Many arts organizations craft mission statements that promote activities, art, and excellence.  Unfortunately, those things are irrelevant.

“[Theater] presents engaging dramatic work that celebrates the intimate relationship among artist, audience and language.”

That’s not a mission statement.  No surprise: that theater died.

A mission is the unspeakable acme of a societal obligation.  A mission statement expresses that mission, the product of an organizational manifesto, as best it can.

“[Company’s] mission is to create theatre so strikingly original in form, content or both, that it instills in young people an enduring awe, love and respect for the medium, thus preserving imagination and wonder, those hallmarks of childhood which are the keys to the future.”

See the difference? This mission statement discusses the mission’s impact – “preserving imagination and wonder” – as a crucial need.  That’s a supportable argument.