Our Culture

Our culture is Creative, Nurturing, Affirming, Inclusive, Life-Giving, and Community-Building


Creative

  • We strive to create and maintain a culture that encourages, nurtures, and empowers creativity.

  • Our style of teaching and creating and producing is a collaborative process that helps bring out creative contributions from every participant. Rather than simply telling our participants what to do, we try to lead them to create things themselves in a natural and instinctive manner.

  • Rather than striving for consistent Broadway style performances in which every performance is more or less the same, with every single gesture and inflection perfectly planned out, we embrace the chaotic nature of creativity by intentionally replacing lifeless rote performances with raw, authentic, instinctual, improvisational creativity. We find that our students learn better and ultimately thrive and perform better when their inner creativity is unleashed.

  • We strive to have the kind of culture where students are constantly creating, whether it’s singing, dancing, acting, drawing, playing an instrument, collaborating, playing, taking pictures or videos, etc. This includes giving students the resources, opportunities, and freedom to create, whether it’s providing a whiteboard and markers in every classroom, having instruments and practice rooms accessible, making green screens and other equipment available, or even providing full-out production studio spaces.

 
Nurturing

Matthew 22: 37-40, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Psalm 91? Ephesians 6: 13-17?

‎שלום “Shalom” - Hebrew - “To be made whole.” 

“To be safe, sound, healthy, perfect, complete; signifies a sense of well-being and harmony - Completeness, wholeness, peace, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, fullness, rest, harmony; the absence of agitation or discord, a state of calm without anxiety or stress.” 


  • In nature, a chrysalis provides a safe, nurturing environment with all of the necessary ingredients to help a caterpillar transform into a magnificent butterfly. At Chrysalis Arts Ministries, we similarly seek to provide a safe, nurturing experience that contains all of the necessary components to help young people blossom into the best, fullest, most complete version of themselves.

  • We strive to keep our experiences physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually safe.

  • We strive to keep our program free from bullying, gossip, cliques, exclusion, abuse, and other behaviors that tear people down.

  • Our experiences are designed to be so loving and supportive that people feel safe letting their “walls” down to participate freely and openly, and to allow people to see them as they truly are.

  • We make it a priority to bring out the best in every participant (on and off the stage) and to raise them up to be all that God made them to be.

  • We are the kind of program that gives people the best, that treats people the best, so that they can be their best.
 
 
Affirming

Psalm 139: 13-1, Galatians 3: 26-29, James 3-4, James 2: 8-9

  • Our culture is shaped around the Biblical truth that every student is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, lovingly created by the greatest creator of all, and therefore they all have EQUAL VALUE. We want every student to be set free by this identity, knowing that they don’t have to compare themselves to anybody else or live up to any human standard of excellence in order to be valuable.

  • We strive to help every participant’s true self, their true inner light, to be set free (free from the chains of self-consciousness, self-doubt, self-loathing, fear, shame, anxiety, depression, trauma, etc).

  • We believe that affirming the unique value of every student helps to combat issues of jealousy, gossip, bullying, discrimination, etc.

  • We strive to build our activities in a way that tones down or eliminates any sense of students competing against each other. Instead, we want our students to be working together to help each other succeed.

  • We value each student for who they are, rather than brushing them aside because of what they aren't. For example, we value each student for WHO they are inside, for the person God made them to be, rather than brushing them aside just because they aren’t a soprano or tenor, or because they aren’t perceived by some to be the best looking person in the room. Some youth theatre programs have a bad habit of building their programs around the students who have the most natural talent, the best looks, etc. We strive not to replicate this destructive cycle that can be so damaging to young people and robs them of their true value and freedom.
 
 
Inclusive

Matthew 19:14

  • Our experiences are designed to provide an inclusive experience that allows people of all different types (different races, faiths, backgrounds, abilities, economic statuses, etc) to participate equally to the greatest extent possible.

  • We also strive to be the kind of program that goes way beyond simply allowing different people to participate in our activities. We strive to do everything we can to create an experience customized to meet the unique needs of each and every student, and to level the playing field to enable each of them to participate freely right along with everybody else.

