The Cultural Change Agent: Eboné M. Bishop

I have watched organizations do verbal and bureaucratic gymnastics to avoid saying the hard things out loud; it is about identifying, saying it, and being willing to grapple with the most difficult aspects of the work of culture change.

5 QUESTIONS WITH EBONÉ M. BISHOP

Founder & CEO, Evolv 

Brooklyn, NYC

Eboné M. Bishop is the Founder and CEO of Evolv. Eboné has long been interested in shifting global demographics and cultural norms, and how organizations respond to these changes. She founded the firm in 2018 to bring her expertise as an attorney and her lived experiences to help others understand and effect positive change in this space. Eboné is a Senior Fellow and Member of the American Planning Board of Humanity in Action, an international educational organization that promotes human rights, diversity and active citizenship. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Citizen’s Union, a good government organization that works to foster accountability, accessibility, and transparency in New York City and State and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, a public foundation that advances LGBTQI human rights across the world.

She received her B.A. in Politics from Brandeis University and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. Her early career as a corporate transactions attorney brought her to live and work in Asia, where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions and market entry risk mitigation. She has also worked on domestic fraud investigations and several high-profile international criminal investigations. 

Evolv is a boutique advisory firm dedicated to the difficult work of creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive places, spaces, and mindsets. Evolv knows that a more equitable enterprise is a more successful one and can help you get there. Evolv advises both for-profit and nonprofit entities of all sizes on the design and implementation of a variety of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) strategies. Evolv works closely with clients to develop a right-sized, bespoke approach to DEAI, be it in response to a singular issue, or to create a comprehensive program to equip you to navigate the complex challenges of an evolving workforce and marketplace for the long term.

1. Evolv’s motto is “commit to culture”. What does this mean to you?

It’s about the doing and far less about the saying. Increasingly, companies, nonprofits and foundations (I’ll use the term “organization” to encompass all of them, for the sake of our discussion) have some sort of diversity and inclusion statement. But, when you dive into their internal culture, very few are committed to the ongoing, deliberate, and uncomfortable work of creating and sustaining a culture that embeds and reflects the really nice words that many have spent a considerable amount of time and resources crafting. Don’t get me wrong,  words are important guideposts and a necessary starting point, but the behaviors tell the real story.

At Evolv, when we talk about organizational “culture”, we mean: the day to day experiences of the people who work within the organization; what hard policies and procedures are in place to embed DEAI, how are they talking to  customers/audiences/the public at large; and how those messages are perceived by internal and external stakeholders.  We mean not only the ‘tone at the top’ but more so the behavior of senior and executive leadership. In all these aspects, we have to guard against merely having a bunch of words on paper, inspiring speeches, and shiny ad campaigns. 

We have also observed over and over how employees, particularly younger people, are rightfully impatient and hungry for measurable and sustained systemic change. Many have higher expectations than prior generations for  the place from which they receive a paycheck. They want their workplace to be "values aligned". And when this does not happen, they are often unafraid to make their displeasure known.

When we talk about commitment, we recognize the difficulty of behavior change and the hard notion of this work becoming a sustained practice. Similar to exercising or picking up a new skill, it’s about doing it when you don't want to, when it’s hard and particularly when it's utterly inconvenient.

Another aspect of building a sustained practice is allowing room for growth and setbacks. Sometimes you make massive gains, followed by periods of plateau or even regression. It's about continuous learning and self reflection. But most importantly, it's about accountability. There's a saying, “show me your budget and I'll tell you your values”. It’s the same with DEAI; you have to resource it with time, staff engagement, money, and sometimes external assistance.

I'm a big fan of calling a thing a thing. You can't beat around the bush with this stuff because organizational culture affects real people, real lives, real careers. I have watched organizations do verbal and bureaucratic gymnastics to avoid saying the hard things out loud. For me, it is about identifying, saying it, and being willing to grapple with the most difficult aspects of the work of culture change.

2. Your practice aims to “create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive places, spaces, and mindsets”. You say, “A good DEAI plan is only as strong as the day-to-day operations and processes that reinforce it.” Could you speak more about how you work with partners on this holistic approach?

Our process is rigorous in that we follow an assess, design, implement and refine strategy when creating plans. This approach is both culturally-oriented as well as systems-oriented. They say you can’t measure what you can’t see; and to the point about accountability, we have to start with baselines.  The organization must determine what its baseline is to then be able to identify where it is succeeding, where it is  failing and, where it has not yet begun this work. 

We also want to understand where an organization is with respect to DEAI literacy and fluency across all staff, which is where the culture-oriented piece comes into play with identifying and launching an ongoing training and capacity building program. We want to ensure that everyone knows, understands,  and is able to apply a critical DEAI lens  to their work.  This includes understanding the basic definitions of each letter of the D-E-A-I acronym as well as forms of bias, intersectionality, race equity, intent vs. impact, and (white) dominant culture. 

