NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the sixth episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” You can find it and all episodes at iTunes along with miaaw.net’s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie Hope, and many guests, focusing on cultural democracy and related topics. You can also listen on Soundcloud and find links to accompany the podcasts. We hope you enjoy the episode and invite you to tune into our next episode in which François and I explore the uses of story, both hits and misses. It drops on 16 July.

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My husband’s and my media consumption definitely has gone up during the pandemic, to the point that we may have actually run out of engrossing British mystery series. From time to time, we leaven our escape with actual learning in a desperate attempt to preserve our self-respect. Lately, three programs have succeeded. All three are on paid services, but we found them worth watching and if you have the cash, I expect you will too.

New Deal for Artists is a 1979 film narrated by Orson Welles. It features both archival footage and interviews with then-surviving artists (e.g., John Houseman…

NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the fifth episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” You can find it and all episodes at iTunes along with miaaw.net’s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie Hope, and many guests, focusing on cultural democracy and related topics. You can also listen on Soundcloud and find links to accompany the podcasts. We hope you enjoy the episode and invite you to tune into our next episode which drops on 18 June and features Jade Campbell and Erin Walcon of Doorstep Arts in Torbay on England’s southwest coast.

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Last week, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of the City Artist Corps, a $25 million initiative that will give around 1,500 New York artists funding this summer to mount “performances, public artworks, pop-up shows through New York City’s Summer Rising program, new murals and canvasses, and more,” according to the official press release.

Officials cited the 1930s WPA (Works Progress Administration) of the New Deal and the 1970s CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) arts program as their inspirations, naming artists as “one of the hardest hit communities during the pandemic,” and lauding “the transformative power…

NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the fourth episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” You can find it and all episodes at iTunes along with miaaw.net’s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie Hope, and many guests, focusing on cultural democracy and related topics. You can also listen on Soundcloud and find links to accompany the podcasts. We hope you enjoy the episode and invite you to tune into our next episode which drops on 21 May and features cultural organizer Denise Johnson of Baltimore, MD.

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In the second and…

At around 2 pm this past Sunday, 20 year-old Daunte Wright, an African American man, drove through Brooklyn Center, MN, with his girlfriend in the passenger seat. A few miles from where Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, he was pulled over for the what the police said was an expired registration. Kim Potter, a long-serving white female police officer, ran Wright’s information and discovered a warrant for his arrest for having missed a hearing on a misdemeanor gun charge. When the officers attempted to detain Wright, he pulled free to get back into his car. In the bodycam footage, a…

I recently heard a member of the Idaho Nez Perce/Nimiipuu say that if you have the sense of having lost something, you should gaze in that direction and it will come toward you. I’ve been trying to gaze in the direction of democracy.

People mean a million different things by democracy, but it seems there are two main categories. To most people of the contemporary left — including myself and others who advocate cultural democracy — the underlying democratic impulse is egalitarian. Democracy is when everyone has a voice, not just a vote. Impediments to full participation must be removed…

NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the third episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” You can find it and all episodes at iTunes along with miaaw.net’s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie Hope, and many guests, focusing on cultural democracy and related topics. You can also listen on Soundcloud and find links to accompany the podcasts. We hope you enjoy the episode and invite you to tune into our next episode which drops on 16 April.

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Clare Reynolds is a cofounder and co-Artistic Director of Restoke (the other is…