How Diversity Actualizes Potential - The Omnium Circus Approach
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Most conversations about human resources in organizations revolve around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yet those three topics usually focus primarily on race and LGBTQ rights, and disability is often neglected in the dialog.
This program will explore the major benefits that organizations, audiences, and communities reap when diversity–including disability–is embraced at every level. Join Gustavo Serafini, host of the Enabled Disabled Podcast, in conversation with Lisa B. Lewis, Executive Director and Founder of Omnium Circus, as they explore the unique and beautiful case of this world-class, non-profit organization and how it is changing the narrative around disability, diversity, and the many ways to actualize more human potential.
Discover how Omnium Circus designed an entire hiring philosophy and practice to create a jaw-dropping audience experience by employing gifted circus performers from different countries and cultures embracing a multi-racial, multi-abled, LGBTQ inclusive approach.
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You, ladies and gentlemen, we are here with a fantastic performance today. I am Helena Escalante in residence here at the New York Public Libraries Business Centre, and we have a fantastic programme for you today. Before I get started, as usual, I would like to read a little blurb to you from our legal department that says that the library uses Zoom for this programme, yet it does not own Zoom. Zoom has its own privacy policy that you can read on its own page. Zoom also has closed captions if you need them. You just need to simply click on the CC button on your screen. Wherever you have those Zoom controls, it could be at the top, at the bottom, or wherever they are in your smart device. Now, to understand how you and the library you Zoom, please go ahead and read the library's privacy policy, especially the section that refers to third party library service providers. Also a friendly reminder that at the library programmes, everyone is welcomed and respected. And also a reminder that if you'd like to hear more about the programmes that we have coming up, all you have to do is sign up for the Business Library's weekly email.
It's a short and sweet email that we send every week with all of our programmes, and in there you can find exactly what we have going on. So, without further ado, we have a fantastic programme for you today that includes The Circus. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the circus is coming to the library and I am so absolutely thrilled. So let me go ahead and introduce our host today, who is Gustavo Seraphini. Gustavos, thank you for coming back to the library. We had you on last week and we had a wonderful programme today. We're going to have a fantastic one as well. Ladies and gentlemen, if you don't know him, Gustavo is the host of Enabled Disabled, which is a podcast creator for people with disabilities and their families, friends, clinicians and therapists to shift the narrative around disability. We are celebrating here at the library. Disability Pride month all throughout July. And this programme is a part of a series that we have that is called Visibility how Creatives entrepreneurs and Nonprofits are Changing the Way we understand human potential. So you are indefinitely for a treat. Gustavo speaks with his guests openly about what it means to have a disability, as well as what it doesn't mean.
And his platform helps go deep into how the guests have experienced disability, what it has taught them about themselves, their lives and others, and also the tools or experiences that have helped them better navigate and adapt to the world. And when he's not doing his podcast, he is an entrepreneur. He founded in 2005 Pure Audio Video, along with his brother Marcelo. And Pure Audio Video serves clients in South Florida, the Caribbean and the US for clients who are looking for amazing home entertainment experiences in their luxury homes. So, ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Gustavo Serafini. Gustavo, thank you for being here.
Thank you, Helena.
It's a joy to have you back. And the mic on the floor is completely yours, so take it away.
Fantastic.
You are the Ring master today.
I will do my best to fulfil that honour. Well, I have the enormous pleasure to introduce one of my favourite people on planet Earth, Lisa B Lewis. She is the founder and executive director of Omnium Circus. For those of you who want to know a little bit more about her, she has an absolutely fascinating background. She began her career as a graduate of Ringling Brothers in Barnabyn Bailey Clown College. She has a BA from Brandeis and a master's degree in clown circus history from NYU. Lisa is the co founder of Super Scientific Circus. She is a performer as well. She did a lot of work with the Big Apple Circus and she was instrumental in creating a lot of the change there, saw the need for diversity and inclusion. And now with Omnium, she has brought, I think, an organisation that has such a unique and interesting model that we should all be modelling our own organisations. To some degree, I think, mostly, but we're going to say to some degree, off of what Lisa did with Omnium. Lisa, welcome. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you so much for having me. I am honoured and delighted to be here.
Fantastic. So I want to get started. I want to dive into what Omnium Circus is and what was that AHA moment that brought you to understanding? We need an Omnium Circus in the world.
So Omnium means of all and belonging to all. Dug back into my old Latin days to come up with that title. So the AHA, moment of understanding, the power of inclusion happened many, many years ago when I was still at Ringling and working in a large venue. I'll say Madison Square Garden, but I don't think it actually was but in a large arena. And I saw a group of very surly teenagers with their arms folded and the energy of the entire section was affected by their anger. The clown I was working with at the time went up to them and immediately started signing. Somehow he knew they were deaf. Their energy shifted, their arms came down, they started smiling, they started laughing. The energy of the entire area of the entire arena changed and I realised at that moment the power of inclusion. Fast forward 30 plus years and I'm working with the Big Apple Circus on inclusive programming. And it was as most theatres and most performing arts centres do one particular show on a matinee, that's the opportunity to bring in school groups or to bring in other groups and organisations that serve people with disabilities.
Their families were excluded, their friends, their support system, everyone outside of that particular school environment wasn't welcome, so it was very much separate. So in speaking with those families over the years and them saying. We also created a programme for people on the autism spectrum. And to have families say. Well. This is great that you have this on a Saturday morning at ten. But I've got two other kids and this one has a soccer practise and this one has a different need and they weren't able to share the circus together. So my initial concept was to make sure that there was full access at every show, every time. As we got more into it and you started talking to families, you realise I spoke with one family, I said, Why should I come? Everybody on there is white. Nobody has a disability. I have nothing to relate to. And representation to me, became absolutely vital. So that you can connect, because the power of circus and the power of performance is being able to reflect yourself through an artistic vision and then make your own choices as to how you want to lead your life.
