Our Mission

HMS Media endeavors to generate broadcast and digital content for, with, and about the arts and social issues, striving to create programs that will change, charge, and empower our collaborators, their audiences, our communities and ourselves.

Our Vision

Through careful, collaborative and imaginative execution of our mission, HMS places the tenets of ensemble and improvisation at the forefront of our process, facilitating teams of artists and craftspeople to embolden them to produce work that codifies the beauty, power, and essential nature of the arts and social issues, the sectors they generate, the workers they employ and the people they inspire.

Our Values

We are improvisors. Yes, we believe in making plans, and we are also more than ready to respond when things change. Avoiding attachments to specific outcomes is how we triumph when schedules are altered, the weather takes a turn or a pandemic strikes. We every change presents an opportunity, so we improvise the scene we’re in, not the scene we wish we were in.

We are an ensemble. We’re a team. We depend on and believe in each other. We are accountable to and for each other. We listen to each other, and show our respect by avoiding saying no, and not settling for yes, but instead saying “yes AND.” In other words, we strive agree and contribute so that we can explore and heighten.

We will practice gratitude. We believe there is always an opportunity to say “thank you” to someone every day, so we do it whenever we can. It’s a great way to be encouraging and kind.

We will be here, now. Whether we’re on location, in an edit suite or in a meeting, we will be present to this project. These collaborators. This idea. This day.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

HMS Media is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

In the spirit of YES AND, we continue to immerse ourselves in listening and learning. We believe that observing Illinois law and engaging in annual anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training is not enough. We also proactively and responsively work with our vendors, clients and collaborators and as board members and advisory board members for outside organizations to explore the essence of EDI work and take actions however we can.

The need to learn and evolve never ends, and so we will never stop. We encourage and appreciate our team members raising questions and sharing comments about our culture whenever they see or feel the need. We have faith that the collective sum of our individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that our team members represent a significant part not only of our culture but also our reputation and achievements.

 We believe in a culture built on the premise of diversity and equity that encourages and enforces respectful communication and cooperation between all team members; teamwork and active participation, permitting the representation of all groups and perspectives; and work/life balance through flexible work schedules to accommodate team members’ varying needs.

 We embrace and encourage our team members’ differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, sex, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, and other characteristics that make us all unique.

Equal Employment Opportunity

HMS Media is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with applicable law, we prohibit discrimination against any applicant or team member (including contractor) based on any legally-recognized basis, including, but not limited to: race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, childbirth or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), veteran status, military status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.

Our commitment to equal opportunity employment applies to all persons involved in our operations and prohibits unlawful discrimination by or against any team member, including management and freelancers. This policy applies to recruitment, hire, promotion, discipline, separation and all terms and conditions of the employment/contractor relationship. 

No Discrimination and No Harassment

HMS strongly believes that each of us should be able to work in an environment free of discrimination and harassment. To this end, we prohibit and will not tolerate unlawful discrimination or harassment. Period.

Consistent with the Company’s policy of equal employment opportunity, we will not tolerate discrimination or harassment in the workplace against applicants, employees or independent contractors based upon a person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, childbirth or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), veteran status, military status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law. We have adopted this policy which prohibits discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment, and provides a procedure for handling related complaints.

Policy Against Discrimination

It is a strict policy of the practice to treat all employees, applicants and independent contractors fairly and without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, childbirth or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), veteran status, military status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law. This applies to the independent contractor relationship and to all employment practices, including recruiting, hiring, salary or rate of pay, performance reviews, training and development, promotions and other terms and conditions of the employment/contractor relationship.

Policy Against Harrassment

It is HMS’ strict policy not to tolerate any form of harassment, joking, remarks or other abusive conduct (including verbal, non-verbal, or physical conduct) that demeans or shows hostility toward an individual because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, lactation, childbirth or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), veteran status, military status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law, and that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or otherwise adversely affects an individual’s employment opportunities.

Harassment is verbal or physical conduct designed to threaten, intimidate, or coerce, and which impairs an individual’s ability to perform their job. Harassment includes verbal conduct such as threats, epithets, derogatory comments, or racial or ethnic slurs; visual conduct such as derogatory posters, photographs, cartoons, drawings, or gestures; physical conduct such as assault, unwanted touching, or blocking normal movement.

We’re on location a lot, so for us, “workplace” is not limited to the office. It includes the location where an employee or contractor is assigned to perform duties. It can also be a client’s office, a restaurant having dinner/drinks with clients or colleagues, on business travel, the office holiday party, or even at home on a personal computer.

Of course we work in the arts, and the arts explore all aspects of behavior and society. So, harassment does not include exposure to professional, lawful visual or audio content from productions for which HMS has been contracted to provide services, which is part of our programming, or discussions of this content.

HMS abides by the State of Illinois’ mandate that all businesses, by they mega-corporations or one-person shops, engage annually in licensed anti-harassment training. That way, if any of our employees or contractors have concerns regarding an assignment, not only are our team leaders here to listen and accommodate the best we can, our HR attorney is here for them as well.

Policy Against Sexual Harrassment

Among the types of harassment HMS strictly prohibits is sexual harassment.  We feel it’s vital that we dedicate extra time and space to define what this is and declare how vitally important it is that we, our staff and our contractors understand these ideas and behave accordingly.

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and certain other verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct which is sexual or based on gender if that conduct could reasonably offend another person, whether or not such conduct was intended to offend.

Sexual harassment is demeaning and harmful to the employment relationship and to one's ability to carry out one's job duties.

Sexual harassment may include verbal harassment, including jokes, comments, whistling or “cat calls” or threats relating to sexual activity, body parts, or other matters of a sexual nature.

It may also include non-verbal harassment, including staring or leering in a sexual suggestive manner, sexually related gestures or motions and/or displaying or circulating sexually explicit, offensive, or Suggestive graffiti, objects, pictures or other materials

It might seem obvious, but it needs to be said: sexual harassment may also include physical conduct, including grabbing, holding, hugging, kissing, tickling, massaging, touching a person’s clothing or hair, displaying private body parts, unnecessary touching, blocking or impeding a person’s path, or other unwelcome physical conduct.

We also think it’s necessary to declare that any employment decision (including decisions involving hiring, promotion, demotion, compensation, scheduling, performance review and/or discipline up to and including termination) made by a supervisor based on the employee’s submission to or rejection of sexual demands also constitutes sexual harassment.

Finally, we believe that sexual harassment includes any other sexual conduct that unreasonably interferes with another person’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment or adversely affects another person’s employment opportunities.