Mission & Vision

EDI Statement and Commitment

One Small Step for Humankind…

Although these words may invoke memories of space exploration, we see them as having a deeper meaning in today’s world.  Every day, we can all take a small step towards making the world we live in a better place. We can do this through environmental conservation, through social justice, and most importantly through making changes in how we see and treat each other.  When we can see our neighbors as fully three-dimensional human beings – be they 2 miles or 2,000 miles away – we can start to listen to them, to understand their needs, and to care about what happens to them.  This is empathy, in a nutshell.  We can all strive to have more empathy for the people around us, near and far.  We can all take small steps to show compassion, to help break barriers, to educate others, and to stand up for what we know to be the right thing to do.

We Can Keep Trying

These small steps can come together to create a path forward for all humanity.  And we can all take that journey together by trying, each and every day, to listen, to show up for, and to include people who have not been included before.  We can share our resources, share our platforms, share our time, share our own stories – all in an effort to create a world where intolerance, bigotry, prejudice, and the like are only experienced through the lens of history. We at Out Front Theater are trying, every day, to make this a reality by doing what we can to create a safe space for everyone to be seen and heard.  We would love for you to join us, to help us, and to give us feedback on how we can keep being better.

Trying Means Tracking

Often in business spaces we want to do our very best with DE&I, but not create or share metrics to show progress.  It can sometimes be perceived as performative action, or tokenizing of the very people we are trying to uplift.  However, common wisdom in that same business-focused world is that “you get what you track.” If we don’t put tangible metrics in place, then our efforts could turn into a hamster wheel of continual trying.  We want to put the following metrics in place so that we can track them to completion. We want our stakeholders and our patrons to see real results.

• We want to have representative board members from black and brown communities, as well as gender nonconforming representatives and increase that representation by at least 10% every year until we reach a goal of above 50%.
• We want to produce, support, or promote at least 2 shows/events from creatives of color every year and increase that number by at least 20% every year.
• We want to increase our presence in communities of color and in women’s communities through intentional outreach.  We can do this by creating a communication strategy to expand our patronage. To that end, we will recruit a community outreach intern or staff member to help achieve this goal.
• We want to increase our intersectional involvement by partnering with other socially progressive nonprofit organizations to collaborate on community events. The goal is to have at least one partner event per year with an ultimate goal of three per year.