So representation became vital. That's where the seed of the idea began.
Interesting. And I think I'm going to read a small quote from Jonathan Le Iverson, who's the ring master of Omnium, which I think goes a little bit deeper into this. But he said, Full inclusion and representation in the arts leads to self actualization, increased tolerance and a better society. So by featuring a diverse cast and crew with multiple abilities, we demonstrate the audiences that anything is possible. All people can achieve greatness regardless of their challenges. So this vision and this belief in representation and diversity, this extends not just to the audience members, but it is shown in the performers, it is shown at the boardroom and companywide. Correct. Can you talk more about that?
That's absolutely true and it's absolutely vital that we are for real. A friend of mine within the disability community many years ago said to me, nothing about us without us, and you have to be true and sincere. And so that means that inclusion is not just in the performers, but on the tech table in the boardroom, our board. I am most honoured that Gustavo is actually a member of our board, so thank you for that. But our board is fully inclusive. Our tech table, our support staff, it's important that we all work together because the goal is full belonging. There's another quote. Diversity is being invited into the room. Inclusion is a seat at the table. Belonging is having your voice heard. And we're going for true belonging, because with the arts needs to be fully integrated. And we are. And as you said, that's our model, and that is exactly what we're doing.
Right. And I'm thrilled to be on the board and I think it's absolutely a beautiful thing. I think one of the potential roadblocks that a lot of companies and organisations have is that they want to be diverse, but they don't quite know how to accomplish it. They don't know how to go about it organically. And there's this kind of, I think, false dichotomy between being diverse and choosing the best people. So I want to explore and get into how you hire. Let's just use the performers as an example. So when you're sitting down and you're planning a new show, what does your process look like?
Lisa so it's very much like you have with any other business. So the process looks like, I have this many jobs to fill. We need this balance of skills. We need a little of this, a little of that, or whatever. And you look at the people you have out there. So when you're choosing for myself, when we're choosing artistry, I'm looking at what artists and what skills they have. It's different from a business in that. In a business, you create a job description and you find people to fill that. In an artistic venture, you find the people first, and then you adjust the job descriptions to fit the artist that you have. So there's the same amount of work that needs to be done, but the descriptions can change and more based on your staff. So I'll look for artists. So the first artist that we found was our aerialist, Jen Bricker Bower. So now I know I have an aerialist. I know I have an incredibly talented aerialist who happens to also have a disability. So that role is now filled. Cheque so now my aerial slot. So anyone else that comes to me and says, I'm an aerialist, I'm sorry, that particular slot is now full.
And then I will go out and search for all right, now I need a group act. What group? Here are the demographics that, in order to be inclusive, we need to make sure that each of these areas are represented. And here's a list of all of the artists that we need and what we need to balance to show which one goes for which is really completely dependent on the talent of the individuals that we're able to find that exist out there in the world. Because like most businesses, we need a certain level of expertise. I can't pick someone off the street and say, oh, you just happen to be blind. Come work for me. Well, what if you don't happen to have a particular skill set? Or you happen to have this particular skill set, but you are whoever you are with whatever challenges you face? So you dig really deeply. You reach out into the world. And also for people who don't have a comparable my life experience is particularly involved in the disability community and in the family community, and I've navigated through the school system with IEP. So I'm already entrenched in this community.
So for me to reach out to someone who I know is even more deeply involved and can support me and I can say, hey, I know you've worked with this population before. Might you have a different perspective? I think it's really vital, especially if you don't already have that perspective in your industry. If you want to become more inclusive, you've got to reach out to someone within the community who can support your work and who can give you a different perspective. There are talent agencies out there who are of, by and for who are run by people with disabilities. There are hiring places. I ran into one yesterday in New York. It's called New York At Work NYC at Work NYC Works and they represent a lot of amazing, talented people and they're a great company. If you're looking to hire people from within the disability community.
I want to tease this out a little more because I think it's huge. So the first step is you choose your company value. So you're saying representation, inclusion and belonging really matter to Omnium and we're going to fulfil this at every level of the organisation. Once that happens, then you have established some key relationships with people in the different communities so that you can reach out and say, I'm looking for a performer. And then you can interview them, see if they're going to fit, see if they meet your quality of excellence, and then you go from there. Most companies, I'm a small business owner, hiring is really difficult. And I have learned from you because I'm starting to reach out now into other communities as well, because the best hires come from those relationships. They don't come from a job post on some border, some company, they come from the people that you know, the relationships that you have in those communities, that's how you find excellent human beings to work for you.
And what you've just said is absolutely vital. It's all about relationships, and as business owners, you've got to create those relationships outside of your own comfort zone. You have to move beyond what you're used to. We're used to functioning. We're an immigrant society. We function within our small groups in the United States. That's just the nature of who we are. So we're also at a point now where you can reach beyond that. And I think, as business owners, like you've just said, it's absolutely vital to create relationships outside of your comfort zone within other communities and that will then expand and broaden and really do great service for the entire world.
Absolutely. The other thing is the people that you bring in to work with you, it's not a temporary position, it's somebody that you want with you for the long run. So in order to have a really great coworker, you want to invest the extra time, you want to invest the resources to find the person who's going to fit your company even better. And that takes a lot more effort than we usually give it.
It does. It takes more effort and it's well worth it. You've got to be willing to put the time in and to put the heart and the soul into it. And it is absolutely worth it because at the end of the day, you're going to get a much better employee. You're going to get someone who is as dedicated as they can be to your business so that everybody will rise up together. The rising tide will lift all ships.
