversity is our strength, why not invest in these people and allow them to thrive and prosper? We’re more than just immigrants, we contribute. Don’t just ask us about our immigration status, ask us about what we are trained in as professionals. That’s what Ireland is missing at the moment, but it’s never too late to change, there’s room to correct things. I’m hopeful.”
You can read the full interview by Sorcha Pollack here.
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About Joanna Cunningham
Joanna Cunningham, who is from Co. Kildare, Ireland is the Executive Director of the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny, Ireland. Joanna graduated from University College Cork with a Bachelor of Music before moving on to the University of Limerick where she graduated with a MA in Music with a focus on its social psychology and therapeutic potential.
She has worked at the Watergate Theatre since January 2018. Before this she ran the Music Programme at Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford and before this she worked as Deputy Director of Waterford Healing Arts Trust at Waterford University Hospital. Joanna ran a community arts programme in Ballyfermot, Dublin for the first eight years of her career post MA.
The Watergate Theatre contributes to ensuring that Kilkenny is in line with an Ireland which believes that each citizen’s life should be enriched by arts and culture. Within this mission Joanna aims to create opportunities for the local community to engage in high quality arts experiences while working with artists to create these opportunities. Through her work Joanna aims to support the development of the arts locally and to build partnerships through which the Watergate works alongside members of Kilkenny’s artistic and non-artistic communities. Joanna aims to increase the depth of engagement by all community sectors with a particular focus on children and young people.