I want to be really clear that training is not a panacea. The most effective DEAI plans are  tactical, not philosophical. That’s where the systems-oriented piece comes into play. The plans seek to embed DEAI across all levels and in all corners of an organization. Just as organizations must contemplate the legal and compliance, financial, board, and public perception implications of their decisions as business imperatives; they must also elevate DEAI to be on par with these other critical concerns.

I learned early on in my first career as an corporate attorney the centrality of "risk mitigation." At Evolv, we apply that lens in plan building. We also take it a step further, aiming to prevent future harm to the human beings who have been historically minimized and sidelined by an organization’s failure to prioritize DEAI. 

3. You highlight that in your work, “We listen openly and honestly and work with you to address the sensitive, personal and thorny issues that DEAI work almost inevitably unearths.” I imagine that during these past two years, this has been extremely heightened. In our roles as advisors, we frequently dive deep with clients, serving as not just sounding boards, but coaches and therapists of sorts. How do you best hold space for the emotions that are unearthed through the process?  

Well, it’s a tricky thing, and you imagine right. People often come to this work with little emotional scaffolding or experience for the work, coupled with a whole lot of anxiety or stress about our current world and their place in it. That said, it’s important to remind them of my role and function and to explore whether they have the support systems they need (therapists, executive coaching, and healthy outlets). 

Often “holding space” means creating a confidential, unbiased space for leaders to share, to mess up, to say the ‘wrong’ things, and work through their thinking (and emotions) without judgement. 

I do think it's really special when leaders are willing to expose themselves to me in that way. I take it as an indication that we’ve established a strong relationship and that I’ve created the conditions for them to be as open as possible. I take this responsibility very seriously. Empathic listening for me is taking a sort of ‘tabula rasa’ approach:  emptying my own mind and removing myself (my experiences, biases, etc.) and  listen carefully and without judgement or assumption, to both what they are saying, what they’re not saying, and how they’re saying things.  Then it’s my job to synthesize what’s being shared, contextualize it, and help them think through problems and identify the appropriate strategies.

Many times, after there’s been an emotional purge, they’re able to take a breath and come back to the proverbial table ready to do the work less emotionally.

4. How could the cultural sector best contribute to a re-alignment of a system that has historically promoted inequity? Specifically, how might arts funders most effectively help drive this change?

We have, in the immortal words of the Wu Tang Clan, a C.R.E.A.M. problem, that is, Cash Rules Everything Around Me.

Step one is for organizations and funders alike to turn the mirror on themselves and conduct an honest internal interrogation of their own roles in how they have promoted inequality and then take corrective action internally. Revolutionary change in how large institutions deal with thorny issues like the origin and diversity of collections, diversity in curatorial teams, their definitions of excellence, the exclusivity of boards, etc. can be (and we might argue should be) driven by the field; and in that respect, the messenger matters. 

Funders hold so much power here. When they demand better of their grantees in terms of matters like board diversity, curation, and programing, it’s critical they not be people in glass houses throwing stones, so to speak. There is also, I believe, a huge opportunity to diversify the field of people and leaders working in arts funding (and certainly within philanthropy in general) that will organically lead to more thoughtful approaches to funding organizations with respect to DEAI. 

5. The Arts Funders Forum (AFF) research programs shows again and again that the cultural sector has been experiencing a crisis of relevancy. Both arts funders and cultural leaders tell us that the arts do a subpar job of expressing the sector’s value to society — art and culture is considered a “nice to have”, not a “must have.” This could be why giving to the arts sector decreased by 8% during the pandemic*. What narratives should be communicated to clarify how the roles of the creative, arts funder, and arts organization are essential to global progress and our humanity?

The art and art philanthropy world is shaped by the gatekeepers:  those who get to decide what art and artists are deemed desirable and valued and who and what aesthetics have been elevated to the category of "excellence" and by what standards.

So, if they want to be relevant, they have to rethink the role of western, anglo-saxon standards which still predominate thinking of what is "great art" and the "great artists". Of course, this is beginning to change and we see that all around us in exhibits and performances embracing more BIPOC artists, women, and non-western art,  as well as funders and external stakeholders authentically acknowledging  these as issues. 

There certainly may be a communications answer in your question,  but I truly believe it is also foundational. We are in a moment when adaptation to audiences and employees demanding real equity and justice are both an existential matter for a lot of institutions and a huge opportunity to reimagine and remake the field.

The Path Forward interview series, an initiative of MCW Projects LLC, investigates how cultural and philanthropic leaders are re-envisioning the future of the arts.