Community Agreements

Heartbeat Opera is a community of collaborators, audience members, and more. We strive to create and preserve a respectful and caring environment for making and sharing opera together. This living document describes our agreements as a community -- our ethos, values, and practices. It is a baseline, and at the beginning of each production (at first design meeting and again at first rehearsal), the newly-assembled company will review and discuss this document, revising and adding where necessary. Then all collaborators are required to sign and uphold the agreements.

Equity

● We strive to create an equitable environment for all our collaborators and audience members. Gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, dis/abilities, ethnicity/ethnic heritage, race, color, age, size, class, and citizenship status are some of the excuses people use to discriminate against others. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind.

Diversity

● We value diversity -- of identity, background, experience, artistic expression -- and we nurture diversity in our community, organization, and programming.

Inclusion & Belonging

● We acknowledge that opera has traditionally propagated harmful and exclusionary practices. We strive to foster a sense of inclusion and belonging for all of our community members.

Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression

● We are committed to anti-racism and anti-oppression. We acknowledge that anti-Blackness and systemic racism are real and potent forces in America, and we are dedicated to taking anti-racist actions to dismantle White Supremacy and white supremacist structures that are prevalent in our community.

Respect

● We work with respect and care for each other. We do not tolerate harassment of any kind. We take allegations of harassment and abuse seriously. We commit to address each individual claim quickly, decisively, and in its full complexity. In so doing, we will endeavor to strike the right balance between transparency and privacy. We will consistently refine our practices and processes for reporting to create brave spaces for all artists, audiences, staff, and visitors.

Conflict Resolution

● We are building a culture of openness and feedback that centers the needs of any person who has been harmed regardless of their position or affiliation. To this end, we endeavor to create a straightforward process that includes but is not limited to conversation, mediation, and decisive action.

Accountability

● We are accountable to each other and the community at large, and are responsible for direct and open communication, transparency, and how we share and distribute power. We agree to protect each other and ourselves by speaking up when we see or experience harassment, inequity, or injustice. We will hold each other accountable.

Learning

● We commit ourselves to ongoing learning and growing. We invite honest feedback and strive for active listening. We recognize that learning often requires making mistakes.

Love

● We strive to lead, make, and communicate with love.