Transformation Plan

Transformation Plan: Summer & Fall 2019

This summer, HOBT’s highest priority is investing in a robust community engagement process to listen deeply to the communities we work with, particularly past and present MayDay artists, artists who have felt left out of the MayDay process, Southside BIPOC artists, queer & nonbinary artists, neighborhood organizations in the Phillips and Powderhorn neighborhoods, and you, someone who care’s about MayDay’s future. This commitment is at the core of a set of goals for HOBT to build an Equity Framework, to decentralize MayDay and to build a more resilient structure for the organization.

ASSUMPTIONS

  1. PUPPET POWER: HOBT uses art as a tool to build the world we want to live in. HOBT’s art is rooted in pageantry, puppetry, ceremony, and the many art forms that flow from these traditions. These are particularly powerful tools for change.
  2. PASSION: HOBT sees overwhelming passion and support for our work. That is what we have heard over and over the past five months.  Internally and externally, people want us to succeed.
  3. CHANGE: HOBT acknowledges that our business model is failing, not only for our own organization but also for midsized arts organizations in the Twin Cities. Continuing to operate as we have in the past will end the organization.
  4. EQUITY: HOBT sees that our only future is one more equitable relationship with more of the communities in the neighborhoods where we work.
  5. POSSIBILITY: HOBT believes a resilient future is possible and has the resources we need to do the work.

 

GOALS

  1. CONVERSATIONS: If we are going to make art in community, we need  to better understand the communities we work with. We will seek conversation to build common ground with our most important stakeholder communities.
  2. A PUBLIC PROMISE:  HOBT can no longer be a white-led and culturally white organization working in neighborhoods where most of the people are not white.  We will make public a promise of what we will do to change that.
  3. A SHARED MAYDAY: HOBT’s MayDay has grown far too large for HOBT to produce on its own.  We will identify partners and design a model for shared ownership of MayDay.
  4. A HEALTHY ORGANIZATION: HOBT needs a business model that supports the rest of the work. We will examine how HOBT uses our building, our programs, our administrative functions and our other assets to support these goals.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE: HOBT will set its highest priority on dedicating resources to reach these goals. These goals will form the core of our Strategic Framework, our budget and our work plan for the foreseeable future.