Our brains are still cookin'!

What happens when the lemming doesn’t run off the cliff?

It keeps thinking. It becomes a non-lemming?

FURTHER DETRITUS TAKEAWAYS TO PONDER (from the ERPA: Next Gen Debate):

1. Digital natives versus Digital immigrants? (Sarah A.O. Rosner: often the immigrants have the most impact on the culture itself!)

2. The widening gap in the haves and the have-nots (Mathew Heggem: the open source revolution that must be paid attention to!)

3. Social media is still in the womb! (Mathew again!)

4. Marketing is changing in leaps and bounds! Do you still even need or want an old-fashioned paper review in the NYTimes? If you have a Board and institutional funders do you need these kinds of validators to prove your worth?

5. Pina Bausch didn't blog and look at her! (uh, uh, uh??)

6. Do audiences differentiate between "experts" and non-experts? Who/what drives your audiences ticket buying/donation practices?

7. Authority! It is all changing so fast. Who are the gatekeepers now?

8. Generation gaps? Sarah A.O. Rosner: “my brain is developmentally different from yours.” Social media changes the game. We engage differently. We create our identities differently now (online!). We are different.

9. "Why aren't they commenting on my blog post?" Because one minute they are commenting on your blog and the next on Facebook and the next on Twitter and the next on......It's not just one place and it's not just your place. Follow the bouncing verbiage......

Isn’t it amazing what cooks when you leave the pot on the stove?

Are you a hyperlemming?: Reflections on the ERPA: Next Gen Hypermedia Debate

You have to blog. You have to be on Twitter. You have to get friends on Facebook. Now.

No you don't. You are not a lemming. You have free will. Think about it and make strategic choices.

FIVE THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT HYPERMEDIA (or how not to be a lemming):

1. From the effervescent and salty-throated Matthew Heggem: hypermedia is not new! Just like so many things that "we" think "we" discovered. Hypermedia was coined in 1965 by Ted Nelson. 1965!!! Where were you in 1965? The real question is: what are we going to do with hypermedia now? The debaters pushed for conscious and strategic choices about blogging, tweeting, etc-ing. Who are you and why are you doing what you are doing? Is all that work impacting your goals? What are your goals? Think about it. Don't be a lemming.

2. From the articulate and sage Eva Yaa Asantewaa: “you can use the "I" without writing from the "I"”. Both Eva and Wendy Perron brought their years of writing experience to the debate. They encouraged (uh, demanded?) that young writers NOT use the first person when writing a review. It takes a rigor and a muscularity to write from the wider perspective. (And yet it seems most blog journalism is all about the I—as I am demonstrating here!)

3. From the assertive and sassy Brian McCormick: he is an early adapter (adopter?) of social media tools BECAUSE he is innately and organically a network kind of guy! He's a teacher. He likes to connect the dots. Social media is all about networks. So it works for him without struggle and pain. But many of his artists/clients are struggling because it isn't innate for them! So he has to work around that: even if the artist isn't into Facebook or Twitter etc., can they use these tools to their advantage? Does it help them achieve their goals? (Don't be a lemming part three!)

4. From the self-identified maximalist Sarah A.O. Rosner: creating a dance and writing her blog posts and Facebook updates and marketing her work is all the same decision-making process! It is all part of her choreographic and aesthetic development. (Wendy Perron and Ms. Rosner have had some heat on this matter in the past and it sizzled at Abrons!)

5. And from the cool and astute moderator, Kay Takeda (of the LMCC): strategy strategy strategy. She told me later that the paradigm is shifting for her! Hypermedia is shifting it! She didn't think it was! But it is!

Now, watch out for that cliff!

...But you saw that coming. You're not a lemming.

OURGOODS: Why is a significant amount of labor considered "outside" of the economy?

“What is often called ‘the economy’ (i.e. wage labor for a market exchange of commodities in a capitalist enterprise) is but a small set of activities by which we produce, exchange, and distribute values in our society. What about an economic politics that allows us to think creatively and to start here and now to make new economies? We believe that other, more just and ecologically sustainable economies are possible. Everyday people in everyday places can be part of re-thinking and re-enacting economies.”
-Community Economies Collective

For the past two years, I’ve organized Trade School (a popular education program where students barter with teachers) and OurGoods.org (a barter network of creative people) with collaborators Rich Watts, Louise Ma, Jen Abrams, and Carl Tashian. Both projects demonstrate the social nature of exchange and have been met with an enormous amount of generosity and enthusiasm. What is the larger context for these barter projects? Something called the solidarity economy, the social economy, the intentional economy, or "community economies".

