BPT Way of Being
Our work aims to bring people together. That means all people. We understand that all people are different. We aim to create safe, open and inclusive environments that allow people to be fearless in play and at work. We will be respectful and kind and treat everyone as equals.
We are not afraid to make mistakes and are committed to challenging inequalities in our practice and the world and will always listen without judgement.
We will be playful in our approach, bold in our creativity and lead with heart. We expect all staff, freelance artists and participants to uphold our way of being and for this to be reflected in all our work. We will be;
- OPEN
- FEARLESS
- PLAYFUL
- RESPECTFUL
HOW WE WILL BE OPEN
We will create an inclusive and welcoming space open to all people. We are dedicated to listening to all people and will listen and respond from a place of non-judgement. We strive to create a space where everyone can feel free to express themselves while accepting that all people are different. We recognise mistakes happen and we are committed to being transparent and learning from them through open reflection. We are committed to sharing what we learn with others.
HOW WE WILL BE FEARLESS
At BPT we strive to be fearless in our approach to theatre-making. We encourage all participants to speak-up and reawaken their voice, body and imagination. We provide support and encouragement for people to step out of their comfort-zone. We embrace risk-taking and applaud ‘failure’ and understand that mistakes are opportunities for growth. We believe in being bold and making brave artistic choices, on the stage and in production. We are committed to creating a psychologically safe space to play and work and believe we should take-up space, and use our platform to challenge the inequalities that exist in the wider sector, and across the world. We aim to be a company led by the people of Brighton, staying true to our core values and leading with heart. We will challenge accepted conventional approaches to theatre making and strive to create work that is unique and impactful.
HOW WE WILL BE PLAYFUL
We will appraoch all our work with a playful spirit, and encourage activities that promote the experience of individual and collective joy. We play with serious issues, and are serious about the power of play. We strive to create spaces that allow for the playful exploration of big issues, while being mindful of not creating emotional labour for participants, artists and staff. We use games and aim to have a lighthearted, friendly and fun approach to everything we do and in all workshops, even when approaching challenging material. We will be non-judgemental and celebrate the philosophy of play for play’s sake.
HOW WE WILL BE RESPECTFUL
We value respectfulness in all our interactions with others. We are respectful of the unique contribution that every person can make to our theatre community. This shared value is present in our office, in our workshops, in our productions and in all our communications. We take care to respect personal space and personal stories. We feel strongly that the relationship between BPT and the people who share part of themselves, either in a conversation, a workshop or a show, needs to be nurtured and maintained to prevent exploitation. We take complaints seriously and above all aim to be kind. We are committed to always growing and learning by listening to others. We approach people with compassion and empathy, considering how our experiences may differ from others. We are open to hearing criticism of our work and have a willingness to make changes. We understand that it’s ok to have different opinions and are respectful of different access needs, adapting to be as inclusive as possible.