As you start to balance out your show. Right. The other thing that's really interesting that you said is that the job description kind of gets adjusted later to me. You're looking for people who are going to fit your company culture and who are excellent performers, so that it's like the job description, whether it's an aerialist or whether it's another act or whether it's jugglers whatever it is that you're performing, that's a secondary consideration in the process. Right. You can start to round out the show as it goes, but you're still looking for the best people within that diversity model.
Correct. My first question always to them, I assume they know their job. If I'm calling a wire walker, I assume you know how to walk a wire. My question is, who are you as a person? What is your heart? How are you driven? Whatever you're from, whatever is your life story, who are you as a person? And that, to me, is absolutely vital.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. You also help the different venues right. Become accessible. So you go in there and you help them say, look, this is what you're working with now. This is what needs to be changed and adjusted in order to make this fully accessible for the audience that's going to come here.
Correct. And again, you start with listening. I start by listening. We're getting ready to go to a very large arena in a couple of, gosh, six weeks, two months. And my first question is, what do you already have in place because you want to build on what you have? I don't want to walk into a venue and say, well, I know what I'm doing, and you don't, because it's not true. Everyone has whatever steps you've taken. If the only step you've taken is, yes, I'm interested, that's already in opendoor. So what steps have you taken? And I'll often find, oh, yes, we have a full audio description system. Of course, we've never plugged it in and don't know how to use it. Okay, now I know where to start. And we're absolutely all about supporting each and every venue we go to, not only in terms of the equipment, but in terms of audiences, because they'll say, well, we have all this equipment and no one ever comes. Broadway has said this many times. We have the equipment. No one's ever come. Why has no one come? Because you're not in that community. Because you're not reaching out into that community and sharing with them the same as in the deaf community.
You have to reach out within the community. Just because you put an ASL interpreter doesn't mean you're going to get a deaf audience. The audience has to be engaged. So audience engagement is a large part of the support we provide every venue that we go to.
So you are not only making those places welcome and accessible and friendly for a much wider range of people, you're also helping to promote to those communities that you already have relationships with so that they come to the show.
Exactly. And it helps in the long run, because even after we're gone, they've got a whole rest of their season. And so how wonderful to be able to include a greater and a much broader audience to all of your shows. It benefits everyone, it benefits the entire artistic community, it benefits the theatres, it opens doors for more people, people who never thought they had a potential or a possibility of entering this realm in this profession, because the doors were always closed, there were never opportunities for them. The more we open doors, the more people can come in and the better talent you're going to be able to recruit, because now people see a possibility for themselves in that role, so it eventually comes full circle and benefits every single piece of the food chain.
We had a talk here at the library last week on Universal Design and a lot of times people say, well, I don't have customers who are wheelchair users in my store, so why should I make it more accessible for them? And I think you've hit the nail on the head with the question is, are you reaching out to those communities? Are you promoting to those communities? Have you established any kind of relationship to engage them and say, look, yes, you are welcome here. We are a welcome place. You're going to be able to use the restroom here, you're going to be able to navigate the store, or whatever it is. Please come and enjoy what we have to offer. That's absolutely huge. I'm glad you mentioned that.
And you have to you don't have wheelchair customers because you're not accessible. Becoming accessible isn't going to automatically bring in the customers. And for every business along the way, you're talking 25% of the population. Why would you exclude 25% of your potential revenue? Makes no sense.
It doesn't. You're absolutely right.
To me, it seems very obvious. The pathway isn't easy and I'm an open book. We're happy to help and support everybody because this is really important for all of us. 100% of our population needs to be welcomed at 100% of the activities.
I think that goes into. I want to get back to this quote real quick, because there's a great question here. So full inclusion and representation in the arts leads to self actualization, increased tolerance in a better society. To me, self actualization, they're all important but that's the one that I gravitate to, because I think of greatness in a human life as fulfilling whatever potential you have that's latent inside of you and pushing those boundaries. And if we are giving people a version of themselves I have multiple physical disabilities. I never saw myself represented in a movie, on stage, in a book growing up. And one of the things that got me so excited about Omnium is thinking about all the kids and all the families that you're going to touch from now on that are going to be able to see a version of themselves on stage. Who knows what kind of potential is going to be actualized from that?
You're going to make me cry. That's so true. And it applies across the board. People with physical disabilities, people with invisible disabilities, various races, BIPOC people have rarely seen themselves as represented in so many places across, because our culture is still changing and evolving and it applies across the board.
It really does. The third interesting thing, Lisa, that I want to transition into is the Dei training that you offer to people. You've done some keynote speeches before on that and you've done some training with different organisations on it. Can you give us a preview of what that training looks like?
Yes, I'm actually very excited about it. The Dei training that we do is a very experiential training. I sat through Dei training where you watch the PowerPoint on a screen and you're bored out of your mind and you're texting on your phone. That's not helpful. What needs to happen in order to be truly inclusive and welcoming is that you have to experience it. You have to walk that mile in another shoes. So, as a part of our Dei training, we will deliberately assign whichever group we have a task, a simple task. In our case, it's going to be circus. I'm going to teach you to juggle, but I'm going to teach you to juggle with a cup across your hand so that you can experience what a physical differential might be. Or I'm going to teach you with your arms tied behind your back or blindfolded or earplugs. I'm going to block a sense or a physicality that you're used to relying on in order for you to experience accomplishing the same task that you would accomplish with the body as you're born, but to allow you to accomplish that same task using your body in a different way.
