The Occupy Movement, Systems and Arts and Culture

Couple Questions:

I have been busy lately and have not had much time to put together a coherent post. But there are a couple things I am struggling with right now:

The occupy movement: I get it, 99% vs 1%, but what is camping outside of banks going to do? There are more productive ways to get things done. This leads in to my second issue:

Systems: A mentor to me made the point that systems are great at collecting resources to keep the system going, and they are good at protecting themselves from losing those resources. The people who have the resources that the system needs to continue benefit, while those who do not have the resources, are pushed aside.

I know that one person benefiting does not mean that others are being pushed down, but no attempt is being made to help them start to benefit more. We need to create new systems, which represent and collect resources for those who are currently excluded. They need to be able to sustain themselves, while supporting those who need it, and still be able to rival the existing systems. It is a big ask, and I don't know how to do it. the resources of the 1% might be immense, but so are the resources of the 99%. So there needs to be a way to pool all that, and create a significant impact.

Arts and Culture: The Arts and Culture community is, almost by definition, incredibly varied. That is its greatest asset and also its greatest weakness. No one wants bands who all sounds the same, or artists which paint the same picture. However, this differences also mean that every creative person has different ideas, different priorities, different audiences and different needs. This makes it almost impossible for arts and culture to pool their collective influence and importance so that they can have a stronger voice.

I was at a meeting recently where a group from the arts and culture community were talking about what they think needs to be done to grow the arts community. The discussion struggled with how we reach to people who are not currently coming out to our events. Primarily this focussed on the lack of youth at the meeting and at their events.

Tom Borrup discusses here about how people are most engaged when they are respected for who they are, what they believe, and what they bring to the table. I think currently the youth and their artistic interests do not feel respected and therefore they are not going to be engaged with the culture of, as they perceive it, the older generation. There needs to be a shift, as Borrup indicates, towards practicing the idea of cultural equality and not privileging one group or form over another.

Too often it is thought that the youth, or any other group which is not participating in the established culture, needs to be educated about the importance of the arts. Once they are educated then they will come, we just need to tell them why to come.This superiority attitude needs to change, or else that art which people are fighting so hard to keep alive is going to be lost for good. Someone needs to remember the youth when we talk to the community, they may not be the current community leaders, but they are the future leaders.

Instead I think we need to be looking at what these other groups are doing and looking for new creative to combine their different creative interests. Creative ways where all forms of art are treated equally. Globalization and technology are making it easier and easier for different cultures and different ideas to come together, so why don't we embrace that? Have a little respect for each other and together we can do so much more.

Cheers,
Michael