Award-Winning Filmmaker Returns to Madison as Chamber Hosts Wisconsin Premier of “Bias” Documentary

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    Special promotional content produced in partnership with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.

    A new film by Robin Hauser, who made a splash three years ago with her film about sexism in the tech industry, Code: Debugging the Gender Gap, will return to Madison on June 5 to present a special screening of her new documentary, Bias, which delves deep into implicit bias and what we can do about it.

    The event, hosted by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce as part of its Accelerate Madison program, will include food, drink and a Q&A in addition to the film screening, all at the Orpheum Theater on State Street in downtown Madison. Tickets are $40 in advance or $50 at the door; however, Madison365 is the exclusive media partner for the event, and Madison365 readers can attend for $25 by using the code MADISON365 when ordering tickets online.

    The event begins with a reception and networking at 4:30, film screening at 5:30 and post-screening conversation with Hauser at 7.

    “We started working with (Hauser) nine months ago to arrange for her to bring it,” said Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce President Zach Brandon. “Obviously, we knew then that it was going to be an important and timely conversation for Madison, but it turned out to be one of, if not the most, important conversation the business community is going to have, and that’s just discussion of what happens in your business or what happens in the workplace, what happens in your community, when you don’t address and understand implicit bias.”

    The post-screening conversation with the director will be hosted by EQT By Design founder (and Madison365 Board of Directors member) Annette Miller.

    “We’re lucky to have somebody of the caliber and that talent right here in Madison and to have these two women engage in a conversation about, not just what it implicit bias but also how their personal stories come to life in this conversation and then, ultimately, where do you go from here?” Brandon said.

    Brandon said bias is obviously important to businesses as they deal with increasingly diverse customer bases and workforces. He noted that all Starbucks locations in the US will close for half a day this week, at an estimated cost of $12 million, to deliver training on implicit bias after two Black customers were arrested at a Philadelphia location.

    “The only time they’ve ever closed all their stores before was to retrain everyone on new coffee machines, so it shows you the level of importance that they see here,” Brandon said. “If you’re shutting down to train baristas on new coffee machines, you do that because you have to, right? It’s essential to the operation of your business, so they clearly feel the same way about implicit bias. If it’s going to cost them $12 million dollars, what does it mean for your business to understand it and you can have one of the local experts and one of the worlds leading documentarians who just did a film on this issue, live in Madison, for $25 if you used the MADISON365 code. If Starbucks is willing to spend $12 million dollars, business owners and community members and people who are just interested in this question of implicit bias and its role should come out that night.”

    Tickets are available at bit.ly/BiasMadison. Use promo code MADISON365 at checkout for $25 tickets.