What does that do? A, it creates empathy, but B, it allows you to see that you're the same person. You're still you accomplishing this task with all of your podintelligence, all of your multiple podintelligence that we all carry. You are still you accomplishing this task, even though we've changed the physical ability to access the task. And I think that's vital, because when you look at other people, we all need to be able to see each other as equals. We have different stories, we have different abilities. We're not the same, but we are equal. Each has a gift. So as you see yourself in that position, you can also see others as becoming their best self. And that allows you it allows a more respectful environment. It generates a more respectful environment, which is what Dei is all about.
And I think it does. Another thing which is really interesting, too, is if you are used to, let's say if you were born with two arms and you're used to using those two arms, and now you have to learn to juggle on the spot with one. Right. That teaches you in addition to the empathy and everything that you said, it teaches you that you can do it. You are learning to do it. You're making that adaptation. So hopefully the next time you see somebody else with a disability, you don't assume that they can't do something. Exactly. The assumption changes of what that person is capable of.
Exactly. Because you know you can do it, and you know they can do it. I had a very good friend who was a professional juggler, and in the middle of a tour, she broke her arm and had to adapt her complete act to one arm juggling. And so she did, and so does anyone with whatever body they're born with. You do what you need to do with the body that you're given. And that's a very important thing for all of us to know.
That's huge. Absolutely. And beyond the empathy and this physical act, what's the next step that you take in the training that you can share?
So the next step, after we do those activities, we then go back and try to do the same tasks with your body. There's lots of conversations about what happens and how and the access. And then we also learn in a workplace environment what different people, what you have to offer and how to treat each other with the most respect. And then we apply it to whichever business we're doing the training. There's a lot of customization within that training for whichever particular industry that we're doing.
Got it. What have you found in this training so far? What have you found that has worked really well, that's been so effective that people come back and commented on it or recommended it to somebody else? What's been the game changer so far?
There really the game changer is the joy in it. It's not oppressive. People have a really good time. And that sounds trivial, but it's not because it's a proven fact that you learn more if you're enjoying yourself. The gaming industry has capitalised on that. Children learn better through gaming because if you're enjoying what you're learning, your mind opens up to it. If it's a burden, your mind is going to be closed and you're not going to retain it. So the fact that it's a joyful training, even if you have to do it. Even if your boss says you have to take this training, the fact that it can be made more fun, you're going to retain twice as much information. I made that number up. I don't have a statistic, but I believe that you would retain at least twice as much, if not more information, because it comes in in a pleasurable way. So you'll say, oh, yeah, that was really fun. I remember that. And now I can apply it. And the best feedback we've gotten is the people said, I really had a great time. I never knew I could do that.
I didn't know that I was capable of that. I understand how other people can be capable of that. The last training I did in England was a bunch of professors, and they're very much used to working in a very narrow model, a very intellectual, because they're college professors of what they do. So to be able, even for them to use their physicality at all was a big eye opening experience for them that they could communicate not only with their voice, but with their bodies. So for them, that was a totally new experience. And it really opened their eyes to the way that they could reach their students in a better way, in a more inclusive way, and they were really thrilled.
That makes a lot of sense to me, and it's really powerful because I think there's too much training. Well, I can't say training, but so much of the inclusion disability conversation is kind of negative. There's some shaming involved, there's guilt, there's all these things, and you're doing the opposite. You're opening people up to experiencing something that they didn't know they could do. And it's teaching them empathy, it's teaching them to see potential that they didn't know they have and to look for it in other people. And then you're reinforcing that with this beautiful circus performance where people are experiencing that at a much higher level. I think those are massively critical and wonderful. Who are you offering these trainings to?
Anybody. Any company that would like to get in touch with us. We're booking now. We're scheduling now. We've got one scheduled next spring. I know in Texas. We've got a couple of other on the books. If any company is interested in this, we'll be more than happy to bring it to you. You can email me, Lisa@omniumcircus.org, and I'll be more than happy to set it up with you.
Fantastic. So, Lisa, moving forward into as Omnium continues to get more shows, get bigger, and have more of an impact on the world, what would you like to see? What can we expect moving forward from Omnium as it grows? Do you see yourself finding any challenges with are you going to stay true to the vision of the diversity, the inclusion, the disability? Do you see any challenges there, or is it just going to be this virtuous. Circle that keeps getting bigger.
I would love to say it's going to be a bed full of roses, but no one ever promised me a rose garden. So there are definitely obstacles. What do I see moving forward in my dream world where everything is that bed of roses? I see a phenomenal showcase where we can introduce not only artists, but where we open doors and provide the opportunity for so many artists and technicians and workers to be able to showcase their skills that then other companies can come in and say, oh, wow, that one's great. And once their time with us is done and they want to move on to a different venue, those doors open for them worldwide. So I really see us as a gateway to be able to really, truly showcase so many different abilities and to show people and to show the world that you can give everyone a chance, that there is beauty everywhere. Obstacles? Yes, of course. There are large obstacles in the realm of funding because access costs money. I did a chat with the city council a couple of weeks back. Access does cost money. Yes, it's going to cost you money.
And, yes, you're going to need to deal with it some kind of way to choose between. If I hire a deaf artist, I also have to hire an interpreter. Now I have a double salary. That's a challenge, and it's a particular challenge for a nonprofit, and especially a small nonprofit. What we've accomplished in two years is mind blowing. The reality is we're a two year old company and there are major challenges in that. Are we going to do it? Yes, of course. Do we need the world and the community to join us together? Yes, of course. Because we are a team, the whole world has to work together, and each does what and how they can do. So, yes, there are particular obstacles moving forward in the realm of funding to make sure that we have all the appropriate access. In the realm of equipment, Google is still not as accessible as one would like. There's a lot of work that other companies need to do in order to join us, and together, we're working. When I write constant contact and say, hey, you're only allowing me 100 words and no punctuations for my alt text, how is a screen reader supposed to read one long run on sentence and actually know what I'm talking about?
