Arts + Tech: Artists Respond ft. Yamilée Toussaint Beach
Arts and Technology for Racial Justice Series
with Yamilée Toussaint Beach
Photo courtesy of Yamilée Toussaint Beach.
Recorded November 23, 2022
Grantmakers in the Arts continues discussions centered around arts and technology. The unique intersection between arts and technology has proven to be influential for all people (whether patron, funder, artist, or other) as we navigate the quickly evolving mediums for sharing information and shaping culture. Technology is not neutral, so how should funders target their dollars in order to advance the growth of arts and culture towards justice?
We are glad to kick off a series of artist-led conversations around this topic. We asked artists the question, “how can the intersection of arts and technology contribute to a racially just future, and what do funders need to know?” We are thrilled to share this series of artist talks.
Today, in our second episode of the series, we are joined by the incredible Yamilée Toussaint Beach, artist, founder, and CEO of STEM from Dance.
To listen to the full episode, click here.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Welcome to a podcast by Grantmakers in the Arts, a national membership association of public and private arts and culture funders. I'm Sherylynn Sealy, GIA's senior program manager. This podcast is part of a series on arts and technology and funding. At the 2020 Grantmakers in the Arts conference, Grantmakers in the Arts opened a discussion about arts and technology with Ruha Benjamin, Salome Asega, and Sage Crump. We've been engaging in discussions centered around arts and technology ever since.
Today we are glad to be joined by the incredible Yamilée Toussaint Beach, artist and founder and CEO of STEM From Dance, who will discuss her connection to the topic and will answer the question, how can the intersection of arts and technology contribute to a racially just future? And what do funders need to know? Thank you so much for joining us today, Yamilée.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Hi Sherylynn. Happy to be here.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Yes. So can you take a moment to introduce yourself and let our listeners know who you are?
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Sure, sure. I'm Yamilée, as you mentioned. I founded STEM From Dance. This year is our 10th year since I founded it. So when I think about how to introduce myself, the work, I think about what led me to start the organization. So when I was in college, I studied mechanical engineering at MIT, and I distinctly remember my first mechanical engineering class and what it felt like to look around the room and see that there were only three Black women in a room of maybe more than 200. And I wanted to see what I could do to change that. And knowing that a lot of the barrier is confidence and mindsets towards STEM, attitude towards STEM, this all made me think about dance. So I'm a dancer. I've been dancing my whole life starting at four, something like that.
Sherylynn Sealy:
That's your whole life. It's fine.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Yeah, pretty much. So I just have this huge love for dance. So that's what made me think about potentially dance playing a role in changing the representation of people of color in STEM. And so I founded the organization and it's been such an incredible journey. So that's how I'll introduce myself, just sort of sharing how that came to be.
Sherylynn Sealy:
All right, fantastic. Thank you for that, Yamilée. And so the big question that we're kind of sitting with for this series, it's two parts. I'll say the full question and then we'll break it down. So how can the intersection of arts and technology contribute to a racially just future? And what do funders need to know? So that first part, how can the intersection of arts and technology contribute to a racially just future? That's the first one I would love for us to sit with and grapple with together for a moment.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Yes. Such a good and important question. Going back to what I shared about representation in STEM, the statistic that always, even still to this day really compels me is the fact that less than 5% of STEM employees are women of color.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Wow.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
And that's a problem for many reasons. When I think about the opportunities that were presented to me when I was graduating with a STEM degree, I remember feeling so empowered because I had choice. I had a choice of all these different directions I can go in career-wise and I want that for others like me. I think we reach a racially just future when pathways in STEM are accessible to all. And when we look at the STEM workforce and we look at C-suites of tech companies boardrooms, we see that it is diverse. And when I think about what it takes to get there, we know that what we have been doing isn't working.
