CHAOS THEORY.
Arts as intervention.
Chaos Theory uses the arts to connect community members who have been impacted by the cycle of violence with stakeholders, policy makers, and the public.
We believe the arts are uniquely positioned to facilitate reflection and engagement, shift hearts and minds, dismantle harmful stigmas, and to inspire vital public dialogue—with the voices of those impacted leading the conversation.
Chaos Theory facilitates a platform for community members to lead the way forward in reimagining what is possible—to work with stakeholders, policy makers, and experts to find new ways of innovating the system in order to pave a better way for their children.
WHO OWNS THE STORY?
Who decides which stories are told, and who hears them?
And who benefits when some voices are hidden?
Violence is a public health crisis.
Violence spreads like a disease.
Violence is a cycle—most perpetrators are also victims.
Merely criminalizing the individual does not treat the disease. We must apply proven treatment methods to prevent, intervene, and rehabilitate.
The treatment must be as aggressive as the disease.
The intervention must be as aggressive as the dysfunction.
Individuals who have been part of the problem must be given an opportunity to be part of the solution.
Perpetrators and victims of violence know most intimately how it works. They know the conditions that cultivate it, how it spreads, and the devastating impact it has on the individual, family, and community. They know how violence multiplies if not treated.
Not only must these individuals be included in the conversation—they must be given a seat at the table in considering how we can best move forward.
We welcome everyone to the table—community members, law enforcement, city stakeholders, medical experts, the school system, social services—to listen, collaborate, and explore intentional and innovative ways forward.
Those at the heart of the violence are the ones who can stop it.
Community members who have been impacted are the true experts.
How do we treat the disease? Start by listening.
Chaos Theory facilitates raw, uncensored storytelling. We examine underlying root causes, health disparities, and opportunities for intervention—through the lens of personal narrative.
Community members maintain complete control over their own narrative: what they share, how they share it, and where it goes.
Live performance and film screenings are followed by talk-backs. Audience members have a chance to ask cast members questions directly, facilitating vital public dialogue.
Here, the voices of those who have been directly impacted lead the conversation—those in traditional positions of power are invited to ask questions, listen, and learn.
Rearranging.
Restructuring.
Why Chaos Theory?
In order to find solutions, we have to stare the chaos, messiness and discomfort of reality in the face; hear the good, bad, and ugly, admit our own biases and blind spots, and listen to those who have been through it. Only then can we consider how we got here—and where to go next.
By listening to the whole story—the before, during, and after, and the why—we’re invited to question and rearrange our own internal beliefs, judgments, stigmas, and thought patterns. We’re invited to question what’s working, and what isn’t. From there, we must be open to rearranging and restructuring our social systems, programs, and institutions so that they may better reflect—and deal with—reality.
To create new order out of the chaos, we must be critical about what isn’t working, take accountability, challenge ourselves and one another to be better, dismantle ineffective systems, and explore innovative ways forward.
We reject the one—dimensional narratives and stigmas that are perpetuated against men and women at the heart of violence. We reject defining any human being by the word ‘criminal’ or ‘felon.’ We celebrate the humanity that persists in the midst of—and in resistance to—the darkness.
In order to create a treatment that is as aggressive as this disease, we must be willing to rearrange.
“Do you think anyone will listen to what you have to say?”
“Definitely not.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m a troubled youth.”
“Do you think you’re a troubled youth?”
“No. That’s just what everyone calls me.”
“What would you call yourself?”
“A human being.”