So all of this, we're working together, and these are all obstacles that together, if we collaborate, we can make for the whole world. We can create a better space for everyone.
Thank you for sharing that. That's a beautiful vision. I love the idea of Omnium being this gateway, this really big, wonderful, bold gateway that shows people consistently across the board that these differences and these abilities should be given a chance and that they can excel and thrive in the world. If we just do that, that's so important. Before we get to the Q and A, Lisa, I kind of want to do a quick recap of what we talked about and see if there's something that I missed that you feel is important to discuss. So my three kind of recap points, I'll do two and I'll let you do the third one. The first one is that diversity is a net positive. This is something that absolutely includes disability, which is usually left out of the equation, but diversity is a net positive. If we embrace these values in our organisation, we are going to benefit from it. All of us are. The second one is that when you're looking to become diverse, find excellence in the different communities of people that exist. So if you want to find talent in the disability community, get in touch, form the relationships with those communities and you will find the talent.
Third takeaway, lisa, I'm going to leave to you what's the third takeaway that you would love people to have.
I would love for people to genuinely open their hearts and take the very first step. And if you've taken the first step, take the second. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. One thing also that you mentioned when you said diversity is a net positive. And it is. The disability is the only I see disability as a unifying force. Why? Because disability doesn't know race, it doesn't know socioeconomics. It affects all of us. If one in four people in the country are disabled, that means 25% of the entire nation. If you're black, if you're white, if you're green, if you're purple, if you're blue, if you're poor, if you're rich, if you're in the middle, it doesn't matter. It unifies all of us. It's a shared experience of our collective community. So it is absolutely vital to be included in this conversation because it brings us together. There's our bridge. We can all share this experience. And that's where empathy begins, with shared experience. Our goal is to have it be a shared positive experience. Shared negative experiences happen also, but that's not the goal. The goal is to have it be a shared positive experience.
That's beautifully said. And that also includes, for example, in the shows. After the shows are over, the performers come out and they greet everybody. And it's not only for, let's say, a future Gustavo who's seeing himself represented on stage, it's also for all of the other nondisabled family members and kids to see what's possible and to see like, wow, I never knew that somebody could be a trapeze artist or an aerialist and have a disability. That's incredible. I've never seen that before. It changes their perception of what's possible.
It does, absolutely. It's vital because we all have I say it's for the often served and the underserved, because if you've never had exposure to that, if you live in a bubble and you've never encountered someone with a disability, temporary or permanent, then you don't understand and you can't have empathy and you can't work together if you've never had that experience. So if you have that experience and you say, hey, that person looks like you, if they can do that, I wonder what you can do, as you just said. And it's absolutely vital that we all share that experience together so that together we can move forward.
I think that's fantastic. Thank you for that. I would love to. Is there anything else that I missed that you want to talk about before we open? It up to Q and a.
Shameless plug for service that we're out there and we're here and we're available to support anyone who's making an effort towards this direction. We have dei programmes, we have education programmes. Omnium is built on a tripod of entertainment, education and employment. And we take it very seriously in all avenues and at all levels and for all ages. So if we can be supportive, if there is a collaborative possibility, we're all open for it. And, yes, we are a 501 and.
They can find Omnium.
Where lisa, you can find Omnium on the web. Omniumcircusorg, omnium, omniumcircusorg all over social media. And please feel free to sign up for our newsletters. I send them out about every two weeks saying what we've done, what we're doing. We're on LinkedIn, we're all over the place doing our best.
Fantastic.
Wow. Good. Lisa, this has been absolutely fantastic. Congratulations on everything that you're doing. And we are getting some fabulous feedback from the audience. So we have definitely a bunch of questions that we'd like to ask you, but actually, before we get to that, someone in the audience is asking if you could please repeat the quote that you started with.
Believe it or not, that's our mission statement. So thank you for saying it's. Awesome.
Oh, that's wonderful.
Is it? Full inclusion and representation in the arts leads to self actualization, increased tolerance and a better society. And the second part of that is, by featuring a diverse cast and crew with multiple abilities, we demonstrate to audiences that anything is possible. All people can achieve greatness, regardless of their challenges.
That is wonderful. Thank you so much for repeating it. That is great. Alright, so, goodness. Where do we start? Well, let's go with the first question. And, Lisa, this is for you. How are you working to grow the next generation of diverse employees in the circus?
That's a wonderful question. We have a very active apprenticeship programme. We are working with various organisations. With Visions. With Access New York. With different organisations to bring in people who don't necessarily have the job skills yet. But have the aptitude. And to have them work with us as volunteers. As interns. And learn the job so that then they are able to do that as a profession that's behind the scenes in terms of business. If you are asking in terms of performers. We're beginning to form partnerships with different circus education organisations to encourage them to become more inclusive and help them with the adaptations that they need. And I've had several consultations with the different organisations for that.
Wonderful question.
I hope so.
I certainly hope so. If not, they will let us know. Again, send to, you know, their feedback. Definitely. Okay. So this other person says, I love the dedication to visibility. How do we, as organisations, take inventory of our dei efforts?
That's a me question.
Or just have a question, either one.
The way I interpret that question is how do we take inventory as and how do we know if we're doing a good job of it? How do we know if we want what it is that we need to do in order to become more inclusive and include disability? And I think, for me anyways, it starts with if that's something you want to do, you go and you see what percentage of my workforce, just as a starting point, what percentage of my workforce has a disability, or how many people here are hiding their disability because they're not sure if we're going to be accepted here or not. Because there are lots of people working in the United States who have invisible disabilities who are hiding it, don't feel comfortable coming out and talking about it. So are you creating a safe space for your current co workers and employees to feel comfortable sharing those things? That's number one. Number two is if you feel like it's important to get more of that, start to develop for me, start to develop the relationships in those communities where you can find excellent people to come and join your team.
