Co-create
Street Works applies MJN’s 3 values — justice, loving care, and solidarity — to make justice normal in the cultural asset ecosystem. (Read more here about why we're focused in this particular program on the cultural asset ecosystem.) Co-creation is one of its design principles.
We co-create with audiences and commit to authentically sharing power with audiences as an embodiment of democracy. (Collaboration with fellow artists is also important but not the same thing.)
We design processes as art forms and accept that final “products” might not be seen or might be collectively owned by many.
What do we mean by co-creation?
We're all familiar with looking at a painting on the wall, watching and/or listening to a musician, dancer, or actor on stage, or passively absorbing art and culture. Many of us have also seen arts that are more interactive. Maybe you can touch the object or climb on it. Maybe it responds to you.
Co-creation represents a third, often overlooked art form in which the participant isn't just interacting with an object, song, or performance; they're changing it. While the artist might be critical to design, they are not really the sole author of the final work.
Why do we prioritize co-creation?
We love taking in artwork as receivers of ideas. But the established presenters of the cultural asset ecosystem are dangerous arbiters of cultural value, and that cultural power is usually in the hands of a very small group of people who are influenced by money. With their colonial histories, museums have reinforced racist worldviews, dehumanized other cultures, and contributed to wealth gaps. Still, 60% of arts funding went to 2% of large museums in 2017. All of these things go against characteristics of just systems.
Co-creative arts aren't a magic cure, but they are one way to bring the practice of justice deeper into any medium — from sculpture and film to painting, curation, and institution design. They push the creator to center and share power with the audience and accept that the outcome will probably look somewhat different than you wanted.
It seems like a small thing, but this is how we get close to feeling democracy as a joyful act. We witness our actions contributing to a collective thing that has its own beauty. It's creative, fulfilling and fun. It might be a little bit hard, but not so hard to be out of reach. And that object is precious, in a totally different way.
This is a gateway to bigger democratic action. Those of us that are jaded by democracy can build our own sense of power in small acts that can get bigger. If we design the right feedback loops and build positive connection throughout that process, it's a hop, skip, and a jump to seeing civic actions as an art form.
