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About Us » Organizational Model, Governance Style

The organizational structure of De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre Group is a hybrid model that has evolved out of the merging of the standard Western European Professional Theatre Model, and a governance style that is rooted in community cultural belief and practice. The effectiveness is confirmed by the healthy growth, clear artistic outcomes, and lasting contributions to all levels of the Aboriginal Arts Infrastructure in Canada – from advocacy and policy making to human resource development, to defining and expanding the art form.

Professional Aboriginal artists should be able to comfortably move back and forth between the cultural home community and the mainstream. The challenge here is that traditional values (cultural community) and contemporary values (mainstream) are at odds, and collide within the individual artist. In one place he/she is expected and encouraged to become a part of the community, to be equal to all others, and in the other pace, he/she is expected and encouraged to rise above and to stand out from the others. Where does the artist belong? How can the artist be honoured in both situations, within both worldviews?

It has been the recognition of this deeply rooted contradiction that has encouraged the Staff and Board of Debajehmujig to forge its own path and to create its own niche within the national theatre industry. It has led to the definition of an alternative pathway for Aboriginal artists to emerge, develop, and thrive – by determining processes and building relationships that nurture both artist and community, so that they grow closer together instead of farther apart. It has meant that the company will choose performance and dissemination activities that serve to empower our artists and build relationships, rather than place them in situations in which they are judged and assessed by a sector of society that does not, at its very foundation, hold the same values and world view.

The company is viewed as a living organism – multi dimensional, complex, living, ever changing, and in relationship with all other things in its environment and ecology.

Job descriptions, roles and responsibilities are determined and designed to emphasize the strengths and skill sets of the individual employee, to build confidence and employee loyalty. The accumulated history/experience with the organization of the current full time staff is 135 years.