Add the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) to the list of noted Chicago performing arts organizations undergoing a major leadership shift during a historic summer marked by upheaval, reflection, and the seismic financial/existential crisis of season cancellations due to the COVID-19 virus.
That letter sparked a subsequent onslaught of social media posts stating Alexander made CHRP a place defined by body shaming, sexism, and the cultural erasure of tap’s origins in Black and African cultures.
“I think of the artists who are struggling to live. I think about their issues. Billy Porter gave an interview about how art is so integral to society and how we really need to think about that. Artists are essential workers, and they deserve to be treated as such,” he said.
“Maybe, the only way to stop the killing of unarmed black men and women, is to make it expensive,” he wrote on May 25. “Killing one of us will cost you your whole city. Nothing else seems to work!” he concluded.
Alexander vehemently denies all claims of erasure, racism, and sexism.
Money talks, Alexander added, estimating that CHRP has spent roughly $6.5-$7 million paying artists for their work, with between 65 and 70 percent of that going to artists of color. For a decade, CHRP hosted Chicago’s National Tap Dance Day celebration, where “every tap dance company in Chicago” was paid to perform at the Vittum Theater, he said. Alexander also points to numerous productions where women and artists of color took the spotlight and were “proportionately represented.”
