Building the Core of an Accountable Space

Previously, I discussed accountable spaces and my experiences with them, in regard to my developmental reading. You might be wondering what the actual room was like.

I don’t have the consent of everyone involved to divulge specifics. However, there are some key things that every accountable space should have, in some capacity, especially in formal spaces:

1) Goals: Understanding of what the room wants to achieve, long-term (like over the course of a show’s rehearsal/run) or short-term (like in a rehearsal room)

2) A Values Set: Knowing what they value in collaborators in regard to holding space with whoever is in the room. This can change based on whether one is among friends, family, strangers, teammates, and colleagues – encompassing the intricacies within those individual relationships as well

3) A Shared Language: Defining for everyone what the values set means as well as the actions embedded in each value

4) Open Communication around the Joy and the Discomfort: Empowering people to not be a bystander in joy and discomfort, whether it their own or someone else’s. If you see something, say something.

5) Check-Ins: Individual and collective check-ins about how the room/space/experience is going/feeling

And lastly,

6) Accountability As Invitation to Community: Accountability is not necessarily punishment. It may involve deep discomfort, defensiveness, and or consequences for actions/language/questions enacted in bad faith, depending on the goals established within the accountable space.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to write specific examples of what accountable rooms need, using real-world examples in theater spaces, nonprofit entities, and corporate settings.

Until then, I believe in you, in me, in us: let’s do this.

ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.