#tumblr/Equity

[galleryyuhself]

Galleryyuhself - First Citizens has been taking on some wholesome thoughtful community based advertising

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we remember all the achievements and real changes that women have accomplished and continue to do every day. Happy International  Women’s Day from all of us at First Citizens.

[busterballsblog]

Kamala Harris Is A Failure As Border Czar

[troythecatfish]

[wondermutt20]

"I wish for a world that views disability, mental or physical, not as a hindrance but as unique attributes that can be seen as powerful assets if given the right opportunities."

Oliver Sacks - 1933-2015 - British Neurologist

[cyarskj52]

IssaRae candid words shed light on an unfortunate reality in the entertainment industry.

The challenges faced by Black shows and storytellers, along with the lack of accountability, are disheartening. It's important to amplify diverse voices and stories, but the burden shouldn't solely rest on individuals like Issa.

While it's disheartening to see the struggles and lack of priority given to these stories, it's also encouraging to witness Issa's determination to take steps towards independence.

It highlights the need for systemic changes and support for diverse voices within the industry. We can all play a part in holding the industry accountable for equitable representation and ensuring that diverse stories are given the attention they deserve.

Let's continue to support and uplift creators like Issa Rae as they navigate these challenges and work towards a more inclusive future.

[ordinary-beautiful]

Takes All Kinds

[harrypotterfuryroad]

ya know equal rights is men and women having equal rights and not women having more rights than men so like

i don't really think you know what you're talking about but why don't you explain to me how (for example) men and women are equally affected by whether or not they have the right to something like abortion access

[us-cj]

[astroponcho]

Astro Poncho Mission Statement - Version 1

What is Art?

I spend a lot of time thinking about Art, Entertainment, and Culture. I see them as three(?) sides of the same coin. Art is the human ability to express emotion, made manifest. Entertainment is the art that is made not only for the artist but for the audience. An accessible, designerly, art. Culture is the confluence of influence from art, geography, society, and the myriad of other ways in which humans permeate the world. Culture informs the art and entertainment made, and that art and entertainment feed back into the culture that it touches. Let’s call the intersection of these disparate parts Pop Culture. For reference…when I use the word art, I’m talking broadly about the conception of creative production broadly, from mass media to fine art.

Franchise Entertainment’s Impact on Art

Modern pop culture is influenced greatly by franchise entertainment. On any given day, massive communities are discussing new episodes, announcements, or content from and about the Disneys and the Warners of the world. The commercial success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed the way that audiences interact with media. Just look at how long people stick around after the credits start to roll in any given movie theater. More than 10 years in, and multiple phases later, not to mention the bungles of other IPs such as Star Wars (also Disney, hmm), there’s an undercurrent of fatigue with the franchise model. People love these stories and worlds, as evidenced by the continued box office success, but the discussion around franchises tells a different story.

Some see these franchises, especially Marvel, as creatively bankrupt, templated cash grabs. This has also led to what is a resurgence (or emergence) of the mid-tier movie, decently budgeted films that give the feeling of high-budget outings, but are more targeted, focused, and intimate. Generally, you have two camps: the people that love the Marvel outings and see the smaller movies as pretentious, or the fans of “cinema” that think that the MCU has ruined movies. This doesn’t have to be an either-or situation. I know that I personally love a lot of the MCU, and I also love my Sundance darling, neo-mumblecore movies, and my mid-budget thrillers, horrors, and dramas.

Many people bemoan franchise-based content, and due to their extreme commercialization, I can’t necessarily blame them. It can be tiring to get (what is perceived as) a remix of something that’s been seen before, over and over again. Franchises could be so much more. They could be one of the best ways to tell immersive, communal, and equitable stories, creating the avenue for similarly impactful experiences that connect to those stories.

This isn’t to say that all “franchise-style” storytelling and experience-building is in the Marvel, Star Wars, or DC styles. SCPs, Assassin’s Creed, and Unkown9 are reasonable steps in the right direction and have excellent audience engagement, but varying levels of story quality and intertextuality, and don’t necessarily tackle equity AND community at their cores.

