New social movements are confronting archaic notions and ideologies of race, class, gender, and identity. They demand justice for people too long denied basic human rights and equal access to quality education, employment, and representation. ACE rejects the racism, disparities, and disavowals that have buttressed structural imbalances, blocked access to resources, and denied acceptance and celebration of human diversity. We keep on learning as we grapple with how to best support the expressive practices of under-recognized and under-served communities endangered by social, economic, and ecological crises and cultural extinction.
We work hard to create channels of equitable cultural access, opportunities, and ownership for peoples of all backgrounds.
ACE is committed to reflexive examination of its practices and policies, and is open to dialogue on any issue. We believe that transparency and clarity are more necessary than ever. ACE will:
- Continue to make its resources available to communities of color (BlPOC) and the institutions, and organizations that represent them, and to seek collaborative ways and means of doing so.
- In its Repatriation, Endangered Cultures, and Online Resources initiatives, provide for local workshops, mentoring and remuneration of local leaders, children’s educational programs, media training, in partnership with communities of color, wherever feasible.
- Reaffirm its commitment to identify, recruit, employ and include BlPOC on our staff and Board of Directors.
- Alan Lomax maintained mail and telephone contact with artists he had recorded and accounted to them for decades for sales and royalties from albums on which they appeared. In 1998, ACE launched an extensive search for all artists earning income and renewed agreements with them. We pledge to continue these efforts to identify and provide royalties to artists’ family and legal heirs.
- We will direct income from the Lomaxes’ prison recordings to the Equal Justice Institute, and attach a rider requiring a "contribution" to all licenses of prison recordings. To date, such income has been wholly reinvested in ACE’s work.
-ACE Staff, and Board of Directors, 2020