Activists, households, and artists alike participate (knowingly or not) in diverse, community economies. Taking care of others, volunteering, cooking, and making things are all valuable activities that involve production, exchange, and distribution. While this labor is not tracked or calculated via GDP, it is as crucial to the function of society as any paid job. The dominant economy runs on a scarcity principal that does not serve creative people well. Most artists are motivated by a combination of curiosity, risk, craft, a desire to speak truth, produce beauty, and gain community respect- not monetary gain and atomized self-interest. We participate in economies of abundance, where respect is harnessed between peers. This does not mean that artists should not be paid (we should demand payment!), or that money is antithetical to creative labor, but it does mean that the artists who continue to work "for free" (in exchange for exposure, respect, passion, etc.) should spend more time thinking through the diverse economies that they participate in.
For example, SolidarityNYC promotes “people over profits” by mapping and connecting NYC-based worker co-ops, time banks, barter clubs, CSAs, land trusts, open source projects, and other commons initiatives that foster values of mutualism and cooperation. As a broad platform for grassroots economic initiatives, SolidarityNYC has introduced me to people who make more change in the world with less personal recognition: social workers, facilitators, holistic healers, activists, and community-based economic development leaders. Connecting with these people has helped me see how much artist collectives can learn about consensus decision making, re-distribution of opportunities, and the power of organized self-management within a culture of interdependence.

Is this all too abstract and theoretical? Well, here's some direct suggestions for dealing with a non-monetary exchange:

#1) Bartering is an experiment in value.

What is a fair exchange? You two decide. Time, money, effort, or mutual support can be used to gauge what’s fair.

#2) Get information.

Look at their profile/ratings from other users, Google them, and trust your gut.

#3) Be clear.

Speak up and be specific about ...

• needs: what do you need?
• haves: what can you give?
• skills: how much expertise do you have?
• time: how much time do you have? how long will this take?
• deadline: is it fixed, negotiable, or not important?
• outcome: is it specific or flexible?

#4) Keep the dialogue open.

Communication is key. “I don’t care” can mean “I feel uncomfortable”—be brave.

(Tips taken from the updated OurGoods.org barter process).

Stop Giving It Away for Free!

Collective Arts Think Tank (CATT) gets catty again with a rousing "Follow Up Letter to the field: small steps and current issues".

Some of my favorite blurbs are:

"Artists are stuck at the bottom of this food chain."

".. stop giving it away for free. THE ARTISTS need to recognize their own power, and use it. Control the supply; create demand; stop investing time, energy and money in pursuing empty opportunities. Art is a profession; and artists who do not get paid are not professionals. Period."

The letter includes steps we've each taken in our organizations and in our personal lives to change our relationship to money and power. It certainly isn't easy but if we really want the arts economy to be different, we gotta make it happen.

What steps are you taking to change your own economy and relationship to money?

Full disclosure: I am proud to be a part of this gaggle of artists, admins and presenters which includes:

Vallejo Gantner, Artistic Director, Performance Space 122
Aaron Landsman, Artist, Thinaar
Sheila Lewandowski, Artist & Executive Director, The Chocolate Factory
Carla Peterson, Artistic Director, Dance Theater Workshop
Brian Rogers, Artist & Artistic Director, The Chocolate Factory
Morgan von Prelle Pecelli PhD, Anthropologist, The Lost Notebook

MAKE SOME NOISE!

From the indefatigable Norma Munn at NYC Arts Coalition:

Time to Speak Out

State budget negotiations are moving, sort of. Both the Senate and the Assembly are in the process of producing their versions of the budget. (That will give us three versions, for those who wonder about this process.)

After those additional two versions, the Assembly and the Senate are supposed to start meeting in conferences between the various committees of each legislative body. If the announced schedule is followed, those conference committees start on March 15.

Time to put some extra effort into convincing the Assembly and Senate members to restore $2.8 million to the State Council on the Arts. (Note: please refer to NYSCA as the State Council on the Arts in these communications. Experienced staff recognizes NYSCA, but not everyone has been there long enough to know the all the abbreviations.)

What you can do:

Go to http://artsNYS.com and send an email or letter to your Assembly and Senate member. (No later than Friday, please.)

If you choose the email option, send a letter on your letterhead to your Assembly and Senate member, scheduled to reach them no later than March 15. (Fax is fine.) Brevity is greatly appreciated.

Call their office on March 14 or 15th, and leave a message that you are asking them to support restoration of $2.8 million to the State Council on the Arts.

Contact two offices of the leadership, also on March 14 or 15th:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, phone 518-455-3791. Fax is 518-455-5459, if you prefer a letter; speaker@assembly.state.ny.us if you prefer email.

Majority Leader Dean Skelos, phone is 518-455-3171. Fax is 518-426-6950, if you prefer a letter; Skelos@senate.state.ny.us if you prefer email.


We simply are not turning out enough messages, so please don’t assume that someone else will do this. And please keep these phone, fax and email addresses. This is likely to require some follow up.

AND, PLEASE, pay your membership renewal dues. Form attached. No letters being sent this year. Everything is via email. Call or email if you have questions, but FYI, member dues are 95% of our income, so it is truly important that you support us. Thanks.

Norma P. Munn
Chair
New York City Arts Coalition
809 West 181 St., #163
New York, NY 10033
212-246-3788 (phone) 646-688-3672 (fax)
information@nycityartscoalition.org

new models again? innovate shminnovate!

Good conversation on the failure of our thinking on new art/business models over at Arts Journal. I added my three cents. Add yours.

