Process

Approach

If we continue to make policies about housing using the same old processes and structures, we are doomed to dig ourselves even deeper into the entrenched problems we have today.

Our process begins with deep curiosity and deep listening. We tailor our work to the needs of our clients and collaborators. This process takes time, is iterative, and can often be non-linear. It is also rich with imagination, humor, beauty, snacks, and games that allow participants to bring their whole human selves to bear.

ashley and Mark stand in a forest. Both of them are wearing flower leis and holding up hand drawn signs that read, "action" and "attitudes."

A cropped image of a yellow school bus door. On the window of the bus is a sign that reads, "Art and Community Development."

Photos by Michael Premo

Step by step

Masked volunteers offering food and refreshments to community members who are participating in an outdoor housing facilitation.

Phase 1: Relationship building

Deliberate and long-term relationship building allows time for trust to build and honest communication to blossom.

Photo by Jenny Graham

Mark Valdez receiving a temporary stencil tattoo from two artists.

Phase 2: Develop new theater work

Develop new theater work in conversation with cross-sector partners, consulting closely with housing advocates and local stakeholders. The mutual learning between housing advocates and artists is essential in the pursuit of playfulness and radical imagination to shock people out of historical and incremental approaches to change. The art iterates in dialogue with partners, moving towards a deeper understanding of systemic inequity, the need for transformation, and pathways to a beautiful future.

Photo by Michael Premo

A promotional flyer with illustrations of a house, apartment building and baby yoda. The headline communicates three topics, reno, demo, and grow, to help community members imagine housing outcomes.

Phase 3: Mutual learning and exhange

Mutual learning and exchange allows advocates to grow in understanding and comfort with arts-based facilitation and meeting methods, while the artists grow in their understanding of policy structures, theories, histories, and contemporary movements for change. Experiencing mutual benefits is a significant precondition for future work that requires risk taking; working in ways that are unfamiliar, maybe even uncomfortable, and productively disruptive.

An artist wearing a black and white costume and zebra-striped ears and accessories, performing on stage.

Phase 4: Performances

Performances, both virtual and in-person where we ask audience participants to hold space for a dynamic tension between silliness and seriousness. Believing that you must get unsettled to get unstuck, audiences are guided into the edges of what might feel uncomfortable. From this edge, we collectively imagine a more beautiful future.

Photo by Angel Origgi

A colorfully dressed audience member standing up with arms stretched open.

Phase 5: Reflection and learning

Post-performance and partnership follow-up accommodates reflection and learning. A post-performance follow-up is an integral part of our practice so we can reflect on various realms of impact. We strive for routine reflection on what happened, what was learned, and how that impacts future practice.