A Note From Nicki Kahnamoui

September 25, 2020

PuSh is a cornerstone of Vancouver’s arts community. It provides a vital platform for emerging artists to establish their voices and careers, for established artists to thrive and share their vision, and for patrons to be enriched, challenged, and moved by the best of contemporary performing arts.

As someone who deeply values the arts for their ability to imbue life with depth and meaning, I am honored to be part of a group of people who are supporting PuSh at this juncture, specifically as the organization examines its structures and processes to forge a new path forward, one that will strengthen PuSh and serve as an example of how self-reflection and accountability can be harnessed to make meaningful organizational and systemic change.

Over the last 4 weeks, I have been humbled to listen to and learn from the stories, insights, and reflections of PuSh’s staff and board as well as the advisory group. Together, we have drafted the guiding principles that will direct this organizational review process and shape the renewal of this indispensable organization.

In the coming weeks, we will be deepening the organization’s self-reflection as we learn from the experiences and insights of former staff and board members in order to reimagine PuSh through a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Decolonization, and Inclusion) lens. 

A central principle guiding this work is transparency and accountability to you, the PuSh community. I have worked together with the PuSh staff to create a webpage to track the progress of the Organizational Review and to invite your feedback. Please check this page for updates on this work, and to share your ideas, hopes, and concerns throughout the process at pushfestival.ca/organizational-review.