Should we dump the 501c3 model as some Brits are suggesting?
What would it really mean to be a social enterprise?
Do most artists/companies really think that they are charities? That they are doing something deeply valuable to our society? really?

Care for our Government

Dear fellow performing artists,

Last Tuesday, with a nudge from the Field, I participated in Arts Advocacy Day with the goal of asking for a reduction in cuts to the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). The day went by quickly. It began at 7am on the corner 33^rd and 8^th where I found my fellow arts advocators and we boarded two busses, a big one and a little one, bound for Albany. I really had no idea what the day entailed, but hoped I could be a good soldier and do what I was told. I have learned that when the Field staff points me in a direction outside my comfort zone, it’s generally a good idea to go.

We were briefed on the bus by Norma Munn from the New York City Arts Coalition. Read Norma’s orientation to arts advocacy on the IT Foundation blogspot, http://nyitawards.blogspot.com/.

Norma passed out packets that included team assignments, a list of talking points and a series of 20-minute appointments with legislators. We were, apparently, divided into small teams that were going to spread out over the LOB and actually speak to people one-on-one. She tried to assign us to representatives from our own boroughs, to the largest extent possible. Arts consultant Anne Dennin, would my team leader and we would be joined by Joyhdae Albert from Harlem Arts Alliance, and Nicole Sealy from Poets & Writers.

My team, while walking, came up with our “pitch”. Anne would start, in a friendly way, by explaining the impact of the proposed cuts to NYSCA and making the modest ask. Then she would turn to us for examples of why NYSCA is critical to what we do. Joydae would talk about what the Harlem Arts Alliance is doing as a re-granting agency. I would then speak as an individual artist who has benefitted from other local re-granting and service organizations funded by NYSCA, namely Brooklyn Arts Council and the Field. And Nicole would bring it home by talking about the readings and workshop programs that Poets & Writers was doing in the legislator’s home borough.

Our talking points were created in conjunction with the state group, Arts NYS. Their site is a great resource to learn about the proposed cuts, for facts about how the arts sector fits into the economy as a whole, and to send messages to legislators. We learned as we went along how to talk to people. It was an active, energizing day, frustrating only in that there seemed to me to be huge missed opportunity in the lack of voice from artists.

Today, our unified message was: Please cut us a little less than is proposed. Arts stimulate the economy and create jobs. I thought—here we go again defining ourselves in terms of anything but art … the economy, jobs, education. Even the Arts NYS button seemed to be having an identity crisis, as it tried cram together several visual messages that might appeal to legislators aligned with different issues. It read “ARTS=JOBS” and depicted a fourth grade girl holding up a heart. The message I got was “ARTS … ‘N’ CRAFTS!” There was nothing artistic about it. I am grateful that somebody was making buttons for us to wear, but we were all jealous of the cool marriage equality buttons that read “I DO” in big red letters, so my team picked up those and wore them around too.

I wished that I could invoke Arlene Goldbard, who beautifully conveys the necessity of art on its own terms. It made me wonder, “Where are the artists on Arts Advocacy Day?” The bus seemed to be full of program staff from different organizations and not the artists themselves. Playwright Rogelio Martinez was there. He gave a great speech at the press conference that closed the day. You can read here on ART NY’s Facebook page.

It was so simple, and so necessary to communicate with legislators, but as an artist I have not always understood my place in the system. We are used to defining ourselves by our aesthetic, or our discipline, or our individuality, and not as a workforce or as a group of constituents. From spending time with the lovely Audra Lang on the ride up to Albany on Tuesday, I know there are about 2200 of us that the Field serves. NYSCA needs us more than we need them right now. If you are now jealous of me, and wish you had joined, here’s a way to make your voice heard. Just come to the Field starting Friday and pick up a stack of pre-stamped cards, write down your name and your artist-occupation, and pop them in the mail. Or email me at theproducer@avantgarderestaurant.com.

Until we have distilled our voices into a new message, let’s join the message of the day. Here’s what I’m asking you to say:

ARTS = JOBS

February, 2011

Dear [Senator/ Assembly member So-and-So],

I am a(n) [Occupation: playwright, painter, dancer, musician, etc.] from [Borough].

As an artist, I am part of a workforce that generates approximately $25 billion and 200,000 jobs for the state of New York each year. I contribute to our economy and quality of life.

I am writing today with a modest ask: Reduce the cut to the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Aid to Localities budget from 10% to 2%, and reinstate $2.8 million to NYSCA. Governor Cuomo’s proposed cuts will disproportionately affect NYSCA, slashing the agency’s already stretched grants budget of $35 million by 10%. NYSCA expends 88% of its entire budget in grants to arts organizations and has already lost 30% of that allocation over the past four years. Another 10% reduction will shake the infrastructure of the arts community.

Artists are real people. We make wise use of limited resources, and we give back to our communities exponentially—in dollars and in inspiration. Please protect New York’s investment in the arts and preserve our ability to do our good work in the future.

Your sincere constituent,

[Name, Address]