Core Commitments & Values

Inquiry Arts is based on the conviction that moving, multidisciplinary stories, especially followed with deftly facilitated gatherings, can serve as powerful agents for conversation: A coming together to listen to one another and share our stories in the service of exploring who we are and who we wish to be, building an understanding of how the other has come to see what they see, believe what they believe and know what they know. Equipped with well-crafted questions — fueled by genuine curiosity and inviting honesty, dignity and aliveness — conversation promotes a willingness to be vulnerable; to be surprised; to NOT have quick, easy answers; to suspend assumptions; to probe ambiguity. Conversation does not necessitate agreement or common ground other than the mutually held principle that we are humans worthy of being heard and understood.

Conversation

Holistic Responsibility

We believe that to move towards more comprehensive personal and societal well-being people must actively attend to both external and internal knowledge inquiries. On the one hand, external knowledge quests — including science, medicine and technology — pose vital questions like “how do we keep people healthy and extend lifespans?” and “how do we ensure equitable access to resources?” On the other, internal knowledge quests — including the arts — ask equally important questions, like “how do we live well with ourselves and with each other?” and “what are ways to know and articulate the nuanced, sometimes contradictory emotions through which we interpret events around us?”

We are fascinated with the unspoken norms, values and emotional geographies through which we interpret events around us. These are stories we unknowingly tell ourselves about ourselves and how we relate to each other and our surroundings. These stories are like the air we breathe: most often they go undetected. Like travelers who realize their own ways are not universal when visiting different cultures, we often recognize these tacit stories when we run into their boundaries: by encountering norms, values and emotional terrain different from our own through experiences moving enough to make a personal connection. This is one of the gifts of the performing arts.

Exploration

The human encounters enabled by the willingness to listen to others’ stories, perspectives and experiences — especially when different from our own — can open opportunities for transformation. Alongside fascination, such listening offers possibilities to realize and feel our impact on others, including harms we may have caused without knowing. Generous listening to, and conversation brought about by, such stories can help illuminate what is at stake in the choices we make, in personal, human terms.

Generous Listening

Our ability to contribute through artistic impact, residency design and consultation/mentorship is enabled by the extent of our artistic and organizational acumen.

We commit to continuously push the boundaries of our skills, understanding and operations to heighten our efficacy.