Mission Statement:
Olympia Family Theater engages audiences of all ages in performances and programs that entertain and educate.
Founded in 2006, Olympia Family Theater (OFT) is an educational theater that produces high-quality arts experiences for people of all ages. We use theater as a tool for building community resilience, celebrating diverse identities, and preparing youth to be the stewards of tomorrow.
From humble beginnings, OFT has become a thriving non-profit arts organization engaging thousands of families in the South Sound region each year. To date we have produced nearly 60 Mainstage productions while offering ongoing after-school classes and break camps for K-12 youth on topics ranging from acting, to devised theater, to technical production.
Looking to the future, we are committed to deeply exploring the intersections between artistry, community service, and social justice. The COVID-19 pandemic has been socially and economically challenging for the families we serve and we believe that artists have a significant role to play in rebuilding our communities.
OFT's Education Mission:
Core Values:
Equity & Inclusion
Everyone is welcome. We are anti-racist and pro-justice. We acknowledge that not all people benefit from the same privileges, and we work together to center the needs of the most vulnerable in order to ensure equitable access for all. We especially work to prioritize the needs of BIPOC, LGBTQIA, women, gender diverse, disabled, low-income folks, and other community members facing barriers to success.
Youth Are Powerful
We believe that youth are intelligent, capable, and curious. We create programs that honor their intellect, and allow them to be experts of their own lived experiences. We believe that youth are capable storytellers and art-makers.
We Are All Learners
Everyone has room to learn something from one another. We seek to disrupt typical power relationships – positioning all of us as learners within the same community.
Transparent Communication
We believe it is an act of kindness to say what you mean and communicate clearly. We do our best work when we give and receive feedback in a spirit of mutual growth.
Land Acknowledgement:
Racial Equity Statement:
Olympia Family Theater is committed to being anti-racist and pro-justice. We believe that Black Lives Matter. We believe in the Land Back movement. We acknowledge that our nation was built on a foundation rooted in structural racism, and that racial inequities have existed within our organization as well.
Olympia Family Theater is committed to continual progress in making anti-racism a cornerstone of our organization – both internally within our work environment, and externally through our programming.
Some of the current ways we are focusing on this work include:
(1) Acknowledging that we are on Coast Salish land at the start of all OFT events
(2) Diversifying our community: audiences, participants, teachers, artists, Staff, and Board
(3) Prioritizing the inclusion of BIPOC stories and artists in all Mainstage and educational programming
(4) Prioritizing partnerships and projects that center BIPOC voices and leadership
(5) Increasing our Staff, Board, and teaching artists access to ongoing racial equity training
(6) Prioritizing the hire of BIPOC vendors/designers/contractors
(7) Improving our methods for soliciting and receiving community feedback
(8) Developing policies, programs, and activities that help us to identify and avoid discrimination and implicit biases
We acknowledge that there are many systematically marginalized identities – and in our pursuit of justice we will not focus on race exclusively. We honor the intersectional identities within our community, including gender, sexuality, disability, income and more. We value the power of community and acknowledge the immeasurable value that diverse perspectives bring to our work. However, we will prioritize racial equity within our organization because we know that racial injustice is the most pervasive and deeply rooted form of injustice in the United States.
Midnight Sun- “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
Affiliations
Olympia Family Theater is a proud member of:
- Theatre Puget Sound
- Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (The US Center for ASSITEJ, the International Association of Theatres for Children and Young People)
- American Alliance for Theater and Education
- Olympia Audition League
- Olympia Downtown Alliance
