An Art Club Because Community Is A By Product Not A Product

As I've been thinking about this space and what I want it to be I've been stewing on the term community. For the past 17 years I've called myself a community organizer and will continue to for the rest of my life but not everything I do is community organizing. I believe community shouldn't be a business model because it's a necessity for humans and shouldn't be behind a paywall. It's something that organically emerges from being being in proximity to each other and needing support in our lives. If that is turned into a commodity as the final phase of this economic game we're playing it will lead us down the continued path of disconnection. I believe community will evolve out of this space but that will be a result of the authentic connections made in here and sincerely hope that they aren't just transactional in nature.

The events that I consider community organizing in my creative work are events that don't have a cover and really more about getting people together that allow connections to emerge at their own pace. The events I do that charge a cover are important but they're different then the ones that are community focused.

With this in mind I'm going to be calling this a club and not a community. It's going to always have a free access tier and my sellable products will be my poetry, workshops and events. As of now I've got two events that I'll be producing the get the club activated.

The two events will be virtual. One is an open mic and the other is an artists support group that is a space to connect and share what's going on in our creative journey. I'll have the details for the first one's next week.

I want this space to be a place where we can help each other on our creative journeys. Artists always do it better together. If anyone has an offering they would like to bring to the table my ears and heart are open.

Let's build something amazing together.