[p2p-research] Building Alliances

Fri Nov 6 15:32:04 CET 2009

HI Kevin,

I absolutely agree that you have the right intuition here, and that this is
a very fruitful way to argue for partner state models regarding 'free
cultural spaces'.

Perhaps phoebe has encountered such arguments in her labour research?

Michel

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 6:28 PM, Kevin Flanagan <kev.flanagan at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hey Paul,
>
> State support for the arts is common in europe.
> Im most familiar with the Irish and UK Arts Councils.
> Im not advocating further state support for 'artists'.
> Im interested in putting together an strong argument for state support
> for free culture and hacker spaces.
> Using already in place institutions and infrastructure such as arts
> councils.
> I support the idea of a basic income for all.
> But Im suggesting what I see as a practical and achievable short term goal.
> If we could specifically get these institutions to recognise the
> social value and put in policy the importance of commons oriented
> production for free culture and hacker spaces then maybe in time we
> can get the state to recognize the value and importance of commons
> based production on a broader scale.
> Lets get these arts councils to expand their remit to support
> specifically free culture and hacker spaces.
> Surely we can show how the skills developed in hack labs are useful
> and transferable and worth state economic investment. Hacker spaces in
> in disadvantaged communities could be a great outlet for young people.
> I dont have time to look up a good links at the moment because I have to go
> now.
> For example it would be nice to see some research on how Brazil has
> got on with its effort in supporting acces to digital technology.
> Brazilian minister for digital culture Gilberto Gill supporting the
> creation of 650 cultural spaces giving citizens access to computers
> cameras to share music and culture.
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9786370-7.html
>
> Ok Im off for now.
>
> Kevin F
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 6:07 PM, Paul D. Fernhout
> <pdfernhout at kurtz-fernhout.com> wrote:
>  > Kevin-
> >
> > As I see it, more support for the arts is a good idea, but a
> half-measure.
> > As you say at the end, we could look at expanding it to all sorts of
> commons
> > production, but it is hard to judge what is "worthy". A "basic income"
> for
> > all is probably a better general solution than trying to decide what
> > projects a person wants to do are worthy of support. References:
> >  http://www.basicincome.org/bien/aboutbasicincome.html
> >  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
> >  http://www.usbig.net/whatisbig.html
> >
> > A basic income just for "artists" is possible:
> >  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income_in_the_Netherlands
> > but in the end, is a mother or father any less an artist for helping
> sculpt
> > a young life than someone who works in clay and sculpts statues? And, it
> is
> > hard to judge a person's worth or a project's worth at the time. It may
> only
> > become clear 1000 years later if something is "worthwhile". And besides,
> > worthwhile to whom? Maybe it is enough that an individual's life is
> > worthwhile to themselves?
> >
> > For me, a big changeover point is if everyone could get laws about a
> basic
> > income passed everywhere. So, rather than have artists fighting against
> > mothers and fathers and mimes and songwriters and so on over who should
> get
> > the most subsidies, we have both working together, as an alliance, to
> have a
> > basic income for artists, mothers, fathers, writers, journalists, mimes,
> and
> > everyone else, even rich CEOs.
> >
> > It's been said:
> >  http://quotationsbook.com/quote/31495/
> > "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor,
> to
> > sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread. "
> >
> > Well, a basic income, in its majestic equality, allows both the rich as
> well
> > as the poor to paint local bridges, to mime in the streets, and to give
> away
> > home-baked bread. :-) Maybe financially obese people won't want to do
> those
> > things compared to poor people who know how important those things are,
> but
> > with a basic income, rich people could. :-)
> >
> > See also:
> > "[p2p-research] Basic income from a millionaire's perspective?"
> >
> http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-August/003949.html
> >
> > Is it possible you could make some freely licensed art about that issue?
> :-)
> >
> > --Paul Fernhout
> > http://www.pdfernhout.net/
> >
> > Kevin Flanagan wrote:
> >>
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> It was great to finally get to meet some of you in person at media
> >> ecologies.
> >> I have some suggestions and questions regarding building alliances
> >> that Id be interested in thrashing out here on the list.
> >> My question here is how can we incentivize government to support the
> >> building and protection of the commons?
> >> My suggestion is this -
> >> As an artist Ive been involved in and worked with several artist led
> >> organisations. Most of these organisations could not survive without
> >> government subsidy through bodies such as arts councils. Naturally
> >> there is pressure from government on arts councils and hence on
> >> artists and arts organisations to be accountable for this investment.
> >> In order to receive financial support artists and arts organisations
> >> are required to fulfill certain criteria to prove the social value of
> >> their work. So the better an organisation is at proving the social
> >> value of their work the more likely it is that they will receive
> >> support. This means that lots of artists end up working to governments
> >> agenda through Public Art and Community Arts projects. Maybe this
> >> sounds a bit harsh but sometimes I think of community arts as a kind
> >> of goverment funded social band aid for disadvantaged communities. The
> >> criteria for funding are usually that such projects support , social
> >> inclusion, multiculturalism, intercultural relations. Often what is
> >> produced in the creative process if immaterial affect so its not
> >> always easy to show how these arts projects fulfill these criteria.
> >> What Im wondering is can free culture centers, hack\fab labs, maker
> >> clubs, do this better. I think so. The added advantage of such centres
> >> is eductaion in transferable skills. Goverment likes transferable
> >> skills that help peoples job prospects. Whether in electronics,
> >> programming, media. Some research into how the EU and UNESCO promote
> >> social inclusion through culture would be useful. Are these policies
> >> IP biased? Can we as advocates of free culture and the commons propose
> >> ammendments or new policies that incentivize governments to provide
> >> financial support for free culture spaces, hack labs and to recognize
> >> the intercultural importance of the shared commons oriented production
> >> of these spaces? Any ideas who might already be working on this?
> >> Existing models perhaps that can be used as examples?
> >> How might dialogue about the commons interface with current thinking
> >> on multiculturalism? Does breaking down financial barriers to entry
> >> promote social inclusion locally, nationally, internationally? Of
> >> course but how do we measure this?
> >> I dont know how this sounds or even if its interesting but I thought
> >> Id just put it out there.
> >> Maybe the the current system of support for the arts is one to look at
> >> expanding for supporting the commons based production? Maybe alliances
> >> can be built with existing cultural organisations?
> >>
> >> Best
> >>
> >> Kevin F
> >>
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> >>
> >>
> >
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