Company Mission Statement
Outside Voices Theater Company wish you to know the following: We are about advocacy, empowerment, out-of-the-box-thinking and disability pride. We chose our name because we believe that VOICES from the OUTSIDE deserve to be heard. We believe in access. We will not use our quiet, inside voices to get your attention.
Only disabled stories from within a culture can truly express a lived experience. Stereotypes about capability and dependence often lead to the erroneous conclusion that intellectually disabled people simply don’t have the ‘skills’ to make creative work. This not only leaves a gap in the myriad stories that make community, but also actively works against the fundamental principle that intellectually disabled people have the capacity to critique their own lives both politically and creatively. We want to take our power back.
Company Value Statement
- The theater company prioritizes self-care and group care above all else.
- Outside Voices Theater Company makes all financial and project decisions collectively and democratically.
- Outside Voices Theater Company is a safe space where members can express themselves exactly as they are.
- Outside Voices Theater Company respects the full diversity of human experience and expression.
- Members of the theater company make decisions about their own accommodation needs.
- Outside Voices Theater Company believes in interdependence and intersectionality.
- The members of Outside Voices believe in the potentiality of disability justice education through storytelling.
- Outside Voices Theater Company practices transformative justice to solve problems.
- Members of Outside Voices Theater Company write their own stories about their own experiences. We value organic expertise.