Put residents/ people first

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.) People-first is one of its design principles.

We are place-based. We make for neighborhood residents — as residents ourselves of the places we steward.

We center relationship as art. We see and visibilize the beauty of relationships themselves as an art form.

We center “audiences,” not only self-expression. We see synergy in individual creative vision and designing to center our audiences. Our audiences are diverse, including BIPOC, people with 5 minutes or 5 hours, children.

We center joy as fundamental.

Why people first

We have gotten incredibly used to letting end products come before our relationships. We're not going to oversimplify: it's really hard to put relationships first when you've got to get stuff done. If there's a due date, like an event date, we have to meet deadlines, and that means that sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do on timelines that don't accommodate for our sickness, joy, and rest.

But the people we make for and with should still be the center and the point of everything we do. That's why we generally focus on the process over the final product and think of Street Works kind of like anniversaries: not exactly the main point. They are marking moments in a longer journey to strengthen solidarity, one of MJN’s foundation system principles, and to celebrate all of the amazing things participants are doing to support it every day.

Practically, our focus on people over product also means that we distribute income across participants where we can, rather than spending more on production; we prioritize building connection before, during, and after events rather than designing events that look like polished performances. We think about what will benefit local businesses; we think about ways to keep income in mission-aligned community.

In a community that is short on time & money, including us, relationships are hard to foster. We see the challenges and use the curatorial principles to stay true to our purpose.