AS220 - More Lessons from Rhode Island

When I was up in Providence last week for the SEEED Conference, I went on a backstage tour of AS220 - an artist community that redeveloped three blocks of DownCity into a vibrant live/work/eat/create district. With N+J, we got to see and hear the gritty from Umberto Crenca; Founder, Flaranutist and Artistic Director and Susan Clausen; Founder, Property Manager and Teacher. We went on St. Patrick’s Day night, and it was as rowdy a group as you could hope for - but so diverse: Hipsters with fixies, businessmen in suits, frat boys with backwards caps, old hippies jamming on squeezboxes while waiting for a table at a restaurant, post-punk punks with strollers, techies, posh gay men, posher Latina women, and us — a couple of tourists.

AS220 started out as a collection of avant-garde artists living the bohemian dream; squatting and creating experimental art in warehouses. Green Day played at their space before anyone cared. Today AS220 owns three historic buildings and operates apartments, “cottage industries” or creative-entrepreneurial workshops that generate income, music and theatrical venues, a youth program, and leases space to retail/restaurants and offices. The organization and the spaces it manages plays a critical role as urban “third space” for social interactions. With the upcoming National Symposium on Cultural Districts coming up here in Station North, Baltimore - it might be good to scribble my notes.

Stick to your values: I feel that there is a false comparison between financial solvency and “selling out”. AS220 is a mature organization with a board, real estate, relationships with private and government partners, and cash but it has not “sold out”. It remains committed to its core values of providing an accessible, uncensored, unjuried, diverse home for the arts in Rhode Island. These values shape all the decisions made by the organization from who gets a studio, which bands play, to what companies are sought after to lease their storefronts. According to Crenca, “We are guided by an agenda, and that agenda is as much diversity as possible.” Thus the mix of visual and performing artists in the same building. Residents range from teenagers to a woman in her 70’s. The organization is structured specifically to mix all races, classes, aesthetics and viewpoints together. Values are not words on a mission statement but are actively lived through how staff treat each other, the expectations of the community, projects and programming.

When you have a clear articulated set of values, your organization has the freedom to make strategic decisions to further, not contradict, your mission. This includes saying no to some growth opportunities, but also expanding in unexpected ways. You need to know what you are standing for before you can figure out how to stand for it.

Work the system:  Non-profits and artists are always complaining about a lack of resources for our endeavors and great ideas. Crenca, who is described in one biography as someone who is equally dedicated to independence and ‘troublemaking for its own sake’ mastered the dense bureaucracy and politics of state and local government (and Rhode Island is not a particularly easy state to do that in), historical tax credits, zoning laws and organizational management to build a small artistic empire that serves an estimated 50,000 people a year.  AS220’s capital includes the skillset to find resources, and dismantle the barriers that would otherwise prevent it from accomplishing its mission. Learning how to work the system doesn’t compromise artistic integrity but expands it.

Get the right people for the right jobs: An interesting and probably controversial element of AS220’s organizational structure is the flat income policy (prorated for part-time positions). Meaning that the guy pouring your beer or teaching kids makes the same pay as the Executive Director, and CFO. Such a policy means that people are motivated to do this work because they choose to be part of this community, and they love what they do. A lot of orgs contend to be flat, but such a policy really enacts it. If you are great with soundsystems and awesome at booking bands you’ll probably end up doing just that - if you are great web developer and could make a ton of money, you are probably there because you’d rather be working at AS220 then anywhere else.

Get off the teat:  Very few artistic venues even dream of being able to rely on attendance to break even. Much less one that runs a program serving at-risk youth, and refuses to book gigs based on economic draw. AS220 runs a series of “cottage industries” including a darkroom, letterpress, digital hack labs, game design program, restaurant and classes — these are all income generating (along with the below market rate apartments and retail renters) and allow them to operate without exclusive dependence on philanthropy and grants. By diversifying your income base, your organization not only provides value to your community, creates jobs, builds resumes, and is sustainable but also provides goods and services.

Work with neighbors: One of the most remarkable lessons from AS220 was how they worked with existing retail and landowners to make sure they were included in the community that was growing up around them. This deserves it’s own research and blog post… so in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy a little Flaranute.