  • Our activities are designed to be so natural and instinctual and engaging that almost anybody can participate, and do so equally, ​whether they are brand new or have years of experience.

  • We also strive to keep our activities flexible, in order for us to be able to adjust to any changes in the needs of our students.

  • Our activities have no "star" culture. We strive to build and maintain a culture and relationships that are based in humility and love, where every person gets great opportunities to shine, and opportunities for lead roles are spread around so that the most experienced or naturally talented students don’t become the dominant “stars” of the program.

  • Our activities are kept small enough and personalized enough to have a big impact on each and every participant. We believe in the “Ecclesia” concept of prioritizing small-group activities in order to discover, create, and activate the maximum impact for each and every participant, providing unparalleled opportunities for Spirit-led training, development, engagement, and launching of each participant’s God-given gifts and callings.

 
Community-Building
​
“Community is much more than belonging to something; it's about doing something together that makes belonging matter.” -Brian Solis

Ohana
"Everyone related by blood is part of an ohana, not just the strict nuclear family, and so are close family friends. However, the concept of ohana can go beyond blood relatives to describe family that’s not formally related, but who are nevertheless bound by circumstances or inclination. Churches, schools, places of work, and recreational activities can all be the basis for developing ohana, referred to as one’s work ohana, school ohana, and so forth.

In addition to describing relationship networks, ohana carries a certain responsibility. When you’re part of an ohana, you have an obligation to take care of those in your circles, and they have an obligation to take care of you. In the context of a family, this can mean respecting your elders or caring for children within the family. In a work ohana, colleagues share obligations. More generally, a member of any type of ohana is expected to behave honorably and avoid bringing shame to the group."
https://www.dictionary.com/e/translations/ohana/

  • We are committed to creating and nurturing a healthy, thriving, Kingdom community in which every person is accepted, included, loved, nurtured, supported, and raised up to be all that God made them to be.

  • Our activities are designed to gently melt down the walls between people, discover/develop common ground, and naturally build healthy connections.

  • Our activities are kept small enough and personalized enough to allow every person to be known and to become an active part of the group.

  • We strive to build and maintain the kind of community that loves and forgives, that supports each other, that works through differences, that works together to overcome challenges.

  • We strive to be the kind of family where nobody is left out or forgotten, a place where everybody belongs and is treated equally.

  • We strive to be the kind of family that values each and every person as the special and unique individuals they are.

  • We strive to be the kind of family that helps each participant to see the best in themselves and in others.

  • We strive to be the kind of family that believes in each and every participant and strives to bring out the best in them.


Life-Giving

“Wick” - Yorkshire - Alive; lively; full of life; active

Proverbs 17-22 - "A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones."

  • We strive to help spark life in our participants, including creativity, curiosity, imagination, and wonder.

  • Our activities are full of passion, beauty, light, love, color, and sound, vividly illustrating the beauty of the life that God has created for us.

  • We strive to be the kind of place where it is rare to see a disengaged mind, an empty gaze, or a broken spirit.

  • We strive to help each of our students to discover passion and purpose and value.

  • We want to see participants being passionate, authentic, vulnerable, and real.

  • We want to see/hear happy children, merry laughter, shining faces, authentic personalities, children bubbling over with joy and enthusiasm.

  • We want to see our participants playing and creating as a family.

  • ​We want to see students of all different backgrounds; alive, engaged, shining, and thriving.

  • We want to help every student to step out of their hard inner shell, break through their walls, and learn to “soar”.

  • We want to help participants to experience a touch of God’s kingdom, a place where God’s presence and love is tangibly felt in a wonderful way, and where people can experience a touch of the authenticity, joy, love, freedom, etc that can be found through God. This should be a place where the “weary and heavy-laden” can come and find rest. It should be a place where people laugh together, cry together, walk together through challenging times, and emerge with their hearts and souls rested and refreshed, and the burdens weighing on them no longer seeming so heavy. People should walk away from Chrysalis activities feeling like they have just experienced a taste of life as it was meant to be.