When I think after I graduated from MIT, I became a math teacher to find out more about what's happening at the K-12 level. And I learned so much from my students, and really saw that a big barrier they face is just the thoughts they had about math. They would constantly say things like, math isn't for me. This is not my subject. I don't think I'm more of an ELA person, or whatever it was. That's the perception that we have to change. There's research that shows that as early as third grade is when girls in particular start to lose a confidence in math. There are these perceptions that exist about STEM that need to be changed. And I think that dance has the power to do that.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah, absolutely.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
When I think back to my time dancing, what I don't think I realized then that I know now is that through dance, I gained confidence. I was empowered to be creative. I was engaged in something that was meaningful to me culturally. I had a community. Those are the things that we need our young people to describe about STEM. And that's what we have been able to with STEM From Dance. It's this atmosphere that feels warm where there's a sense of belonging, a sense of safety to explore this area that is kind of intimidating, that can be complex, where you may not know somebody in your family, or in your neighborhood who has a career in STEM. And so we're able to really break down that intimidation by using dance. And so in our program, our girls get to create dance performances that incorporate technology. So imagine costumes that light up every time they lift their arms, or animations that are projected on the stage that they can code. And they get to program drones so that they're dancing in sync with drones, all these different ways.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Oh, I love it.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
About how they can bring these worlds together. In the presence of doing things like coding, they're laughing. They're having conversation. There isn't this feeling of isolation that a lot of adults in STEM, who are people of color experience, but there is a sense of connection of relevancy. And so I think that ours is just really powerful in being able to bridge that gap that will lead to a more diverse feature.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah, no, I appreciate all of that. And I think one of the things that you mentioned that was really powerful is, well, sounded like it goes beyond the tools that you're providing. It's more about the mindset of the individual and from a young age, which is what I love about the things that you're doing, the work that you're doing, is it's not just waiting till someone has reached adulthood and like, okay, well let's talk about this. Let's talk how you're changing the world in this really amazing way. Because of course there's plenty of artists doing that right now, but at one point the artist was a third grader or a fourth grader. And all of those mindsets start from there.
Thankfully, there are some who are within that, was it 5%? That 5% who were able to keep that mindset of, I can do this. This is for me. But there's more to be done, and you're really doing that. So that's fantastic. And with all of that said, we've got most of the people who are listening to this podcast will be funders. And so the main question in terms of what now, next steps, what do funders need to know?
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Another great question. I think back to the early days of when I first had this idea and just the path that I had to take to get people to understand, to be open to the concept. It was so new 10 years ago, this conversation we're having now wasn't taking place then. And when I think about the funders who came alongside us and really seeded the idea, what I see they had in common was an openness to explore something that was a bit non-traditional. And that's what I think funders should know is that being in this space may involve having conversations where it may be a very different kind of idea, different kind of approach than has been done before. But then we also need people to take that risk with us. We needed that when we were one years old. And even now STEM From Dance has a really bold vision for the future. We plan to serve 10 million girls by 2032, so 10 years from now.
Sherylynn Sealy:
That's amazing.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
And we plan to be a $10 million organization. So even at this stage, 10 years later, we still need people who will be open to investing in something that's not just a traditional arts program or education program. So that's what I think funders need to know. And I think sometimes there can be this misperception that supporting a concept that is non-traditional may mean that it can't be measured or it can't be tracked, or the impact is going to be ambiguous. But that's not necessarily true. There is still ways to have a very tangible and meaningful impact. So I would just encourage funders to not be intimidated by this space, but really lean into asking questions, being curious, and just being open to considering it instead of going to those go-to approaches.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Sure, yeah. No, that's great. So I'm going to kind of shift gears here and ask you to reflect on the experience that you've had as someone who has been in tech for a very long time, brought arts, dance specifically to tech, seen how things have changed for your students who come to the program. What is one thing that you've learned over time from your students who have now been exposed to this new way of engaging with tech?
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
I think something that still amazes me is how a big change in someone's life can come from something simple. As you were asking that question, I thought about one student in particular, her name is Melody, and when she came to us, she had no desire to do anything in tech. She was a dancer. And she came to our summer program and she came the following summer, and then she came to following summer. And I'm very happy to say that right now, she's a freshman at Georgia Tech, studying computer engineering.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Oh my goodness. That's amazing.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Yeah. And just to think that it was the use of dance that convinced her to come to a program that had anything to do about technology.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah, yeah.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Just there's something simple in that. As we think about, okay, how do we change this 5% figure? It could be as simple as just taking another approach to using the arts, creating something that's relevant that means something to her that would attract her. So as I think about your question, what I've learned is that just the simplicity of really listening to what the young people we serve need, what they respond to, what they care about. And that's not just in the concept of the organization, but even today, as we continue to build, as we serve more students, just really thinking about the importance of listening and how some of the most impactful changes we can make can be super simple.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Yeah. Well, I'm going to hold that for us, for our listeners. And I appreciate you sharing that last bit, simplicity, listening to our young people can make a world of difference. So thank you so much, Yamilée, for being with us today and sharing your perspectives.
Yamilée Toussaint Beach:
Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Sherylynn Sealy:
Of course. And for those who are listening, if you have any questions about this podcast or any upcoming programming, feel free to reach out to me, Sherylynn Sealy at sherylynn@giarts.org, or visit our website, giarts.org. Be sure to follow Grantmakers in the Arts on Twitter and Facebook at GIArts, as well as Instagram @grantmakersinthearts for exciting new updates. Thanks so much for listening, everyone.