Back in the days of yore— 2008 or 2009, when Twitter was new and everyone was trying to figure how to use it  - my employer sent me to SXSW Interactive to figure out what other non-profits were doing with this newfangled gadgetry. (No Joke: “How much would installing Twitter on all employee’s computers cost?”) This was a watershed moment for me, it was first time I was really exposed to the tech industry and their way of doing things and has influenced most of how I view the communications, interaction and design forever after.  I also met Andy Carvin of NPR and Twitter Journalism fame, who explained the finer points of digital etiquette to me.

Me: Excuse me, how does one choose a hashtag?

Andy: Hashtags only work by consensus.

Meaning, you all have to as a collective group agree to talk to commonly understood hashtag. If you stubbornly stick to another hashtag that noone else is using then you are participating in a lonely conversation and missing out on the flow of knowledge and eventually the point of it all. Usually hashtags are defined by:

The most influential person in the conversation: The speaker on the panel/organizing body of the event, the person within the conversation that everyone wants to hear from, or the loudest/most talkative voice.

Organically - perhaps its obvious: #SOTU or has spread via networks: #Snowmageddon

Definitions work the same way. They can be top-down, used by a influential voice that you cannot ignore, or refined by the crowd - but ultimately, everyone has to agree that it means the same thing, and refers to same set of discourses. Those within the conversation share the same basic set of assumptions, and can explain it fairly uniformly to those outside - #SOTU is about the State of the Union, not a super-creepy Italian Production Company.

Defining Social Design has been the sticking point for me in my research this year. I am frustrated with the lack of definition - and it seems based on the writings and numerous panels at conferences so is everyone else. Even Wikipedia doesn’t know. The definition is crowdsourced.  Yet, after all the conferences are held and crowdsourcing occurs, there are no firm conclusions - no wrap up that everyone decides to stick to. This allows the term to be used to serve everyone’s agenda, and simultaneously devalue to the term as it serves noones. As part of my thesis exhibit, I am trying to find every published definition of Social Design. I’ve started a Google Doc so feel free to add any you find, or comment.  Criteria - must be published online or in print. Maybe a explicit definition ie: social design is… or implicit such as consultancy named “Social Design” that specializes in a certain field.

Social Design Definition Google Doc

remmmy:

We had to watch this in my Design Theory class as a refresher about plagiarism. I love how Norwegians pander to how they imagine young people like things and their amazing production quality. I think this is a great example about of a self-aware University poking fun at itself and the cliche of creating content for young people by imagining their aesthetic and interest just makes you seem even more disconnected. A problem for media campaigns for everything from sex-ed and drug use to products.  “Young people love boobs! And heavy metal bands! And Charles Dickens!” 

(Source: remyoldblog)

It’s a personal obsession of mine to move away from “innovation” just being a synonym for technology. Adding e- or i- or m- before something does not nessacarily make it “innovative”. So here are a few of my favorite low-tech solution and approaches to major challenges.

“What allowed the nurse to render that reassuring diagnosis was a remarkably simple, brief and inexpensive procedure, one with the potential to do for poor countries what the Pap smear did for rich ones: end cervical cancer’s reign as the No. 1 cancer killer of women. The magic ingredient? Household vinegar”

Thinking About Exhibits. Just had a great brainstorming with Cameron Zotter about interesting (and doable) ways to exhibit my research in a gallery. We came up with all sorts of fun experiments. See his current work with drills and crayons. The best of both worlds.

(Source: remyoldblog)

“How Creativity Works”, Jonathan Lehrer speaks on NPR about his new book, Imagine. I always knew bathrooms were the secret of imagination.

kalimatkalimat:

DOSSIER: Art+Design

If you’re in the DC area, make sure to catch Kalimat’s Creative Director and Editor Danah Abdulla’s lecture regarding the state of contemporary Arab design.

This course will discuss the state of contemporary Arab design from across the region and its diaspora. It will showcase new initiatives and practices that move away from the stereotypical Arabesque and geometrical patterns, often associated with the Arab region, and presents the works of designers and agencies who are looking at Arab culture in new ways.

Just came back from a great three days up in Providence, Rhode Island and Brown University at the Social Enterprise Ecosystem and Economic Development Conference.

