Found it! is an occasional blog series by ArtsPond Founder, Jessa Agilo. In this article, Jessa shares her perspectives and a call to action to support the creation of an open glossary or knowledge base related to key terms and concepts in arts and culture-led social change and care. The featured image is a draft pentagram of issues related to digital precarity and injustice.
Over the past year, I have been gradually working on the creation of a knowledge base or glossary of terms and concepts related to arts and culture-led social change and care. As a living resource in the creative commons, it is meant to stand on its own with an open invitation for contributions from the community.
With this in mind, we could use your help! Would you be interested in offering some advice or support on a specific subject while it is being written or perhaps being a review reader when it is ready? We have a small number of honoraria available especially for content creators or wise reviewers that are Indigenous, Racialized, d/Deaf, or Disabled in particular. Reach out to hello@artspond.com to express interest or if you like to learn more.
This work is a part of an individual grant I received from Canada Council for the Arts focused on digital literacy. With the support of ArtsPond’s core funding from Ontario Arts Council, this work is also being expanded to social change topics in other realms of human and natural life. While it is a big undertaking, we would like to be able to make editions available in both fluent and plain English and French to start, with other languages to be added over time. Short samples from work-in-progress include definitions of issues related to digital precarity and injustice (PDF, 7 pages), and general terms and concepts from community-engaged arts and social innovation (PDF, 5 pages) which are connected to our second decade strategic plan currently in development.
This literacy project stemmed out of my own personal interests, as well as recent struggles with communicating the complexity of our work in upcoming resources like our second decade strategic plan, progress reports from multi-year projects like Hatch Open/Artse United and DigitalASO, and a tenth anniversary renovation of our website. This new resource in progress is called, Bent Matter.
For example, what do some of these common and uncommon, yet not commonly understood, words around this area actually mean to you? Do they inspire or impact your creative practices in constructive or destructive ways?
Think of primarily positive concepts like wisdom, wellbeing, visibility, trust, transformation, survival, security, safety, rights, respect, resilience, reparation, renewal, reconciliation, reciprocity, prosperity, power, justice, innovation, inclusion, impact, equity, entrepreneurship, empowerment, diversity, connection, collaboration, change, culture, creativity, care, belonging, access, and many more!
Also consider primarily negative concepts and wrongs like unaffordability, surveillance, sexism, redlining, racism, precarity, oppression, obstruction, obsolescence, neglect, materialism, manipulation, isolation, inflation, inequality, industrialization, homogeneity, heterosexism, gentrification, fragmentation, financialization, exploitation, exclusion, domination, divide, disinvestment, disruption, dis/misinformation, discrimination, disconnection, deregulation, crisis, conflict, colonialism, climate crisis, classism, centralization, bullying, bias, appropriation, addiction, ableism, authoritarianism, audism, ageism, and many more.
Additionally, what are the typical characteristics and strategies of social innovation and how do they overlap with wise practices in arts and culture including community-engaged arts? For example, what are the possibilities of technology and digital innovation, systems thinking, social impact measurement and evaluation, policy innovation, inclusive and human-centered design, social finance, social entrepreneurship, open-source software, microfinance, digital platforms for social change, collective impact, circular economies, renewable energy, and other options for local and planet-wise social change and care?
