ARTICLE 11

n the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 13/09/2007

Our Inception
We have come together as ARTICLE 11 to channel our mutual desire to pursue the creation of live performance works with a holistic approach and a rigorous attack. Inspired by the traditional leadership values system in many First Nations communities, there are project leaders who serve the team as a whole by maintaining a directional focus, yet there is no imposed hierarchy. All collaborators work to celebrate Article 11 through practise. Mandate:
Our projects are created with a mind to uncompromising excellence. Service of the art is prioritized at every step. Our workshops and productions are well-resourced at every level. We are committed to work that challenges the artists and the medium. As a living, breathing, shared experience, the medium must evolve with society. We recognize and celebrate that theatre’s strongest asset is the ability to create communion among a group of individuals. The work will have import for the communities of which we are a part. These include Indigenous, mixed blood, politically-thoughtful, feminist, non-discriminatory and accountable peoples. These communities will have access to the work. As mixed-roots “bridge” people, we believe that art can have a positive impact on relations between Indigenous peoples and non, and that each project we undertake can serve this belief. This mandate, as with our projects, is an ever-evolving work, continuing to strengthen as it ages, altering to serve the continued development of the art and the artists. Mission:
In our combined thirty-seven years of professional theatrical experience, we have become aware of some serious gaps in the contemporary Indigenous arts ecology. This includes a dearth of Indigenous Designers, Stage Managers, Production Managers, Designers, Producers, and Administrators. We will do our part to address these needs by ensuring every project includes paid apprenticeship positions supported by the entire creative and administrative team. We create work that provokes active thought and dialogue in our audience, and solicit ongoing feedback about our work in a candid, respectful and mutually satisfying way. This includes consulting with peers, veterans and emerging artists as well as non-artist stakeholders. Our projects are an investment in the development of the contemporary Indigenous theatrical canon. We disseminate our full-scale productions as complete yet evolving works, touring broadly. This is an acknowledgement that we as Indigenous peoples are not bound by colonial borders, but by common experiences and related stories. Our work includes the full breadth of society, and while it prioritizes the Indigenous perspective and Indigenous artists, our contemporary stories and art also inherently include the non Indigenous population. We exercise all beliefs through practise.