Finding Core Values
Flux is heading next week on our annual retreat at Little Pond, and we have an ambitious schedule for a week of relaxation, balancing internal questioning with play development.
One of the major goals is to begin articulating our Core Values into clear, evocative, actionable items. To do so, we're not only looking inward and sharing our own personal values, but also identifying successful models in the field.
Here are three ways you can help:
1. Do you know of any theatre companies with clear and evocative values that are truly reflected in their actions? If so, please post links to their values web page in the comments.
2. Have you gone through the process of articulating core values for your company? If so, do you have any advice on useful tactics or pitfalls to avoid?
3. Do you feel strongly that Flux should list a certain value among our Core Values? This may be a quality you already see present in how we work, or may be a goal you feel we need to work towards.
Though all Fluxers are currently preparing for this session of the retreat by answering more detailed versions of these questions, sometimes an outside eye can see things we miss, so please post your thoughts in the comments below.
For further detail, here is our working definition of Core Values:
VALUE: Something (as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable
CORE: a basic, essential, or enduring part; the essential meaning; the inmost or most intimate part
A Core Value are those values that Flux holds as basic, essential and enduring. Our decisions and actions emanate from and are measured by these values.
Two examples of strong Core Values statements:
Cornerstone Theater Company
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Please comment away! If you're feeling especially inspired, why not check out our earlier post regarding our evolving aesthetic and comment on that? This will be another big session for us, and any feedback or thoughts you have going in will be very helpful. Hopefully, you'll be seeing the fruits of these sessions in September.
Posts
Core Values for Flux:
Sexiness
Joy
More feathers
It's strange how many problems simply adding more feathers can fix...
Here's the Mission Page for the Rude Mechanicals in Austin, TX. They really do work with these values in mind, I feel.
It might also be worth noting that my favorite theatre company of all time still has a shitty mission statement. I feel like its worded to get big funding or something...
Matt,
Thanks for that link - I especially liked this sentence:
"As a company of almost 30 actors, designers, and crew we apprentice ourselves to the idea that the best work is made by combining the depth of multiple points of view with the discipline to speak as a single voice."