Hosted by Social Venture Partners, the conference was a refreshing take on how to create a regional economy that both encourages social enterprises and how these entrepreneurs can be a real driver for job creation, innovation (in the best sense of the word), talent creation, attraction and retention. There are a bucket of lessons that Baltimore could apply from the best practices that Providence as a city has created about building an ecosystem for social enterprises. Thank you to Kelly Ramirez and the uber-professional volunteer team for brilliantly executed conference.

Highlights

I loved that all the vendors were local social businesses. It was an amazing marketing move for the whole state, and I became an overnight fan of so many products and companies including Yacht Club Soda, Providence Granola Project, Bristol Harbor Baking Mix and will follow up the next time I need anything made with AS220 (a whole different blog post).

The keynote speakers hit the spot. Each speaker had a unique perspective to share but yet had a strong connection and narrative with the other speakers and theme. It was a great representation of the public/private/academic and non-profit sectors.

Christopher Gergen, CEO of Bull City Forward a concerted effort by the City of Durham, NC to create a creative culture in which the city is a magnet to cluster great minds, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs to build a diverse and thriving economy. A remark that Christopher made that really resonated was that without the intentional planning of a strong system means that young entrepreneurs looking for a city build and test ideas will “blow away to more fertile grounds”.

Tracy Palandjian, CEO of Social Finance Inc. spoke about a completely groundbreaking idea (way over my algebra-failing head) about Social Impact Bonds which allow private investors to judge the risk of social program’s success, with governments only paying on programs that are proven to work - thus all the risk falls to the private sector and all the reward to the public sector - The opposite of what happened with the big bank bail outs.

Also, it was great to learn about best practices about teaching design collaborative projects from Chris Bull, professor of Engineering at Brown who has been co-teaching collaborative projects with RISD aimed at impacting neighborhoods in Providence. And Manya Rubinstein, editor of the new Outpost Journal - focused on the creative and creative social impact scenes in second cities. She just published her first edition on my hometown of Pittsburgh, and will be coming to Baltimore next.

Critique

There was a lot packed into two days, but there were several thematic conversations that I was surprised were missing:

The obvious: There were very few conversations, although there was acknowledgment, that there was a limited racial/socioeconomic/and political diversity in the field of social enterprise- I would have loved to learn how to create a ecosystem that encourages diversity and encourages entrepreneurial leadership from within communities of color. Until that is achieved in the sector, there is still the uncomfortable acknowledgement and practitioners must tackle with issues of paternalism. In one conversation, a participant mentioned that she would be happy to pay an extra dollar for product created that also provided a social good, and while I think that is a valid sentiment, it reenforces that social good products are created for an elite market that has discretionary income to make purchases based on a narrative that makes them “feel good” and supports an outside community. We need to move away from this, and create social impact enterprises that serve communities both as consumer, opportunity provider, and entrepreneurial leader, such as Grameen’s Danone One project which fortifies yogurt with micro nutrients, creates jobs in the community and is cheaper than other competitive yogurts.

A tangentially related question I raised in the fellowship panel, was what happens to all the people who do not self-identify as social entrepreneurs for the high competitive fellowships and training programs? It’s precisely the people who do not realize this is an industry that can be of value who have the most to benefit from the skills and frameworks of these very thoughtful learning opportunities. While the panelists and moderator were all in agreement that this was worth exploring, I wasn’t really satisfied with any answers.

B-Corps and Accreditation: I’ve been reading about B-Corps and Buy with a Heart (one of the sponsors of SEEED) but is accreditation really the answer? I would have loved to heard more about what accreditation means, and what alternatives are, and what the impact of new tax regulations and statuses are. I’m following up with the Aspen Institute this week to learn more about the research on this as applied to the Mid-Atlantic region.

Overall, an excellent and inspiring weekend - topped off with a detailed backstage tour of AS220 with Bert Crenca and Susan Clauson, to see how the lessons of their success can applied to our emerging Station North Arts District.

A few months ago, we had our first Open Pitch, a collaborative event with Ben Peterson, Jessica Ladd of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Jack Hirsch of Carey School of Business - This brought together graduate students from throughout Baltimore to showcase and pitch projects that ranged from alternative after-school programs, biomedical devices that can be produced for a $1, to Aggie Toppin’s groundbreaking Thesis project. It brought faculty judges from all three schools to give feedback on design, business and social impact and drew over 100 people to the MICA’s BBOX theater.

I think it’s time I start that East Baltimore Street Fashion Blog.