Seasonal Update
This season we have been hard at work on our strategic plan, gathering feedback from alumni, guides, and board members, and welcoming a cohort of new board members. We remain committed to the importance of Signal Fire’s mission, vision, and programming goals and we are here to keep the fire going! Read on to learn more about this and an update about Signal Fire’s re-visioning
Thank you!
Thank you to all the Signal Fire alumni who participated in our spring Alumni Survey. Our strategic planning is underway and your feedback and ideas are critical parts of this process. In the meantime, if you would like to share a message with our Program Coordinator & Board of Directors, please message us at info@signalfirearts.org.
Welcoming New Board Members
We’d like to welcome five new board members to our interim team. Each of our Board Members will play a critical role in Signal Fire’s re-visioning process.
Our board members are former participants and guides, and arts and culture workers, who bring with them years of experience in decolonizing organizations, nonprofit arts administration, strategic planning, and a deep knowledge of Signal Fire’s signature vision. In our early months of meetings we have sought to embody the ethos of Signal Fire trip structures by collaboratively creating community agreements and by integrating embodiment & trauma-informed processes to our meetings.
We look forward to the renewed sense of leadership that this group brings to Signal Fire right now.
Meet our interim board here.
Why is Signal Fire Re-visioning ?
Over its 14 year history, Signal Fire has created relational connections and practiced place-based responsibility towards our wild places. We strive to continue this work – while entering a phase of re-kindling and re-building. We have work to do to continue growing as a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive organization.
We are continuing in our commitment to:
- Rethinking Signal Fire’s mission, vision, and programming goals
- Reflecting deeply about our internal culture
- Creating a strategic plan & seeking the funds to feed the work
- Laying a foundation to reestablish programming for 2023
- Staying connected with our supporters and alumni
In alumni survey responses, many respondents asked for more details about why we have entered into such a transitional phase. As a very small non-profit, we’ve been deeply affected by the dynamism and change of the past several years. The pandemic paused our programming for a full year, and our current financial position needs strengthening and re-growth. Along with these operational challenges, reflecting on Signal Fire’s strengths and weaknesses ensures that the values we espouse are embodied and represented in the work we do among ourselves and with our communities — at home and in the wilds.
We are committed to transparency. We recognize in the past that an organizational culture developed where decision-making processes were unclear and often fell along lines of race, gender, and seniority; work and responsibilities were siloed and inconsistently evaluated; and where a lack of shared analysis about structural racism and systemic oppression compromised organizational processes. We also recognize that these patterns are aligned with norms of white supremacy and do not perpetuate the kind of pro-actively anti-racist work culture that Signal Fire has always strived to have.
In this transitional phase, we are taking to heart the causes for all of Signal Fire’s staff leaving at once and are committed to addressing areas that align with the pursuit of justice, anti-racism, and equity within our work culture.
We also invite your inquiry and encourage you to write us; sketch a picture expressing a thought, question, or need; or give us a call. We are happy to connect and speak to anyone who has care and concern for Signal Fire.
Please feel invited to reach out to us at info@signalfirearts.org to write or to set up a call.
Accountability
As we grow, shift, respond, and re-envision Signal Fire, we want to be accountable to you. As we rebuild our programs we will also work to rebuild trust.
In the coming months, we commit to sharing:
- Seasonal accountability updates
- Opportunities for public comment and feedback on our strategic plan as a Friend of Signal Fire
Thank you so much for your continued support of Signal Fire during our time of regrowth!
Community Agreements
Today, we’d like to start by sharing our Community Agreements. Collaboratively created by our Board of Directors and staff team, these Agreements are meant to be used in our internal meetings. We are sharing these to give you a snapshot into the ethos we hope to embody as a collaborative team.
Steady onward,
The Signal Fire Board of Directors & Program Coordinator