Freelancers Make Theatre Work

Collective Working Agreement – Meetings

 

FMTW want to be inclusive, accessible and encourage participation from everyone who attends any of our meetings.  It is important to work in ways that actively uphold our values. 

Below are fundamental expectations for all meeting attendees.  At the beginning of every meeting at least three of these will be read aloud as a reminder, and agreement sought from all participants so that we continually reflect on how we want to work, and the ways we undertake our activism with care.

 

1. We care for ourselves and each other by respecting each other’s boundaries and listening to our own physical, mental, and emotional needs and limits. 

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2. We avoid making assumptions. If we feel in conflict with an idea proposed, we will seek to clarify first and then engage in active listening, before offering constructive criticism.

 

3. We are mindful of how people participate in different ways and actively facilitate opportunities for everyone to participate in ways they find most accessible, embracing that this may require the pace of meetings to change.

4. We are each responsible for our own actions and we work to respect people’s opinions, beliefs, characteristics, approaches, and points of view.  

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5. We consistently work to recognise our own bias and privilege, including less obvious or invisible hierarchies. We work to be aware of the power we have in the space, how much space we take up, and how that impacts others.
 

6. We think about how our words, opinions and feelings are influenced and who they might exclude or harm.  If we cause harm, we will listen and reflect on the impact of our actions, recognising that our intention does not absolve us of causing unintentional harm.
 

7. We recognise that participants may discuss sensitive or confidential information. We agree to hold all information as confidential unless consent to share is clearly expressed.  If in doubt, we ask them if we have permission to share.
 

8. We are all responsible for upholding our values and agree to speak up when/if we see members experiencing microaggressions, unfair and/or biased treatment, passive aggression, and inequitable exclusion.
 

9. We celebrate that people join our meetings from different roles, sectors, cultural perspectives, and backgrounds.  We recognise the additional emotional energy it can take people to engage in work towards systemic change relative to their lived experience, and take responsibility for our own learning instead of asking them to teach us.

 

10. If we don’t understand something, we can just ask - we are all learning.  When someone does not understand, we will take the time required to share our knowledge patiently and without judgment.
 

11. We celebrate that there is no one correct way of doing things, and that people may wish to approach the same issue differently.