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Dear FIGMENT Community,

We have watched over the last several months as our society has been shaken, first by a deadly virus, then by extreme economic hardship, and then by the murder of George Floyd and nationwide protest against systemic racism and oppression.

As an organization that is based in inclusion and equality, we are encouraged by the heated debate and spirit of change that are raging in our society. Our gratitude goes out to those who have been active in the protests and to the artists who have poured their outrage into creative expression against injustice and inequality.

We believe in a world in which everyone is treated fairly and with respect, in which everyone is afforded a voice and can express themselves creatively. For this to be true, we must never preference white voices over black ones, or voices of privilege over those with fewer means or less access. Black lives matter.

We commit as individuals and as an organization to serving our principles and continuing to work for diversity and inclusion in everything we do, at all levels of our organization, welcoming and encouraging absolutely everyone to create and share together.

However, in a world in which getting together in person now seems like one of the most dangerous things that we as people can do, we have to adapt to serve our mission of creating participatory events that foster personal and social transformation. We are working actively to create new platforms online for creativity, expression, interaction, and participation that are open to everyone.

And, as online access is itself a mark of privilege, we are looking to ways to support lower cost and more widespread broadband access. We are fiscally sponsoring a major grant application to develop a new system for providing free or extremely low cost broadband to those most in need.

We will get together to create and share where we can: online, for now; in person, when we can; in the streets, when there is injustice. Please keep creating and fighting for what is right. We support you.

With much love,
FIGMENT

Photo (c) Irina Hage 2019