I will add to that just as a statistical base. When I first started the business plan for Omnium, I looked at the national statistics. So if one in four people has a disability, I want my company to match the national average. That means 25% of my company needs to include people with disabilities of any sort. We're actually at about 40%. But that's where to start. If whatever the national average of the statistics are, if you match it, then you know that your company isn't of the people and you are truly representative, truly representational.
That is great advice. Thank you. All right, so now everybody is very curious about the circus and they've been asking as to whether or not you can show a video or pictures. I'm sure that you have plenty on your drive or if okay with you, I can just share the screen and go to your website. Whatever you decide.
I don't have it pulled up, but I can certainly do. So the two minute we call it a sizzle, which is on our website, that's fantastic.
I can share that as well if you want, because in preparation for this, I pulled it up.
All right.
Perfect.
In the New York area. Our next New York production will be at the big umbrella festival at Lincoln Centre september 16, 17th and 18th. AME will be performing there. And then we will be performing at in 2024 move ahead of year. We'll be at the New Victory Theatre for three weeks in April.
Awesome.
As well as around the rest of the nation.
Can everybody see the screen? This is the wonderful aerialist that Gustavo, you were talking about. Right. And I want to show you some other pictures that you have in here about the show.
As you're showing me. Each of these artists has a very interesting background story. So this artist, for example, was in our first production and is a military veteran. He spent ten years as a Navy medical courseman during don't ask, don't tell. He happens to be gay. That was an interesting story that led him to he's a phenomenal performer. These two people are 6th and 8th generation circus performers. They are of the world. They say, because there's so many generations in their family that's their mother, wow, she's amazing.
So she is the 7th generation, she.
Thinks Vivian something like that, I don't know.
But that is such a fantastic legacy.
This slide is the King Charles troop which is the first African American performing troop in the country. They're from originally the Bronx and they were hired by Ringling in wow. That's Jen Bricker Bower and Dominic Bower. Those are aerialist. Jen, the first one you saw. The next is Lina Lou. She's from China and she started training, I believe, at the age of three. She's phenomenal. That's the daughter. Noami, that is incredible highlights, but everybody has a neat story.
Yeah, that's wonderful. Okay, so here is the video. And I'm sorry if there are
we.
Have a story that gives me goosebumps every time.
That is incredible.
I wanted to just highlight something there that we didn't talk about. Lisa, that I think is, again, taking this diversity theme one more step. And I know we still have some more questions, but during the performance, Jonathan is the ring master. He's singing. He's leading the kind of guiding the audience through this beautiful performance. But you're not just doing ASL interpretation. The person who's doing it is performing as well. She's like a coring master, almost where she's dancing. She's taken ASL interpretation to a totally new level. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Yes. So one of the biggest things I wanted to do if you are of the deaf community, the deaf and hard of hearing community and you go to see a production you're always stuck watching the interpreter over here while the action is over there. So I felt very strongly that I wanted it totally integrated not as an interpreter, but as a performer and as a conversation. So that it's a character. The character was created we call her the poet and the character was created to fully integrate all of the language. Nothing is said verbally in our show that isn't also signed or, when possible, captioned. But not all theatres have that technical capability. But there is no voice. Nothing ever is communicated in a single method. Everything is always communicated in multiple ways because different people receive communication in different ways. So the character of the poet is a young woman named Anna Gitchen, who's a dancer, an acrobat, a gymnast, and also happens to be deaf. And she was born deaf and she grew up in a hearing family, which gives her another story and another life adventure, which has guided her to her ability to become her best self as she is.
And it's quite beautiful. So she'll sign, but not just as an interpreter here. It's not just about the words. It's about the feeling and the energy that all portrays through the production.
How beautiful. It just gives me goosebumps. It is so wonderful. Alright, so we have someone else who says, lisa, can you please repeat the definition of omnium? Thank you for this great webinar.
Thank you for joining us. Omnium means of all and belonging to all.
Wonderful. And then, Lisa, can you please touch on the intercultural aspects of omnium?
That's a great question. So intercultural meaning, I'm assuming, between the deaf community, the hearing community. One of our artists is from Ethiopia. We have another from New York, another from the Bronx, from Europe. I forget where everybody else is from. I can't remember. But everybody brings their culture with them. And really joy of it, when we first did this production in collaboration with Goladette University, and so many of our hearing performers had never experienced deaf culture before. So learning aspects of each other's culture, learning that it's okay to tap someone on the shoulder because you can't say hey, you, to someone who doesn't hear, who is deaf, that's ridiculous. But within that culture, how do you get someone's attention? You tap them on the shoulder. Now, if you go to a different culture, when I'm out in New York in a line and I tap someone, they'll turn around and slug me because for them, physical contact is not okay. So you've got to learn the parameters within each culture. And we have a lot of conversation within our community and within our company about okay, what's okay for me? How does it feel? What is my social distance?
What is your social distance? I don't mean social distance in terms of a pandemic. I mean a comfortable social distance as human beings to communicate different levels. If someone is seven foot tall and someone is three foot tall, where do you stand so that you can be at eye level with each other? And all of that is part of, I'm assuming, as part of your question, how do we do that? We have conversations, we communicate. I can't know what you need unless I ask you, I have to say I don't have to know what you need, I'm not you. But I have to be open enough to say, hey, I want to bring my best self so you can bring your best self. What can I do to accommodate you? And I expect the response in return saying this is what I need. Now, how can I accommodate you? Because I also have a set of needs and a way that I need to be communicated. If you want to communicate with me, I expect you to ask me how can I best communicate with you? It goes both ways. So we all can communicate together and that's how we work around the cultural differences because we each have them and they very much inform who we are and it's very important to both acknowledge them and discuss them so that we can all be on the same page.
