"In light of recent racist atrocities, our apprentices Adam and Sean— with the full support of the Touchstone Ensemble— are choosing to put this weekend's performance of Fresh Voices on hold.
"We honor and respect the work that they've done throughout the year to bring this production into existence, but our voices are not the ones that need to be heard right now. We need to be listening, reading, learning, and leaving space for other work and information to be in the public eye.
"In place of the performance, we invite you, our community, to join with us as we:
• Support Black advocacy groups - putting money and time toward organizations that are working to correct and break systemic inequality in our country. Here's a list of some local organizations: Lehigh Valley Stands Up, The Bethlehem NAACP, The Allentown NAACP, The Easton NAACP, and POWER Lehigh Valley.
• Read, listen, watch, and learn, acquainting ourselves with the history of Black America, the history of racism in our country, and how we can practice allyship and antiracism. Resources detailing articles, books, videos, podcasts, and more listed at Guide to Allyship, Anti-Racist Resources, JSTOR, Medium, Pods With Friends, and The Obama Foundation.
• Follow and explore art, music, and theatre by Black artists! In times of hardship, art is always a medium of communication, connection, honesty, and truth.
• Have conversations with your friends and family— about race, community, and how we can better support one another.
At a later date, we'll be coming back to present Fresh Voices publicly, but for now, we strongly urge our audience: if you haven't yet engaged with the current events around George Floyd, the ensuing protests, and the government's response, it is important that we— all of us— do not shy away from this difficult material. We must confront the racism in our country, our communities, and ourselves if we are going to get through this together.
"Black Lives Matter.
"With love and respect,
The Touchstone Ensemble"