ht.live

ht.live is a nonprofit production studio and performing arts venue inside Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, with more than 200 events produced since 2017. Its tagline is "Hello, Storyteller." Every show made there carries the ht.live name, and the productions share the space and the gear.

How the studio is organised

ht.live does five kinds of things:

Our values for creating social impact

These were written about twenty years ago, in my organising days, and they still sit on the studio's homepage.

1. We organize together for broad diversity and all inclusiveness, bringing as many relevant perspectives into the thinking as possible.
2. We work on the basis of vision, caring, and responsibility, not on the basis of anger.
3. Our productions, programs, and messaging exist primarily to serve the common good, not for self-interest.
4. Our strategies and actions are geared toward proposing and implementing solutions, not to protest wrongs.
5. Our objective is to focus on actions that progress our projects toward winning and achieving our goals, not just be ethically or morally right.
6. Our approach is to consistently persuade, recruit, and win over ever more allies, not to attack or identify enemies or attack or embarrass any so-called opposition.
7. We share in our commitment to struggle to support one another in creating positive social impact. This struggle is threefold: personal, interpersonal, and global.

Our creed

• Storytelling is sacred work.
• Every person is owed dignity and respect.
• Maintaining integrity and welcoming scrutiny take precedence over reputation and optics.
• Practicing etiquette and compassion is required when speaking honestly or seeking accountability.
• If the work is important and indispensable, then we do the work deliberately and urgently. If not, do not commit ourselves or others to it.

Where we draw lines

With limited resources, the studio can only support a handful of productions at a time, so it chooses ones that fit its values. ht.live will not support any production or brand that:

• glorifies the use of guns, gun culture, or gun violence;
• normalises sex work or human trafficking;
• normalises illicit substance misuse, including both legal and illegal drugs;
• aims to demonise any culture or identity group;
• fails to responsibly depict sensitive subjects such as mental health and suicide.

These are about glorifying and normalising, not about discussing. A Citizen Spin essay on gun policy or addiction is squarely within them.

Visit

3195 Southdale Center, Edina, Minnesota 55435. Email info@ht.live or call (612) 444-9847.