PURPOSE Productions engages in the collaborative practice of mothering creative visions. These visions are held together by strategies, resources, teams, and communities which PURPOSE can help to define, cultivate, refine, activate, and sustain. Like fingers intertwining to clasp hands, we see each element of this visioning and strategy work as deeply connected in a way that creates a strong foundation for visions, projects, and institutions to thrive. This also means the people within are thriving. The cornucopia of services that we define as Holdin’ It Together is, in essence, the work that sustains thriving visions and people.
The visioning partnership is where unity meets creativity with purpose as the foundation. This offering has developed out of PURPOSE’s own collaborative leadership model and is generally a mid-term (6 months to one year) commitment to the growth, activation, and delegation of your vision. We begin our partnership with a strategic visioning and planning session where we define our objectives for the term and how this role integrates with any existing organizational and team structure. Then we schedule a series of check-in conversations and define a preliminary timeline for meeting the stated objectives. The check-ins can range from sound boarding to coaching to strategizing to co-working depending on your needs, and they each close with action steps in support of the next connection.
The partnership is a malleable, responsive container which means that the goals can shift during the span of the relationship as long as they remain guided by the artist’s vision. Our hope is that after this series of regular dialogues with us, you will not only be clear about long-term roles, goals, and objectives for your company, but also understand the action steps you will take and the community you will lean into along the way. Additionally, it is possible that our partnership might expand to include other PURPOSE services and engage PURPOSE as a member of your project’s or institution’s leadership.
Strategic thinking is at the center of all purpose-FULL work. Strategic planning is an organizational management activity that sets priorities, focuses energy and resources, strengthens operations, and ensures everyone is working toward common goals. Our process includes assessment conversations with stakeholders (staff, community members, leadership, etc.) followed by a research and review period during which we prepare to facilitate a Strategic Visioning & Planning Session(s) with your team. While we will define some decision-making practices based on your leadership structure, this will be a time for every voice to be heard. Following the Visioning & Planning Session, we provide reflections, feedback, and suggestions to guide you in implementation and continued strategic practices moving forward.
In addition to PURPOSE collaboratively developing and guiding a strategic planning process, we enjoy invitations to facilitate and document significant meetings for a team or organization. These meetings might be
- quarterly/annual strategic check ins,
- discussions around core challenges within the work,
- retreats planned by team/organizational leadership, board meetings,
and
- other values-centered gatherings.
Once you’ve defined the theme and frames, PURPOSE can co-create the facilitation flow, facilitate the session, and provide notes from the session for reference and follow up. Facilitation can be done in person or virtually and our team is willing to travel as long as accommodations are provided.
Our consultation/training service rates are based on meeting time and frequency and includes reviewing related materials prior to each conversation. These conversations can be framed around a variety of themes aligned to any of the services above along with related subjects such as press release writing, life organization, calendar and time management, and more.
In 2012, months before the naming and claiming of PURPOSE, Nia was in a dreaming dialogue with big sister Marjani Forté-Saunders who named that, “A producer is basically someone who makes (sh)it happen.” This prompted Nia’s vision for a production company. While PURPOSE’s work spans across the stages of a creation vision (seeding, naming, strategizing, activating, documenting, reflecting), setting visions into motion is foundational to our mission. This activation is embodied in our production and administrative support for events, performances, and other engagements.
Our production services range and can be combined to fit the needs of a variety of creative and community projects. Some examples include:
- Rehearsal Management (scheduling, booking, communicating with collaborators, etc.)
- Venue Liaison (communication management, etc.)
- Event Management (visioning support, budget management, partnership development, on-site staff, etc.)
- Production Management (venue communication, on-site staff, etc.)
- Budget and Financial Management (budget development, funds tracking, etc.)
We’re generally prioritizing concentrated administrative and production commitments for projects that last no more than 4 months.
Caring for children is as integral to the support of creative work as any other business-related service. Everyone on our team has some experience with children, whether it be formal babysitting or simply helping out with family. We are not a licensed childcare provider. However, we can connect you with members of our team for one-on-one care at your discretion. We can also support family-friendly events by organizing partnerships with child care cooperatives and other licensed care providers.
PURPOSE Productions defines marketing as storytelling and documentation. We work to guide sojourners in sharing and amplifying the story of their vision which includes: who they are, who supports them, why they’ve chosen this work, how the work happens, what communities they’re engaged with, etc. This sharing also serves as an archive of the journey of that vision.
PURPOSE can offer our expertise as you develop your marketing strategy. These conversations can be specific to certain promotional tools (i.e. social media, e-mail, website management, graphic design, online listings, advertising, etc.) or focus more broadly on how these tools are integrated to support a highly engaged audience. These conversations can also consider how your community is engaged to help amplify the work (i.e. promotional partnerships).
PURPOSE Productions can guide you in the creation and management of your content (organic and/or paid) on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram profiles. For individuals, we can also provide recommendations around supplementary content which would include more personal posts. Strategy and voice are also assessed.
PURPOSE can provide a range of advisement on your e-mail marketing strategy, which can include creating a template and providing you with basic training and best practices for engaging with your online community.
PURPOSE can review and offer strategic feedback on your website to ensure it is eye-catching, accessible, and mobile-friendly while also integrating social media platforms and supporting current design trends and best practices.
