Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Compassionate Conversations Workshop with Dr. Erikca Brown
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Open to all CVPA staff and faculty.
CVPA is pleased to welcome Dr. Erikca Brown from The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Dr. Brown facilitates programs and events across campus for staff, faculty, students, and alumni to develop interpersonal and organizational competencies for inclusive excellence.
What is Compassionate Conversation?
Compassionate conversation refers to the skillful ways people can communicate with others to feel understood and understand one another.
What You Will Learn
Participants will develop skills for communicating and engaging across cultures. The workshop offers us the opportunity to engage in authentic and compassionate communication and exchange multiple perspectives and lived experiences to expand our cultural competencies and continue striving together toward inclusive excellence.
More Info
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From the Dean: On Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
One of the reasons that the world values artists is that we tend toward building things. Things like melodies and harmonies, shapes and structures, stories and movements, images and insights that offer people a chance to step outside themselves, if only briefly, and join a community of shared experience.
That community is at its richest, best, and most human when it reflects and includes the glorious diversity of the human condition. And we artists are at our best when we engage that diversity in our work, in our lives, and in our deepest imaginings.
In the College of Visual and Performing Arts, we stand strongly for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging both because they are inalienable rights of being human, and because they make our work more urgent, more necessary, stronger, and more beautiful. We are actively committed to practicing Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence both because they are fundamental principles of our university, and because the nature of our work brings us into daily contact with their nourishing inspiration. We do this by agreeing to create and sustain a community in which all are welcome, valued, and supported, both because it is socially just to do so, and because as artists we know that creating community is one of our highest callings.
I invite you to join in this commitment as a member of the CVPA community, whether as student, faculty, staff, patron, supporter, or friend, both because we need and value your ideas, energy, and spirit, and because together we can build the kind of community that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as a basic condition of its existence.
Thank you.
Rick Davis, Dean

Anti-oppression and inclusive excellence are salient values to the Mason community demonstrated by the leadership of President Washington. CVPA responded to President Washington’s call to action by assembling an ARIE task force of community members to draft and outline an internal ARIE Inclusive Excellence Plan for the CVPA community. CVPA launched several diversity initiatives and onboarded a Director of Diversity to steward the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging implementation efforts. The SMART goals outlined in these IEP documents demonstrate CVPA’s commitment to advancing the mission of providing an anti-oppressive and inclusive educational environment for all.
Arts in Context

Learn about diversity initiatives in the arts on our Mason campus:
In Remembrance
George Mason University Land Acknowledgement
Diversity in the News

- December 7, 2022
- November 8, 2022
- September 12, 2022
- August 29, 2022
- August 26, 2022
Archived Panel Discussions
Compassionate Communication in Times of Societal Crisis: Practices and Tools for Inclusive Excellence
Societal crisis affects every student and aspect of the classroom. External occurrences permeate classroom communities and disrupt the daily functions and structures of learning. During this panel, experts will discuss what being trauma-informed means, share guidance on practical interventions and outline how compassionate communication is the best tool for cultivating feelings of psychological safety and assisting in reducing anxiety and stress for a supportive learning experience for all students.
Panelists: Dr. Niyati Dhokai, Dr. Paula Danquah-Brobby, Dr. Shekila Melchior Event took place Wednesday, November 9th.