Beyond Binaries, Toward Commonwealth
Connections exhibit at the MIT Museum
Approximately one month after starting my first full-time job, I found myself in Boston: sampling hors d’oeuvres, sipping wine, and rubbing shoulders with leaders and innovators in the media and arts field.
The Commonwealth Conference was, from all angles, a new experience for me. I heard from and engaged with representatives from organizations like Free Press and Art21, whose work I had only followed online until then. I was also immersed into the behind-the-scenes world of social media. I never really considered when, what, why, and how I use Facebook-- I just do. Little did I know that there is a science to this: when to post to receive the most traffic (mornings and before lunch), what to post (relevant and informational with a shot of personality), and how to capitalize off all of it (still trying to figure that one out).
I'm a bit skeptical of the rhetoric surrounding social media as an equalizing force. Blogs, wikis, and networks like Facebook and Twitter have certainly opened up a space for rapid exchange of ideas—for some people. But when forty percent of people in the United States don’t have Internet access (a number that can be compounded by the even greater global digital divide), we find that the “commons” is hardly a commons at all—but actually a very small, elite minority. Although the tools and rhetoric have shifted, traditional hierarchies are as much a part of social media as they are a part of the rest of society. Social media hasn’t cured social ills; it has alleviated some and aggravated others. It has the potential to serve as a true commons only if we work actively to make it so.
With that in mind, I was also interested in the ongoing discussion of mainstream and public media as mutually exclusive, polar opposites (mainstream=bad, public=good). I attended a workshop in which one of the panelists, Marc Bamuthi Joseph of Youth Speaks, asked who in the audience considers themselves to be mainstream. No hands went up. He went on to explain that his organization seeks to bring traditionally isolated voices- those of youth, largely of color- into the mainstream.
This brought up a point that I had been mulling over throughout the conference: we can only disassociate ourselves from the mainstream once we have had the opportunity to participate in the first place. Youth, people of color, and low-income communities are still fighting for seats at the table. As profit-driven and top-heavy as the mainstream may appear at times, it remains a powerful platform that needs to be engaged in order to improve. Furthermore, the vilification of mainstream media distracts us from self-criticism—what qualities of the mainstream do we inhabit, what can we keep, and what do we need to discard or change in order to grow?
I had the opportunity to tour a youth arts program called Artists for Humanity (AFH), which stands out in my mind as one example of an organization that incorporates mainstream and public models in order to move toward a more progressive framework.
At AFH, youth are commissioned artists. They are leaders in the business, governance, and creative processes of their work. AFH has plenty of corporate sponsors, but it also boasts a 100% renewable energy green building, hosts events promoting fair trade and environmental justice, and employs primarily youth and people of color. An immediate need like youth employment is addressed through the current structure of applying market values to art and receiving corporate dollars. On the other hand, a progressive power structure provides underserved youth with the tools that they need in order to be architects of a more just and inclusive future.
By no means do I think that this is the best or only model, but it is certainly unique in its ability to bridge seemingly disparate worlds. The rejection of a dichotomous paradigm and its replacement with nuance and creativity, an eye on the needs and opportunities of today and the future—this is what commonwealth is all about.
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Donna Choi
Online Community Manager
NAMAC
