Our Mission
Bridge Live Arts creates and supports equity-driven live art that centers artists as agents of change.
Our Story
Founded in 2007 as Hope Mohr Dance (HMD), we expanded in 2010 to include The Bridge Project, an activist curatorial platform that built community among artists across genre, geography, and perspective. HMD/The Bridge Project made the intentional transition in 2020 away from a founder-led, hierarchical structure. Our new shared leadership structure features co-directorship over programs, a reimagined Board of working artists, and a paid curatorial Artist Council.
In 2022, as a reflection of our organizational shift, we announced our new name: Bridge Live Arts (B.L.A.), developed through a collaborative process with a team of creatives and input from our larger artistic community.
Change happens when we move together.
As B.L.A., we continue to present performance, embodied practice, and public dialogues that embrace social justice. We draw from the wisdom of our bodies and our dance lineages to support movements for greater equity. We find joy in deepening inclusivity in our organization. We experiment with different permutations of leadership and employ financial transparency to fuel and grow artist power.
Our Values
We value the wisdom inherent in all bodies. We celebrate the embodied expression of people of all different abilities, with different bodies, and from different cultural traditions. We value sensation as a teacher and moving as a form of thinking. We honor the innate value of dance.
WISDOM OF THE BODY
We believe that dancers and dance makers should have a seat at the table in cultural and political conversations. We put dance in dialogue with movements for social change and with other artistic disciplines. We value socially engaged dance.
DANCE IN DIALOGUE WITH THE WORLD
We believe that artists must play a central role in creating an equitable and just society. We believe that artists are uniquely qualified to effect change and envision a better future.
ARTISTS AS VISIONARY AGENTS OF SOCIAL CHANGE
We believe in the inherent value of creative process. We believe in including audiences in conversations about art. We believe that difficult conversations are a generative space. We believe that creating spaces for debate, dissent, connection, and collaboration builds inclusive and resilient communities.
EXCHANGE
We aspire to become a fully inclusive, multicultural, anti-racist organization in order to contribute to a transformed society. We are committed to anti-racism work as an ongoing, never-ending practice.
ANTI-RACISM
We work toward racial, cultural, and aesthetic equity through our public programs and internal structures.
We believe that no one is free until everyone receives what they need to thrive.
EQUITY