Yes.
That is incredible what you just said yes to all of that. Now here's another question that I think touches on something that is very important. How do you get others to understand the importance of practising inclusivity around nonvisible disabilities?
That's a challenge. It's an ongoing process. I don't have a one sentence answer for that. It's an ongoing process helping people to understand. To me, you probably have a better answer to this. I just keep working at it and keep having conversations.
I think it goes back to what you said in your previous answer, Lisa, which is, well, first we have to have a safe space, right? So people need to feel comfortable, to share what it is that they may be going through or what it is that they need to work better. So if we don't have that safe space, I don't know what the answer is there, but for me is create the safe space. Once you do that, I think if you approach people with a respectful curiosity and seeking to understand before being understood, that you can start to bridge those gaps and you can start to have those communications and people can start to feel seen and heard and understood and belong. That's my answer to that.
Exactly right. I think creating a safe space is absolutely vital. You have to take the judgement out. And that sounds simple, but it's not. Because every one of us grows up with a set of judgments from our lives, from our upbringing and you have to must spend your life working on releasing those judgments not only of others, but of yourself. Absolutely.
Now, this question has, well, so many implications and such a tricky answer. Where did you start on abusive and overworked and underpaid industries?
You have to start at the root. I'm going to sidetrack for a second. If I look at an industry and I say this is a horrible thing and all of these bad things are happening, I'm introducing anger and judgement. I can't change anything with anger and judgement because that's a brick wall. So to my mind, I would go really from within the industry, because you can't do it from externally, from within the industry. You would have to start you really have to start at the very core, at the very root, at the heart of the industry, who is the person making these decisions? Because he's going to have to change the culture and it's not going to happen overnight, but you have to change the entire culture. We got a call from an organisation who said wanted to have a conversation with us, and they said, we want to be more inclusive. What do we do? And they expected me to say, here's a package, go. And that doesn't exist because that's not real. It's about people, it's about relationships. Gustavo, turn that question over to you.
We don't have time to truly answer that question. But one approach that I would take, and I'm coming at it from as an entrepreneur, obviously my company, we don't do that. But if there's a problem, right, if there's something that I'm not doing well, or that my company isn't doing well, having somebody complain about it is sort of helpful. What would be really helpful, right, is if that person came in and said, hey, Gustavo, I really don't like that we're doing A and B here. Can we change the way we're doing this? And give me a solution. Even if the solution doesn't have to be great, just come at me with the solution and say, if we did this, I think it would improve these things and you would see a bigger benefit in your company. If I'm any kind of a leader worth his or her salt, I'm going to listen to that and I'm going to say, all right, let's have some conversations about this and let's figure it out. Maybe an even better solution is going to come from talking to the person a little bit longer and going through it. So if you're not willing to change as an industry at all, I don't know that you've got another problem on your hands that we don't have time to talk about right now.
But at least I think if you come up with a better solution or three potential solutions that could improve the situation. And here's why. I would like to hope that most people listen.
There's a saying in the circus, there are only two things, problems and solutions. Don't bring me a problem without a suggested solution. We may or may not use that one, but you hand me a problem, now you're a problem. You say, here's what I need, here are ways we can get it. Now there's a solution and we collaborate and we work together.
Very, very wise answers. Okay? So here's another one that is going somewhat into a direction for a solution too, but it really needs to be talked about a lot. He says there's a lot of talk about this, but no real action. Where can I really get started on making a difference?
Where are you in which industry? What are you doing? What are specifically, who are you? How can you make a difference? There are a lot of questions to answer, to ask before there's an answer to that, because you have to find in yourself, which I look at the world and I say, there are so many problems in the world, so what can I do? I can do circus. That's what I know. That's my passion. This is where I can make a difference. Where can you make a difference? Who are you? What do you do? What is your passion? How can you follow your passion and have it become the dream of really changing the world and being a part of this force of change that we're all in?
I love that answer from Lisa. I think it's all context and we all have different spheres of influence and those things are not set in stone. We can work on expanding them, we can work on diving deeper into where we can make a change. And that's why I started the podcast and at least I answered the question beautifully. Is context matters there? So if that's within your organisation, I think present solutions, right, go to the people who you feel safe with, who you trust and say, what if we did this? We could make these changes and it would be better. Or maybe that's about starting your own hobby or going out into the world and trying something else and starting to develop the change that you want to make.
Be the change you want to see. Exactly.
That is absolutely beautiful. We have a couple of comments in here, of course, thanking you guys for making this such a wonderful, wonderful webinar. And then Lane says, one tactic is to leverage the data around companies that are more diverse or inclusive, or have better economic outcomes, develop better products, services or more profitable products. And then Ervica says asking the question is the beginning of the answer. So, going back to what you were saying, I think that's very cool that the audience is participating as well. All right, so, next question. How can we promote a more neurodiverse centralised perspective in professional spaces rather than having accommodations, being a side or deficient centred process?
Can you repeat? Go ahead, Lisa. Sorry?
Go ahead, repeat.
Okay, sorry, I thought you were going to chime in. Yes. How can we promote a more neurodiverse centralised perspective in professional spaces rather than having accommodations perspective or being focusing on the deficientcentered process?
