Creating with Community

For organizations that aim to alleviate social, mental, interpersonal, and collective problems through their work and efforts:

• Field input and interest from those you serve to better define and drive your mission, goals, and offerings
• Pivot your plans efficiently in response to unexpected changes in financial, environmental, and interpersonal factors that affect operations
• Navigate differences among staff / members / peers who share the same vision
• Create systems and procedures that are tailored to those both managing and receiving your community offerings
• Make shareable materials and marketing for engagement and outreach that make sense to your anticipated audiences without relying on AI

For organizers that care about their impact, and believe in the benefit of constructive critique:

• Map out your upcoming events in an intentional, realistic, and timely manner
• Manage your expectations and embrace learning curves
• Practice considerate accountability with yourself and others
• Respond to community feedback with grace and gratitude
• Become aware of accessibility factors you may have overlooked, and make adaptations informed by community input
• Be honest about the limitations of your capacity, energy, and commitments
• Allow yourself to ask for help, and unveil any embedded saviorist mentalities that do not align with your values

Whether your small business is newly developing or in need of a rebrand, you can get (back) on track with practical, tailored assistance that keeps your well-being and wallet in mind:

• Assess the long-term sustainability of your business venture according to your own unique abilities
• Define the services, products, and experiences that you are able to offer
• Use storytelling and relatable language to write about your business, work, and self
• Delegate tasks to others in an appropriate and considerate manner
• Create personal routines that lower anxiety and overwhelming feelings
• Learn how to allow yourself to rest
• Critically consider the type of boss you are, the type of boss you need, and the type of boss you want to be
• Manage your expectations, witness the outcomes, and recognize when it is time to pivot with grace, forgiveness, and care

When access and participation are no longer limited by ownership, coops and collectives may find themselves navigating new and exciting challenges like:

• Defining and aligning within a non-hierarchical structure
• Fair distribution of resources including but not limited to tools, materials, space, and support
• Equitable distribution of labor including but not limited to maintenance, sorting, and storing
• Conflict resolution and repair
• Interpersonal grievances and grudges
• A need for communication clarity and shared definitions among group members
• Collective participation in establishing guidelines for conduct and care

For the Non-profits struggling with systemic barriers that place limitations on their mission:

• Openly discuss the frustration of funding that results in low wages and high measurable outcome pressure
• Create new workflows and systems that accommodate neurodivergent staff and team members
• Workshop solutions to issues specific to the population(s) you serve
• Regain and reground your sense(s) of passion and purpose in action
• Assess whether your operations are fulfilling and still driven by the integrity of your mission statement
• Bring transparency and truth out of the shadows of the Non Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC)

For the Community Spaces that need a detailed perspective on their logistical and ethical responsibilities:

• Receive critical feedback on the efficiency and accessibility of your physical, hybrid, or virtual space
• Assess barriers to access for participants, members, and / or audiences
• Define roles and responsibilities for those managing, facilitating, or tending to the space
• Create safety protocols to ensure the well-being of marginalized individuals that are more likely to be politically targeted in public spaces
• Plan programming that accounts for the inclusion, liability, ability, and impact that your space aims to provide
• Make community guidelines that are considerate and kind, yet firm and respectful
• Navigate conflict, harm, and demands for exile or punishment among participants

For the Community Studio managers and makers burning out of enthusiasm for the mediums they once loved:

• Find renewed balance and vigor in the work you do on the clock, and the personal practice you desire when off the clock 
• Make and maintain personal and professional boundaries with students / participants
• Address operative and logistical issues specific to the mediums and / or programs that you offer to the community
• Navigate common discord and distress that occurs between students and staff when working with high risk high reward materials (such as glass, ceramics, and metalworking / silversmithing)
• Learn how to flexibly communicate with people of various socioeconomic backgrounds
• Adapt your services for ease of accessibility, understanding, and maintenance

Receive solidarity and shameless perspective in:

• Assessing the long-term sustainability of your current labor efforts, (individual and / or collective)
• Helping members find their most effective role or task contribution(s) based on their strengths, skills, and interests
• Navigating changing conditions and challenging conflicts that can result in miscommunication, activation, reactivity, exclusion, action, and repair
• Creating clear, informative materials with accessible, non-academic language to share with the people you serve
• Planning outreach, tabling, or events in advance with consideration for your current and future capacities (individual and / or collective)
• Making slogans, signs, banners and more through artistic materials and expressions 

For the compassion-oriented providers of knowledge seeking assistance with:

• Communicating with (and mediating between) students of different social, racial, political, economic, and environmental backgrounds
• Managing conflict and classroom dynamics without discouraging self - expression
• Creating adaptive lesson plans and / or tools for students with cognitive and / or physical disabilities
• Addressing and enforcing personal boundaries with students
• Advocating for your professional needs within institutions
• Witnessing and responding to artwork that is upsetting, unsettling, or concerning
• Building a routine that helps you resist or recover from "taking work home with you"

Whether starving, surviving, or succeeding, all working artists deserve specialized attention to solve unique problems like:

• Navigating formal, academic, and "high" art spaces, systems, and  institutions
• Sourcing local community input for public installations and murals
• Considering the ethical implications of your methods, processes, and output
• Communicating effectively with collaborators / clients / consumers / site managers
• Delegating tasks to administrative and / or artistic assistants
• Remaining grounded in your purpose, plan, and passion
• Uprooting the source of self-defeating thought patterns, (comparison, shame / guilt, imposter syndrome, workaholic pride, internalized ableism, etc.)

Receive the confidential support and guidance you need with someone who understands the complex trials and tribulations of being an independent contractor in relation to:

• Museums
• Non-Profits
• Private businesses
• Community Studios
• Private Studios
• Commercial Industries
• Art Therapists
• Federal Grants
• Juvenile Residential / Detention Centers
• Day programs for Disabled Adults
• Casual Crafting Events
• Figure Modeling
• Social Services
• Community Services
• Mental Health programs / treatment centers
• Rural Communities