Around the world and in Canada, Black people/communities are leading protests against racism, white supremacy, and police brutality. Arc recognizes that in order to support Black lives, there must be unequivocal commitment to dismantling all forms of racism, wherever and however we can. This needs to happen now, and it needs to keep happening into the future.
At Arc, we are currently taking inventory of how best to create meaningful opportunities for BIPOC going forward, and will do so in consultation with racialized communities as we continue to educate ourselves and reform Arc as an anti-racist/de-colonial space.
In this moment, Arc is also committing to donate the profits from our Award of Awesomeness to the Black Legal Action Centre for at least the month of June. We are also announcing that the 2021 annual issue will be themed “Black Lives Matter” and guest edited by a Black Canadian poet or poets; though publication of that annual will be in more than a year, that is typical of the time it takes to make an issue of Arc Poetry Magazine. Arc is committed to continuing this conversation into 2021, and to amplifying the voices of Black writers and continuing to diversify our programming and publishing frameworks.
We will be sharing a concrete plan on how this will be accomplished in the coming weeks.