2025 Commitments: A Work In Progress

January 17th, 2025 | By Alex Meda

I am, for the first time ever, struggling to put cogent thoughts together in developing Luna's annual commitments. Usually the clarity is there and it's an exciting race to capture it all. It generally looks like a fountain dangerously overflowing.

I don't know if it's because this is the first time doing this activity having recently named that sunset for Luna is on the horizon in a few years. Or, if my own personal life is just so hectic and full at the moment that I can't see the forest for the trees yet. Or, maybe it's just that I haven't finished all the planning I'm eagerly waiting for at our Brunch and Bloom vision board workshop to dig into.

Either way, setting these commitments still needs to start because there is nothing worse than a single rushed planning session being your guiding rubric for an entire year. Slow, intentional, thoughtful, iterative planning is necessary— especially when the way forward is still foggy. So, we have some plans, but they don't become real until we have crystal clear commitments, values, and objectives. Because otherwise its just a list of activities that don't have the kind of depth that makes things special. That makes it for us— oh so Luna. You want to hold on to something that will still move and inspire you— ground you and keep you in alignment all year, quarter, month- whatever time frame you are working with, am I right?  

Without this- the chaos of life will push you around like a kid waiting in line for a ride at Disney.

Sometime last year, around summer we laid out our plans through 2028 and realized we were building towards what will most likely be a sunset year (fingers still crossed for a life changing event that shifts sunset to just a new sunrise). 

So when I think about the projects laid out for completion- for dreaming, producing, and sharing— I NEED to think about the picture objectives each will drive forward in the global Lunaverse. The how and why do we think these projects live our mission and vision for building a space for women of color to run towards failure as a necessary part of the artistic process. What kind of high-value learning and healing spaces and dialogues do these projects need to generate? How are we changing ourselves and each other through the work? How do we manifest our values in every decision?

Last year, I feel most of our energy was focused on breaking out of internal mental hurdles and patterns we had unfortunately fallen into due to the literal horrors of the pandemic on the performing arts field as well as the internalized oppression that sometimes gets blown up in this field we call Latinx and ensemble based theatre. 

I think we made some serious progress. Of course there is still much to do to truly move into an abundance mindset and getting louder about who we are, what we do, and how special this community is. But progress for sure.

So what is the big hurdle I want to just absolutely destroy this year? I'm starting to understand through writing this that it is about moving again with an audacity and boldness that was present in how I led in my 20's and early 30's but with the lessons and wisdom I hold now. At that stage it felt like Luna could accomplish anything with the right ensemble in place. I was ravenous for Luna to break boundaries, to make in new ways, and to prove… well to prove we deserved to survive at any cost.

But, breaking boundaries looks different now. There is nothing to prove, because that is a wasted energy. And we are already enough.

Luna deserves to be unadulterated in its ambitions. 

Untamable in its desire and opportunities, but through ease rather than anxiety.

We will stand on experience and intuition rather than fake it till you make it energy.

So, maybe not in such stark contrast with my other big commitment for the year: peace and an absolute fuck you to chaos. Chaos in our systems, our structure, you name it. I want ease. I want peace. And I want to only be doing things that bring me joy. 

I keep saying yes to things and people and projects out of a sense of responsibility, service, and people pleasing and it is distracting to the big seismic transformative work that requires more focus.

So we aren't ready to release our full 2025 commitments or our 2024 report card as planned yet. But we do want to share a little taste of where we are at- because drafts are fucking sexy.

2025 Committments: Draft 1

1. We are all in on big ideas.

2. We will be obnoxiously loud and proud and audacious.

3. We will move in peace, we will move towards joy, while we squash chaos bit by bit. We focus on bite size accomplishments that build to mountains at the end of the year. Because this is the only way we know towards doing more than you are resourced to do, without it costing your mental health.

4. We won't make a decision that doesn't center woc artists and support woc creative entrepreneurs to shine.

5. We will finally truly start living by great is good and done is better. Read: Finally launch all the podcasts we've recorded but not edited!

6. Go harder than ever on teaching, listening, learning, and providing value that isn't just behind a paywall.

7. Filling our space weekly with love, laughter, journeys towards healing, community, and creative development.

8. Raise some serious money, because we have released the stupid, stupid shame we were holding.

These are draft commitments that need shaping, editing, and curating. This isn't our project plan or our season announcement; it is a commitment to a way of being. A set of principals that will help guide our thinking, and decision making as individuals, as a collective, as administrators, as producers, and curators, and all the other roles we hold.