In the original version of the conNECKtedTOO mission statement, there is a sentence which raises questions: “For us collaboration means shared ownership and autonomy not consensus.” This is my reply, an opportunity to open a dialogue. The issue is the relationship of...
There is more behind the word ‘economic’ than Economics! To isolate the study of HOW societies exchange goods and services from that of WHY, WHERE or WHEN has brought us to the one-way / dead-end / no parking-no standing of consumerism.
I once had a friend who objected to Black Americans calling themselves “a minority” because he believed the words played on our minds in a way that led us to believe Blacks were statistically outnumbered the whole world over. “People of color are the majority of the global population,” he used to say. He was correct.
ART & CULTURE IN/WITH COMMUNITY is an outgrowth of the place where it exists.
The conNECKtedTOO team of artists, activists, youth and educators looks like the communities it works with: inter-generational, inter-disciplinary and interracial. The “Collective” model, where members are autonomous, reflects both the identity of causes and the free choice of the means to attain them, as found in any livable social group.
A light-hearted lyricist wrote that “Love and marriage/Go together like a horse and carriage.” So (too) do songs, jingles and social activism. Protest songs can inspire commitment with a powerful line, or a clever turn-of-phrase. The transformational message is accompanied by the melodic music.
When we say TINY business, we refer to all those historic corner stores, barber shops, legal services or restaurants, pushed out by insultingly high rents or the absence of any public policies protective of Charleston’s original work-in / live-in populations.
ConNECKtedTOO, a project of ART & CULTURE IN/WITH COMMUNITY FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, seeks to involve a classification of businesses we have labeled as TINY Businesses.
What does LEGACY mean to you?
Entrepreneurship is an aspiration. Typically the desire to accomplish a dream, a defining way to establish identity. If you are affected with a case of entrepreneurship, don’t run to the bank first. The banker will only apply a coat of cold cash on a mind caught in short cycles of enthusiasm and depression. What is needed is a lot of smart work deciphering the origins, the reasons for so much fidgeting. And then designing plans to end the madness, to accomplish the dream, to blossom.
Certain words have become indispensable to survival in today’s hi-tech society. Darryl Wellington unpacks the concept of “network” and how interconnected we all are.
