Mission Statement: Next Steps

Thanks everyone for all your feedback. To get all the intelligent people in the company with strong voices and opinions to reach anything approaching a consensus on something as vital as a mission statement is a pretty awesome feat. Let alone taking in feedback from y'all out there.

Taking in the last rounds of feedback, the statement below went to the board for their review and/or approval. (Board meets Sunday.)


OUR MISSION
"We are fiercely committed to making the stage as diverse as the city of Chicago--presenting new voices from inadequately represented communities, and recasting classic works to showcase their contemporary relevance.”

The second sentence in the last draft (see the comments here) was unclear, and most folks either didn't like it or were ambivalent about it, so that was dropped from the mission statement.

"Inadequately" and "recasting" also got a lot of feedback both ways. Casting is meant to play off both how artists are chosen for specific roles and the casting process, (pouring a liquid into a mold to shape it). It's a more accurate representation of the uniqueness of our work than re-envisioning or re-imagining would be.

A couple of folks suggested using "under-represented" in lieu of "inadequately represented." Under-represented tends to be overused and more often used as coded language, so it's a bit more problematic and less precise. In its purest sense what it means, per the good folks at Merriam-Webster, is inadequately represented, so I made the choice to stick with that.

A couple people brought up good points that the mission statement alone could give the impression that we're just looking for diversity for the sake of diversity; that political correctness is the most important issue for Halcyon, and that in turn could lead to the suspicion that diversity is chosen over talent, quality or artistic choices. Or worse, it could be read as hollow words to try and please funders.

As with anything, our actions will ultimately speak louder than our words; however, as we've went through the strategic planning process, it became abundantly clear that we were nowhere near as good at talking about what we do, than doing what we do. The new mission statement isn't changing our mission, but how we articulate it.

The mission statement one part, it says: what we do, how we do it, and where. The big piece that is missing is why.

Our Values Statement should be the WHY. From all the fantastic work that everyone has done during the strategic planning process, I collated a list of five core values that were repeatedly referenced for a values statement. A lot of the language from the various drafts of mission statements can start to fill out the bullet points (or numbered points as it were) on the list.

VALUES for Statement:

1. Artistic Excellence

2. Diversity

3. Connection and Honest Dialogue

4. Breaking Down Barriers to Social Justice

5. Transparency and Openness

The next step is to elucidate the five values, and why they are there. The why, for the why for anyone who's dealing with four year olds on a regular basis. I'll try to take on a value each day next week, but first we've got Tony Jr.'s fourth birthday party on Saturday and a board meeting on Sunday. Should be a fun weekend, even if the weather doesn't cooperate. (I'm hoping Tom Skilling is wrong about Thunderstorms on Saturday Morning)

In the meantime, let me know your thoughts.