We take responsibility
This is firstly about owning my own experiences and not assuming that my experiences are shared by anyone else. This involves speaking in the ‘I’ - recognising and owning my feelings and needs, having an awareness of my stories and cultures and their impact on me. It also involves taking responsibility for myself and my relationships which means striving for honesty and authenticity, being willing to acknowledge my fears and taking the first step. I am committed to my own self care and to the team’s development and training including artist dates. As a team we are interested in investing in long term projects and taking the time to build relationships with partners and participants.
We engage with conflict
We see the sticking points in a conflict situation as an opportunity for growth. In practice this means that we prioritise creating a safe space so that people feel able to open up and widen their perceptions, perspectives and possibilities around conflict. This process involves daring to go deep, taking emotional risks, noticing and challenging judgements, stories or cultures and developing communication skills so that we can work safely and creatively across difference.
We are creative
We believe in everyone’s potential for being creative and we use the arts for personal growth and social change. We are a team of skilled creative practitioners with a wide range of approaches including photography, drama, storytelling and art. We use creative tools to unstick people from conflict. We thrive off co-creation and all of our work involves people working creatively with others to make something happen. We think outside the box and are constantly looking for new ways to develop our own creativity and it’s place in the work we deliver.
We create connection
We are inspired by Ubuntu and the idea that there is a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. This is reflected in our organisational structure, our team process and our way of working. We are a workers’ co-operative, we make decisions by consensus and we prioritise collaboration with partners, organisations and participants. Our work is rooted in relationship – with self and with others and our training follows an inside-out structure. We first support people to understand themselves before looking to others. Our work is often about creating space for voices to speak and be heard and in our experience key ingredients in this process are creativity and the celebration of vulnerability.