With significant input from community leaders and organizations, The Kehrein Center Board of Directors has worked to develop and articulate its core values toward the development of both a Board and organizational strategic plan that prioritizes the expressed felt needs and desires of the Austin community. In our work, we mined prior listening session data from the community as well as reviewed historical documents and the Quality-of-Life Plan to ensure that these values are in alignment with the work the community and its leaders find important and are already doing. What has emerged are these four core values (with descriptions). These will be key drivers of the KCA strategic plan.
The four values are:
Community Edification: KCA recognizes the importance of centering, honoring, and dignifying the Black community and acknowledging the diversity of culture therein. As such, we are intentional about space-making and power sharing that elevates opportunities to celebrate, promote, and preserve ways of being that are core and central to the Black community and its collective priorities.
Entrepreneurial Sustainability: KCA is committed to doing business and developing partnerships that inspire, innovate, and create opportunities for community members to participate in the local economy. We are intentional about sharing, allocating, and acquiring resources that create a long and healthy legacy, both for the theater and the surrounding community members.
Human Expression: KCA embraces and encourages expressions of the human spirit in ways that uplift and inspire the Black community. We are intentional about catalyzing opportunities for sharing creativity, curiosity, and innovative power.
Education Incubation: KCA provides a space to educate and inspire the community through the arts, civic engagement, and talent incubation. We are intentional about prioritizing opportunities that create windows and mirrors to reflect the culture of the Black community, while exposing our patrons to the vast world around them.
Thank you to those of you who have provided input. We welcome any further thoughts you may have and we will continue to keep you in the loop as our strategic plan unfolds.
