Flux Theatre Ensemble

This post continues on our updates on the changes that came out of our Annual Retreat - past posts have focused on Core Values, Aesthetic Values, and Membership Structure.

As mentioned in our previous post on Membership, moving away from the two-tiered Membership structure necessitated the creation of a second relationship circle. We wanted to honor the people closest to Flux who weren't right for formal Membership, and so created a special relationship category called Friends of Flux.

Friends of Flux, or 'FOFs', are the artists and audience members who have shown a sustained commitment to Flux through some combination of time, resources and talent. FOFs have supported our work through artistic collaboration, committed show attendance, production support, and financial contributions; and we want to honor and celebrate that ongoing relationship.

What exactly are FOFs? We're still in the process of figuring that out, but we know what FOFs and Flux should be for each other:

Ambassadors:

• Flux and FOFs will use social media and word of mouth to spread the news about each other's work, including posting links to each other on our mutual websites
  
• FOFs have direct access to suggest the work of worthy theatre artists to Flux, and Flux will give those suggestions priority consideration for Flux Sunday and other artistic opportunities

Accomplices:

• FOFS will look for opportunities to support Flux's mission through volunteering when available
  
• Flux will pass on opportunities to FOFs, looking to move forward each others work when possible
  

Allies:

• Flux hopes to create a special social media group for FOFs, possibly called FluxBook. This will allow FOFs to communicate directly, providing FOF-specific opportunities to each other, and building an even stronger community
  
• Flux will look for other opportunities for increased access, including insider emails and monthly town halls, called SpeakEasy, where FOFs and Membership share ideas over drinks post Flux Sundays
  
• FOFs will have increased access to Flux process, through priority invites to special events and the rehearsal process
  
• FOFs will participate in a poll for season decisions, giving everyone a voice; Flux will respond to directly to the ideas generated by such discussions

Artists:

• FOFs will have increased access to artistic opportunities - special callbacks for actors, streamlined director proposals, priority script consideration. Non-theatre artist FOFs will have other ways to engage creatively with the community
  
• Flux and FOFs will actively look for chances to work together, prioritizing such collaborations

Audience:

• Flux will provide priority discount tickets to FOFs when available
  
• FOFs will actively recruit new audience members and potential FOFs, and receive discount tix and special events to help do so

Awesome!

• We want FOFdom to be fun! Silly titles, FOF happy hours, FOF SWAG, whatever is fun and Fluxy

This give and take was in large part already happening, but we wanted to make this kind of relationship official as a means of empowering FOFs to engage more deeply with Flux, and for Membership to better serve our FOFs. We like it, and so, we want to put a ring on it.

Friend of Flux status is re-evaluated every year to make sure both sides are getting something meaningful out of the relationship. We'll shortly be posting a list of our inaugural Friends of Flux - it's a pretty amazing group of audience and artists, and we're extremely fortunate to have them as the foundation of our mission to build a creative home.

If Friends of Flux sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, just ask a Member; we're trying to strike the balance between small enough to matter but big enough to count; and we want to make sure that everyone who works with us, FOF or not, feels valued and respected as per all those newly minted Core Values of ours. FOFdom is a work in progress, but we're excited to see where it goes.