Something that is sometimes mentioned is abandoning hierarchy.
Yet I personally act as an intermediary between the community and certain institutions, like venues. Pretty much only that in fact.
This feels a bit gatekeepery, no?
Which isn’t very open/flat etc - so what gives?
Well, I make the assumption that venues find it easier to work with one person.
So a community can present as many coders in a trench coat, or cats in a bag with one paw, etc
Is there room for abuse here? Absolutely. I could lie, take a cut, deny things, lots of fun opportunity there.
But if it came out that I did that (and it eventually would) there would be bad blood. And we want bad code.
So here’s what I do:
- Act as a minimal filter - if there are opposing wants/ideas then obtain consensus first, limit ideas/requests so the venue isn’t overwhelmed. In practice very little filtering is required.
- If there is something that needs discussing I’ll create a talking point to obtain consensus before going forward.
- I will pass on ideas/requests verbatim as long as they don’t contradict anything. Though rarely required.
- I try to be as open as possible. Financially the two most important documents are the remittance(s) (how much you got from selling tickets) and the invoice (what you got charged for venue hire) - I’ve always shared both - to artists/community within chat groups. I don’t shove them online because sometimes we negotiate good deals and that would make things awkward for venues. The luma guestlist is always public.
- It’s not about control - there’s only one thing I need to be mindful of - my own limits. Everything else is geared towards helping - and helping others - make a great night.
- ensure as many artists play as possible with no judgement no checking for ‘quality’ or even energy - we don’t even check if they’re ‘real’ live coders!
- let people get involved as much as I can and actively encourage them - people are used to things being ‘closed’
- no applications process, make it as easy as possible - while sometimes I ‘book’ people if they need reassurance that it’s happening
- listen as much as possible, ask/gather thoughts and advice
- humans are at their best when co-operating together - the more of this that happens the better the event will be
- if there’s something someone can ’take charge of’ let them without reservation they’ll always do a great job
- obviously always check the vibes - but more important is set the vibes, I find ‘girly’ emojis help the most - tech bros wilt away when they see them
The upshot is that I’m presenting hierarchy to the outside world while being as flat as possible on the inside (community)
This is all an experiment btw.
But even if that is effective, isn’t there still room for unconscious bias?
Absolutely. We can’t strive for perfection. What we can do though is set a high bar for inclusion and good vibes. I’d like to think within dance music, or the tech scene, we’re doing really well on that front. Almost as good as the creative arts in general?
Hmm sounds a bit hand wave-y, do you have any numbers?
No. Not yet at least.
What else?
- Encourage and support people to do other events as much as possible - the more ‘gatekeepers’/‘stars’/intermediaries the better!
- Also if I feel I’m using the opportunity for self-aggrandisement I try to balance by bringing others up too. Like when I printed out QR codes for everyone because I wanted to make my own. I’m not sure anyone scanned them.
- I only picked up from where others had left off. Sure I added my own (as Alex McLean says) ‘opinionated’ way of doing things. (nothing radically different really) - others are continually picking up the baton - like the AlgoChill that portal_.aura is organising.
This all sounds very noble, why?
Because my goals are: fun, creativity/expression (doing and witnessing), nerding out and socialising.
I believe that openness and care in organising helps achieve these. Seems to be working?
I also like to feel responsible in how I give to the community, as a source of pride.
There is a danger that I overstretch myself. So I constantly need to make sure I don’t do too much and help others do more.
We want the world to be a better place, but we need to interface with it as it stands right now. This can mean compromises, but we do what we can, right?
hang on a minute, why don’t you ever collaborate with people more closely on events?
well I have - I worked with Nilly for the Palestine A/V workshop which went well. However it was Nilly’s vision, I was more of a support role. My model is - people do events - and then support each other - sometimes its okay to have stars - in fact its when you try to smoosh everyone together that you get the tyrannical stuff
Let people play their roles. its a complicated dance but its working?
One thing we could look into is guest setup-ing? guest hosting has been great for meetups.
That would involve per event - on a rotational basis - responding to TCS tech/event setup email, specific artist tech support, taking projector/mixer/etc to venue by 4-5pm, mounting/testing two projectors, plumbing in mixer, making sure sign is outside/on door, helping set up screen and tables, other misc small tasks, tech troubleshooting, leading meetup part if no one else is doing that, helping with changeovers, checking in with artists pre/post performance, overseeing running order, getting too hot/excited (optional), packing everything up at the end then taking it home. It’s a seven hour shift, minimal breaks.
I would want to see it done well, cos my neck is on the line with the venue. No Moderate pressure
I should take this opportunity to say again:
I’m not doing everything - in fact most of what makes the night great comes from others. I’ve found a part I can play though, which is cool.
In my previous post I talked about getting paid. I’m serious. The community will let me know if they think that’s fair. It won’t happen suddenly. It might never happen.
We’re feeling our way forward, in good faith and with goodwill.
I don’t really know what I’m doing, I’m trying to be an artist, I’m building community, I’m doing my best really :)
Sometimes I even feel apart from the scene. But then that makes it healthy? That we all have our own things going on?
In short, we’re really lucky.