Join our Board!
Join the Neworld team!
We are seeking new Board members to join our very unique board.
Last year we went through the process of disrupting our board systems. We stripped away anything that didn’t feel entirely necessary in our meetings and ways of working and instead devoted the time with our board to conversations and an exchange of ideas. At Neworld, we operate from a place of curiosity, vulnerability and fun. Still, we observed that our board processes were rigid all too often, not leaving much space for the true humanity of the people in the room. So we paired them down, leaving only what was required by law and a lot of time to talk. We start each meeting with a check-in acknowledging what each person brings into the space. The staff sends out reports, giving board members time to consider what’s shared. We leave ample space for questions and conversation. There’s real trust there between the staff and board members. There’s a real sense of community and camaraderie. We are a team.
“One of the many things that I enjoy about serving on the Neworld board is that it is truly a community. We remember that an organization is made of humans, and humanity is always at the forefront of Neworld’s work from board meeting to stage.”ย -Rupinder Sidhu, board member since 2019
“Our Neworld board meetings are more like family meetings. We begin with check-in for everyone, then staff brings us up to date, and we share opportunities and challenges.”ย -Ellie O’Day, board member since 2013
And now we’re looking for a few more people to join our team. The area where we are falling short currently is representation. Our board does not fully represent the community we serve. And it should. We need to add new voices to the conversation.
Perspectives we are interested in adding to our board.
We do not currently have a member of the Coast Salish nations on our board and know our organization would benefit greatly from this voice in the room.
We have signed on to the Black Pledge and have committed to bringing on a board member who is Black. This perspective is currently missing from our board conversations, but that is important to our organization and the broader community.
We are also seeking a Youth Representative who may not have board experience but would like to learn.ย
What is the time commitment?
We hold seven board meetings a year of about an hour each. There is the opportunity to join committees in specific areas (HR, finance, fundraising etc.) if that is of interest, but it is certainly not required.
What’s in it for you?
This is a chance to contribute to one of Vancouver’s most innovative, anti-oppressive and boundary-pushing theatre organizations. We believe that every voice has value. Your own experiences are your unique experiences, which are all valuable to what we do at Neworld. Please bring them to the conversations that shape our company.ย
Who are we?
Neworld Theatre creates, produces, and tours new plays, performance events and digital works. Our activities occur primarily on the unceded, traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the xสทmษฮธkwษyฬษm (Musqueam), Skwxwuฬ7mesh (Squamish), and Sษlฬiฬlwษtaส/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, extending across Turtle Island and beyond.
Our motto is ‘plays well with others’. Collaboration and working across perceptions of difference are central to our ethic and the way we work. Our programming responds to the creative interests of Neworld’s core artists and opportunities that emerge in relation to other artists and organizations. This commitment to collaboration also drives the community-engaged programs we deliver and the multiple ways we work with peers in the creative sector to develop cultural infrastructure and sectoral capacity both in the city of Vancouver and across the country.
We are committed to centring stories and perspectives that seek to dismantle systems of oppression. Vital to this is an interrogation of whose stories are being told and who does the telling. We embrace the conflict we believe is inherent in any authentic consideration of power, privilege and access. We believe the creative tools and artistic processes of theatre are powerful ways of exploring who we are, our lived experiences, and offer practical modes for enacting change. This leads to intersectional collaboration, broadening access and deepening engagement. Our work is provoked by curiosity, asking difficult unanswerable questions and carries with it a real, true potential of failure. With this commitment to risk/failure comes a commitment to care. Humour, vulnerability and invention are key strategies we use to engage audiences.
Over our 25-year history, we have produced, presented and toured 5-8 works annually at festivals and theatres in over 40 cities and 10 countries worldwide. Major awards include several Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards including the Sydney J Risk prize and Ray Michal prize as well as three Critics’ Choice Innovation Awards, two Arts Club Silver Commissions, the Seattle Times Footlight Award, the Rio-Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, the Canada Council Staunch-Lynton Award and the Siminovitch Prize.
Hailed by The Globe and Mail as “towering artists and socio-political provocateurs”, we measure our impact not only by productions and awards but also through the development of new work, partnerships, residencies, mentorships, community engagement, outreach and advocacy. Through artistic production internships, associate productions and the Fringe Forward Award, we support the work of emerging and mid-career artists. Partnerships are integral to all our work and built broadly from local community organizations to national institutions, to internationally-recognized theatre powerhouses. Our work has been seen in various spaces by a vast array of audiences, from thousands of high school students in gymnasiums across BC, to a small group of incarcerated inmates at the Labrador Correctional Centre, to international audiences at off-Broadway theatre Soho Rep and online via SpiderWebShow’s FOLDA and VIFF.
email us at info@neworldtheatre.com
