UNIQUE, HILARIOUS & FEARLESS.
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Rachel da Silveira Gorman
Victoria Maxwell
Charlene Hellson
Jan "JD" Derbyshire
Elan Pratt
Meg Torwl
Nicole Dunbar
Bliss the Clown
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PURPOSE
Vision Our vision is to infuse art with social responsibility and use it as a potent force for personal & social transformation.* Our artistic mandate is to repurpose live performance into potent public spectacles that turn passive spectators into active spect-actors.** Our socio-political cause is to unite marginalized artists and community groups in cross-cultural solidarity, through imaginative approaches to praxis: Critical reflection on the world in order to take action to transform it. The company is based out of Calgary but we make regional, national and global impact through vibrant networks of artists, arts workers and activists. For such a small company, we take up a hugely outsized role: To make the invisible visible – invisible people, practices and power dynamics. Objectives 1. Cultivate an arts ecology in which diversity is truly valued. 2. Invest in, amplify and prioritize the collective interests of still-excluded equity-seeking artists. 3. Prioritize decolonization, anti-racism, anti-oppression and disability justice in systemic equity. 4. Disrupt colonial ways and transgress normalized aesthetic expectations. Roles in the Arts Sector 1. A creator of intercultural, interdisciplinary, original productions. 2. A global Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed. 3. A significant contributor to Deaf, Disability & Mad Arts. 4. A regional network of autonomy-seeking, diverse artists. 5. A national hub of arts equity education and resources. Roles in our Communities 1. A disrupter of the status quo. 2. A forger of reciprocal relationships. 3. An elevator of bottom-up, collective knowledge. 4. A proven catalyst of economic equity, cultural autonomy and systemic change. 5. A tireless organizer of cross-cultural solidarity. Ethics 1. Truth & Reconciliation 2. Popular Education 3. Radical Love 4. Bertolt Brecht/ Epic Theatre/ Theatre of Alienation 5. Critical Social Theory 6. Anti-Oppressive Practice 7. Solidarity Impacts Our full spectrum approach to engagement draws potent catalysts of change to this little company that can. The equality of access we continually cultivate enables us to amplify multiversal perspectives of shared community concerns. The diversity of knowledge that emerges is what enables us to take up the multiplicity of tactics that are needed to attend to individual, cultural and systemic inequity. Our support services strengthen marginalized artists' ability to frame our distinct contributions to the arts sector, claim our rightful spaces in the cultural canon, and take up the places we've earned in the core of artistic influence. Our diversified programming streams provide multiple opportunities for passionate artists and individuals from non-arts fields of work to interact regularly, build relationships, devise new tools and share insights. We have a long history of collectively advocating for equity – within the sector and beyond. We exist, in fact, for this sole purpose. Acknowledgements * Our thanks to Anna Deavere Smith, for this framing. ** Our thanks to Augusto Boal, for this framing and for endorsing us as a Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed. |
