Support The People of Cabaret!

The People of Cabaret is an Australian-based collective dedicated to ensuring diversity and inclusion in the performing arts sector, by:

-  Amplifying, celebrating and advocating for artists of colour;
-  Making space for, championing, nurturing and supporting artists of colour;
-  Providing a network for people of colour to connect with and empower one another; and
-  Elevating an industry standard by ensuring that people of colour are paid for their time and work.

We are working towards a sustainable and fair performing arts landscape for creatives of colour, and our key objectives will have immediate, visible impact. Money donated to this fundraiser will go directly towards:

-    Financially supporting the admin and resources to assist The People of Cabaret in their journey to become a not-for-profit, facilitating the development of The Council and our advocacy work. This includes the devising of an intersectional anti-racism Code of Conduct for venues and arts organisations, programming a series of BIPOC-led shows and networking events, forming a structured Consultancy service, and continually engaging in ways to make space for, champion, nurture and support artists of colour.

-   establishing and delivering our first season of The Mentorship, a programme designed to connect emerging BIPOC artists with Industry Leaders of colour in a sustainable and mutually-empowering career development model, as well as creating as many paid opportunities for creatives of colour as possible.

-    Paying for the infrastructure needed to create and maintaining our database of creatives of colour, known as The Directory. This much-needed resource will serve to eliminate excuses made by producers and programmers when confronted over the lack of BIPOC visibility on our mainstages, in variety and cabaret show line-ups, in festivals, fringes and other open-access performance opportunities, as well as the wider entertainment industry. We are here. We always have been.

The People of Cabaret is currently made up of 12 artists of colour who work primarily in cabaret, but who have diverse and varied experience in the arts sector.  This group forms The Council, which will grow to 30 members across Australia by the end of 2020. 



(Top, l-r): Grace Edward/@gures_edward9, Mama Alto/@mama.alto, Miss Cairo/@prettymisscairo, D Flowers/@divyaflorez, Victoria Falconer/@victoria_falconer, Dean Drieberg/@deanjdrieberg.
(Bottom, l-r): Rhys Velasquez/@rhysvlsqz, Weird Alice/@idontgetweirddrag, Miss Bailee-Rose/@miss.bailee.rose, Daddy Doe/@yesdaddydoe, Dani Boi/@afab_ulous, Kaori Maeda-Judge/@kaori_mj.

Whilst we are all currently working on a voluntary basis, we believe that BIPOC people must be paid for their time and energy in doing anti-racism work, and The People of Cabaret are dedicated to creating as many paid opportunities for creatives of colour as possible.

Please follow us on instagram at @peopleofcabaret, give us a like our Facebook page and visit our website at www.thepeopleofcabaret.com to find more details of what we're working on. And if you are not in an financial position to donate to our cause (as many of us are), please share our fundraiser and support this ongoing work by adding your voice to ours!

We believe in transparency across the board in financial matters. We are working to develop a structured pay grade with a minimum wage for the cabaret/variety industry, as this is a key area for potential exploitation and BIPOC minimisation. If you would like to know more about how we intend to use the funds raised, please contact us via our website and we can send you our budget breakdowns for each project, all displayed on some rather tasty-looking spreadsheets!

Our vision is of a performing arts industry in which people of colour are given agency, empowerment and respect, and are not present only as fetishised, tokenised, exoticised or objectified stereotypes, on or offstage. Your donation will help us to to change the landscape of performing arts in Australia, aiding our direct action in an immediate and necessary way.

Thank you so much for your support! 

The People of Cabaret xx