**Our VALUes guide our decision making, are a map of what we stand for, and connect our intentions and actions from the smallest to the largest levels.**

We offer these VALUes as guidelines for VALU CO-OP members, and for anyone who engages with VALU CO-OP as clients, visitors, or collaborators. Our VALUes help us stay accountable to ourselves and to our community, remind us of who and what we are working for, and why. They inspire us to continue this work with integrity, generosity, and care.

Download Values (pdf)

OUR VALUes

#1

Our VALUes, Mission, Vision, Rules, Policies, and Code of Conduct are living documents—we continue to learn and unlearn as we strive to do better.

#2

We acknowledge and honour that our work takes place on unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, and we strive to be in solidarity with Indigenous struggles for sovereignty, the return of stolen land, and reparations for past and ongoing systemic oppression.

#3

We are committed to transparent and democratic decision making processes, and maintaining respect for individual autonomy

#4
⁠—
**We strive to be connected and accountable to ourselves and our communities, through challenging injustice by embodying self-reflection, patience, and flexibility.**

#5

We celebrate and draw strength from our differences.

#6

We have an ethical responsibility to share resources, redistribute power, and use our artistic practice to serve our communities.

#8

At the heart of this initiative is a deep knowing that artistic practices possess transformational power to enact meaningful change.

#9

We strive to create inclusive and safer spaces, with meaningful consent; recognizing that this process is continuous and ongoing.

#10

We aim to source materials and supplies produced ethically, and which uphold environmentally sustainable practices.

#12

We formed our co-op with the understanding that we function within late capitalism—it is our job to actively transform this system by developing non-hierarchical processes, collective decision making, and sharing resources.

#13

We build through generosity, and reject the mentality of scarcity.

#7

We embrace a radical and critical understanding of who is an artist and what is valued as creative practice or cultural work.

#11

In our mission to end neoliberal, colonial, and capitalist exploitation, we take an intersectional approach. We work to dismantle systems of oppression including white supremacy, cis-hetero-patriarchy, and ableism.

Our VALUes guide our decision making, are a map of what we stand for, and connect our intentions and actions from the smallest to the largest levels.

OUR VALUes

#1

Our VALUes, Mission, Vision, Rules, Policies, and Code of Conduct are living documents—we continue to learn and unlearn as we strive to do better.

#2

#3

We are committed to transparent and democratic decision making processes, and maintaining respect for individual autonomy

#4

⁠—

We strive to be connected and accountable to ourselves and our communities, through challenging injustice by embodying self-reflection, patience, and flexibility.

#5

We celebrate and draw strength from our differences.

#6

We have an ethical responsibility to share resources, redistribute power, and use our artistic practice to serve our communities.

#8

At the heart of this initiative is a deep knowing that artistic practices possess transformational power to enact meaningful change.

#9

We strive to create inclusive and safer spaces, with meaningful consent; recognizing that this process is continuous and ongoing.

#10

We aim to source materials and supplies produced ethically, and which uphold environmentally sustainable practices.

#12

We formed our co-op with the understanding that we function within late capitalism—it is our job to actively transform this system by developing non-hierarchical processes, collective decision making, and sharing resources.

#13

We build through generosity, and reject the mentality of scarcity.

#7

We embrace a radical and critical understanding of who is an artist and what is valued as creative practice or cultural work.

#11

In our mission to end neoliberal, colonial, and capitalist exploitation, we take an intersectional approach. We work to dismantle systems of oppression including white supremacy, cis-hetero-patriarchy, and ableism.