Core Values

Suspended Animation is an idealistic organization. 

We hold ourselves to a consistently high standard. 

We are here to make the world a better place.

We do that by having fun.

We also do that by promoting and modeling our core values.

When we fail to live up to our own standards...
we take responsibility for what went wrong 

and work hard to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

This is how we have fun, make ourselves better, and make the world better.

This is how Suspended Animation works.

Professionalism

We are professional in everything we do. We take pride in doing consistently excellent work. We do this intentionally, and it is difficult. We carry our share of the load so that others won’t be forced to carry it for us. We show up when we say we’ll show up and do what we say we’re going to do. We prize technical excellence. We learn, continuously.

We always operate in good faith. We assume that others do the same until proven otherwise. We consistently treat others with kindness, courtesy, and consideration.

We believe that our community needs a multitude of educators, performers, and organizations. We strive to inspire, create and support them. We welcome opportunities to collaborate with other people and organizations.

Safety and Consent

Kink has ample potential to cause both physical and emotional harm. So, we are relentless about best practices around safety and consent.

We strive to practice and model excellent consent in our personal lives as well as at SA events. We are committed to ensuring that everyone who visits us is safe and respected. 

We thoroughly investigate all allegations of consent violations.

We have no tolerance for malice or carelessness in the treatment of other people. At the same time, we believe that most people are well-intentioned and that many injuries are the result of good faith errors. 

While we take safety and consent seriously - we don’t use them as weapons.

Under Pressure

Before, during, and after the Burning Man event, we experience situations where we are under pressure. When we encounter challenging situations, we assume positive intent. We strive to be kind, composed, and intentional even when things are going badly and we are in conflict with others. We practice checking in with oneself - including emotions, body sensations, thoughts and self-regulation (or asking for help). 

Being gracious and spacious with one another are bedrocks of community - we’re in this together - we GOT each other. 

Grace includes assuming positive intent. Space includes giving and taking time to process. Grace and space make everything, including conflict or emergencies, a bit easier.

WE are in this TOGETHER. 

We will not avoid all difficult situations. We strive to navigate them with grace and space rather than drama.

Although the word “drama,” has a common definition - at SA we have a specific definition that informs our values.  

For us, “drama” is creating or catalyzing discord. It may look like lashing out at others or assuming the worst of others. It’s about me, and my problems, right now. In short, drama is a word we use when a person’s behavior is making difficult situations worse than they need to be. We abhor drama.

Handled maturely and respectfully, none of the following are drama: having a bad day, having a respectful disagreement, choosing to avoid another person’s company, being upset about a breakup, mourning a loss.

We are a low-drama organization: we believe that the ability to navigate difficult situations with grace and space is fundamental to getting things done. 

We behave maturely and treat others with respect no matter how strongly we disagree with them. 

Inclusion

We aim to be inclusive of all people who share our values. We welcome members and visitors of diverse races, genders, sexualities, ages, body types, abilities or other attributes. We recognize that our membership is not as diverse as it could be and we are committed to improving. Sometimes inclusivity is best served by having events that cater to under-represented groups, and we occasionally hold such events.

We are a gender, sexual, and relationship diverse organization. 

This is no place for homophobia, fascism, racism, sexism, hate! We have zero tolerance for bigotry of any kind.

We are not, however, radically inclusive in the Burning Man sense, when it comes to camping with us: not everyone is a good fit. We strive to not be rude or unkind, but we are selective about who we associate and collaborate with.

We believe that representation is important and we invite a diverse team of instructors, riggers, models, and leads. 

We endeavor to use inclusive language at all times.

We believe inclusion is critically important and we work hard to make our organization and our events inclusive and welcoming. We acknowledge that we fall short of our own ideals and view inclusion as a work in progress for our organization, as it is for society and for the kink community at large.