I have a quick thought and then I'm going to turn it over. It starts with the safe space that Gustavo was speaking about, and it starts with respecting individuals for what they have to offer, as opposed to accommodating them for that which they do not choose to share, have to offer. So if you have someone, which I do have wonderful people on my staff with neurodiversity, I don't say, what can't you do? I say, what can you do? So if you begin by acknowledging the positives and rewarding what a person can do and then respecting their limits around, okay, I need silence or I need this stimulation, or whatever a person needs, they become less accommodations for disability and more pathways to allow the person to become the best that they have to offer. So it's a shift in perspective. You're not giving them an accommodation, you're making a clear pathway for them to give the best that they can to facilitate. That's the word I'm looking for you.
I love that answer from Lisa. I think she she answered it a bunch of times too in the webinar, is people who see disability as a defect, right? There's something wrong with you. We're going to put you off to the corner or you're a liability. We have to make these accommodations for you. They need a shift in perspective to start with. They need to see, for example, an omnium show. Look at what is possible when you give people an opportunity. Look at what is possible when you go through a training and you see that, you understand that just because you have five crayons to do the job, if you had two, you could also do it. Right. So it's this mind shift that once you get it, the accommodation is not seen as a negative. It's seen as a way to help people flourish. It's seen as a way to say, this person has some incredible potential that I realise now that I did not understand before. How can I help them? Just like with how much investment and time and effort and energy do we put into raising kids? We don't see that as a liability.
We don't see that as defective. It's part of the process of being a human being and growing and actualizing yourself as a person. It's the same thing with disability. It's no different. It's just another variation.
I hope that answers the question.
I sure hope so. It was a beautiful answer and I love it. Absolutely love it. And here's another hang on for a second. I think I just know it's right here. I don't want to sound culturally insensitive, but I am not familiar with all the language that is currently being used. Where can I start?
That's an excellent question. And I would say start by asking people the language that they prefer for themselves. Because the language, it's not a set in stone, it's not written in Webster's Dictionary yet. It's an evolving process and everyone has different complicate levels. As a visibly abled person, I particularly don't love the word disability because the first part is this. I have very good friends and people in my staff who said, no, I am a disabled person and I choose to own. That title. So you have to start. Our society doesn't have a set thing yet. I think you have to keep asking the questions, Gustavo.
I think that's a perfect answer is ask the people around you what they feel comfortable with. Absolutely, yeah. Language is a constantly evolving thing, and different cultures, different societies, different groups have different sets of rules. And what's the best way to understand is to ask.
Definitely.
For example, in the United Arab Emirates, they have a whole campaign. They call instead of disability, they say persons of determination. That's how they're framing things in that culture. I mentioned that to a couple of people in the United States and got diametrically opposite responses. So it really depends on who you are and what your background is.
Absolutely. All right, so we have time for just one more question and we have so many and everybody's saying thank you, definitely. Because this has been incredible. So this one. Where can I find companies like yours that are hiring? Do you know of any place, Lisa, where's a good place to start for people that are looking to work for companies like yours?
We are actually I'm looking for a couple of positions right now, so feel free to email me.
That's wonderful.
So we'll definitely drop your email address.
I think you have to look for the job and then really do your research on the company. I'm not sure. Look for the top best inclusive companies on Google search. I'm not sure.
Yeah, no, I think that's a great question. How do you really know that a company is as inclusive as they say they are? Because everybody, of course, says that they are.
You have to ask questions. You really have to have real conversations because what they say on their PR and their website, there are a lot of companies who use the correct language. I have my fingers up in air quotes. If you can't see, they may use the correct language, but whether they mean it or whether they just put that out as a front and behind the scenes, they don't act it. You're going to have to dig deep because it's not something that they're going to show on the skin.
I would recommend going to LinkedIn and going to Facebook. There's some great disability groups on Facebook. Diversibility is one that comes to mind. Join those groups, talk to the people there, see where they're working, see where they've had good experiences. Go on LinkedIn. I don't know for a fact, but I know that Microsoft's page has an incredible amount of information on disability and inclusion. So go find some people on LinkedIn that worked for Microsoft or work for these other companies and reach out to them and say, hey, look, I'm looking for work. This is what I'm thinking of doing. I'm trying to find out more about are you guys walking the walk or just talking to talk? So I think I would imagine that people on LinkedIn would be willing to communicate with you if you show some interest in curiosity and answer your questions about what it's really like to work someplace.
Definitely very good. I wish we had, I don't know, the rest of the afternoon to continue sharing, to continue talking. And the audience is certainly very engaged and they love you. I just want to say thank you. Thank you both, Lisa and Gustavo, for a wonderful webinar and for sharing your best practises, for sharing from your heart, your thoughts and to everyone, to the wonderful audience that we have here. Thank you. Thank you for staying this long with us. Thank you for all your comments. Thank you for your kudos. We love to hear that the programmes that we put together are resonating and that you like them. Really, nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than that. So thank you. I'm so glad that you're enjoying it. If I could ask you just one enormous favour, is please give us that feedback in writing. It'll take you just a minute, no more than two, I promise. My team is going to drop the link in the chat right now and the form will appear. And really, we value enormously what you tell us, but we value it even more in writing because that way we can make a case to continue to bring in these wonderful programmes to you, Lisa Angus Davis, any last words that you want to leave the audience with?
Thank you.
Wonderful words. Gustavo?
Yes. No? Thank you so much, everybody. We really appreciate it. Cheque out omnium circus. Please go see a show, go support them. They're an incredible organisation. And just thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to join us for this webinar.
Yes, thank you so much. Also, don't forget that this Wednesday we have another one of these wonderful disability series that we're putting together for you. I'm going to ask my team to drop that link for the programme in the chat so that you can sign up. And I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday. Have a great rest of the afternoon, everyone. A wonderful rest of your day.
Thank you. Bye.
Helpful Link:
BIZABILITY SERIES: How Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Non-profits Are Changing the Way We Understand Human Potential: https://www.nypl.org/bizability