The Art House Convergence, as the largest active group of those working in the Art House world, is an organization that believes in creating a community where the safety and comfort of our Art House colleagues is our key concern. There is no room in the Art House community for harassment of any kind. We believe in and are committed to preserving independent film exhibition as a place where everyone feels safe and welcome to participate in the shared experience of film.
Due to recent events in two theaters, it is vital that we restate our commitment to a harassment-free environment for our colleagues and communities and strongly condemn any organization or individual who engages in and/or allows this behavior. It is intolerable.
The Art House community is founded on principles of transparency and trust. Without these in place, our colleagues and our theaters would not be able to create community-based, mission-driven programs for our audiences. It is the responsibility of each of us to engender a harassment-free environment that supports the behaviors and culture that are central to our mission. We support our colleagues, including those working at the two organizations in question, as they work to rebuild the trust in their communities.
Harassment is a pervasive issue and is not exclusive to any one industry. In order to combat it in our own community, we must address these insidious behaviors in a direct way.
In support of that, we will be engaging in plenary dialogues, town halls, and action-oriented meetings throughout the 2018 Art House Convergence, January 15-18, 2018. Our conversations will be ongoing, extending beyond our community and we will be continually reviewing and discussing how we can, as an organization, constructively address these issues and best move forward. This includes an ongoing review of our activities in our theaters and reviewing and reinforcing our policies. Our position on a harassment-free environment and these actions we are taking should signal to our theaters and communities the values we believe in and the kind of organization we are committed to be.
-The Art House Convergence Team