Crip Time, Resilience Staffing, and Succession Planning
Calling Up Justice, a transmedia social justice arts organization, is dedicated to creating fair systems both internally and in collaboration with other institutions. We understand the increasing instability faced by our communities and partners due to the pandemic, economic uncertainties, and growing aggression against marginalized groups. Society often assumes specific abilities, and arts organizations demand non-stop work as if they expect superhuman abilities. To counteract these challenges, we prioritize crip time as a guiding principle in our scheduling and staffing. We also implement resilience staffing to ensure that multiple people can fulfill each role, which leads to shared leadership models and hiring backup individuals to step in if someone needs to step out, much like understudies in theater. We focus on growing and developing the skills and abilities of our team members, constantly recruiting and building new relationships to maintain a healthy pool of potential leaders. We recognize that everything is impermanent and plan accordingly, acknowledging that people’s presence cannot always be guaranteed. This is why shared leadership and developing leaders over time are essential.