What We Do
Services We Provide
What We Are

Lateral Strategies is led by Dale Hamilton, Artistic Director of Everybody's Theatre Company and Esther Farmer, former Ombudsman for the New York City Housing Authority. Dale is well known in Canada for her 25 years experience in community building using community engaged theatre in both rural and urban environments. She was also a Neighbourhood Facilitator for Safe & Sound, a three year crime prevention project in the Region of Waterloo. Esther Farmer received national (in the US) attention for her creative community development work and approach to crime prevention in New York City housing developments where she was instrumental in transforming some of the most crime plagued housing projects. She is a published author and a faculty member of the East Side Institute in New York City.

What We Have Done
Samples of Workshops/Presentations/Consultancies done to Date:
  • Community Development Society conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 2003
  • Community Development Society conference, Cleveland, Ohio, 2004
  • Performing The World conference, New York, 2003 and 2005
  • Community Development Society conference, Maryland, 2005
  • Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association conference, Niagara Falls, Ontario, 2005
  • Arts on the Radar Symposium, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, 2005
  • ISH Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2006
  • Medunsa University, School of Community Psychology, Pretoria, South Africa, 2006
  • ASHA Training & Development Trust, Soweto, South Africa, 2006
  • The Centre for the Study of Adolescence, Nairobi, Kenya, 2006
  • Kibera Community Youth Programme, Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, 2006
  • Galaxy Players Youth Group, Jericho, Nairobi, Kenya, 2006
  • Action AIDS (NGO), Kisumu, Kenya, 2006
  • Public Health Agency of Canada, C-Enternet staff training, 2006
  • Community Development Society conference, St Louis, Missouri, 2006 (opening plenary)
  • Toronto Housing Association Tenants, Staff & Resident Training, 2006
What Other's have said about us

"The Lateral Strategies workshop was instrumental in strengthening our team's functioning, inciting creative thinking and pushing us to think beyond our traditional boundaries. Their workshop facilitator's energy and enthusiasm injected a sense of creative energy into our traditionally 'science-bound' team. It was a great success!"

- Barbara Marshall, Surveillance Coordinator, C-EnterNet, Public Health Agency of Canada.

"This workshop was the hit of the conference!"

- Larry Heitner, Tenant Representative for the Toronto Community Housing Company
and delegate to Ontario Public Housing Association Conference

" It's amazing how the workshop got all of us 'stodgy academics' to perform and do things we would normally not allow ourselves to do."

- Ted Bradshaw, Chairman, Department of Community Development at the University of California, Davis

"I think the performance approach used by Lateral Strategies is more appropriate to South African conditions than more orthodox approaches".

- Hanna Nels, Community Development, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

"It was worth the trip to St. Louis for this plenary workshop: We walked in a collection of 200 individuals and walked out a community."

- Dr. Kay Lynn Tettleton, Community Economic Development Agent, Luisiana State University
Other's We'd Like You to Meet
Published Works
  • Twenty Years of Community Engaged Theatre or Why I See Ghosts by Dale Hamilton, published in "Dramatic Action: Community Engaged Theatre in Canada & Beyond", 2006 (www.communityengagedtheatre.ca)
  • Community Development as Improvisational Performance - A New Method for Understanding Practice by Esther Farmer, published in the Journal of the Community Development Society, December 2005 and reprinted in , "Dramatic Action: Community Engaged Theatre in Canada & Beyond", 2006 www.communityengagedtheatre.ca
  • Community Development as Improvised Performance - How a NYC Housing Project Turned Around by Esther Farmer, Progressive Planning magazine, Spring 2004
  • Young People, Performance and Possibility - A Case Study of Two Performance Programs by Esther Farmer, published in Dialogue on Participation, newsletter of the Participatory Development Forum, issue, 3, April 2006, (www.listservpdforum.org)
Contact Info

Esther Farmer
Brooklyn, New York
Tel: 718-856-1788
estherfarmer@verizon.net

Dale Hamilton
Eden Mills, Ontario
Tel: 519-856-9891
daleham@albedo.net