The Problem with Pop Culture and Art

The world of art is in a weird spot, across the spectrum. I’d say that much of the issue comes from the current infrastructure, which is in need of some innovation. There’s a tug-of-war between the three main stakeholders: Creatives, Audiences, and Patrons. Creatives want to express themselves, audiences want familiar but fresh and exciting experiences, and patrons want returns on their investments. Intersecting with this is the ever-important conversation of representation, where those in the margins are held there in no small part by the very institution of media, creative production, and distribution itself. We have to figure out how to solve the issue of creating work that is financially sound, creatively-lead, and audience-loved while showcasing the humanity of people that don’t usually get that luxury.

How Might We create art and entertainment that gives creatives freedom of expression, allows them (and any “patrons”) to make good on their “patronage”, is socially-minded with an eye on inclusion and sustainability, and is appealing to pop culture audiences, by allowing them to have meaningful interactions with those stories and experiences?

Where AP Fits

Enter Astro Poncho (later referred to as “AP”). An entertainment label that zooms out from specific mediums, looking at storytelling and experiences as opportunities for innovation. We’re looking to meet the desires of the audience, of the creatives, and of those who invest in the projects getting made. To do that, we gotta think outside of the box.

Participatory culture / co-creation of media

If you think of any famous artist, from a filmmaker to a painter to a game designer, they represent one of the greatest misnomers of art; an individual auteur, a lone ranger, making their way through the tumult and toil through to a finished masterpiece. Even in obviously collaborative mediums like filmmaking, the person at the helm is credited for the project. By flipping the script and focusing on creating art that highlights collaboration through its production, the hope is that more people will get their due credit in meaningful ways and that more people will get to have meaningful contributions to the creation of the art. Essentially, changing the dynamics of a very gatekept space to include those on the margins.

Cooperative Governance

To strengthen the ownership of the art created, the enterprise would be owned by the workers. So, the artists would decide how the enterprise would be run and would work with the communities that the art appeals to have a more cooperative relationship. The importance of creating with instead of creating for can’t be understated. From the facilitation of creating user-generated content, to constantly listening to the community and understanding what they want, allowing the art to be owned by everyone involved can create a more active and meaningful connection. It can also lead to better art.

Human-Centered, Equitable, Liberatory Design

I went to school for design, so I’m very biased, but I see design as an amazing creative framework for solving problems. Being able to explore a problem from all sides and have a process that centers on those who’ll directly benefit from the problem being solved is the ideal way to address the issues we find in our world. Historically, both as I’ve seen in my learnings in school and in the world at large, design is a tool that is wielded by the elite, furthering their interests. It doesn’t have to be this way, and I definitely see design as a tool to unlock the potential of the future; we can use design as a way to work toward liberation, and AP’s work will be centered on this idea of equitable, liberatory design practices.

Transmedia

One of the benefits of living in the modern era is unfettered access to art, thanks to the internet. This means that the barriers to enjoying different art are lower than ever. Even with this, a lot of the ways that art is made don’t tune into the possibilities afforded by the time period that we live in. By breaking down silos and focusing on story worlds and experiences instead of specific mediums of art, AP can innovate in the art space, providing evolutions of what audiences, creatives, and patrons want while being flexible enough to find creative revolutions to art production.

Diversity

I see many paths to liberation. While some people write off art, and especially entertainment, as being commodified escapism, I see so much more potential than just that. Many people talk about and use art as activism, and I’d want to continue that tradition with AP’s work. I think that art that has “political” messaging has the strongest resonance, and can lead to change in the real world, for better or worse. Some of my personal favorite pieces of art are inherently political: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rosie the Riveter, Princess Mononoke, HBO's Watchmen series, and the list goes on. Art imitates life, and life in return imitates art. If we can use the power of accessible art that connects people with very intentional messages that showcase the humanity of all, helping us imagine more equitable futures, more progress can be encouraged in the real world.

To summarize: AP’s strategy for art creation plans to innovate by centering equity, inclusion, participation, and shared ownership to lead to more awesome art that helps inspire action towards a positive future.

This is a pretty complex nut to crack, and AP’s solution will probably change a bunch before it’s all said and done, but that’s the name of the game. To date, a lot of the advances that the creative industry has made have been based mostly on feasibility, as in how much the tech can do. Think VR, AI, the Metaverse, Blockchain, etc. The pieces that these advancements are missing are viability and desirability. The humans a lot of these advances are for don’t seem to be as interested in the tech as the makers do. AP is looking for that balance. By creating art with a focus on community, expression, and inclusivity, we want to be able to create a real impact in the space on the people that are touched by it.

The initial project that I have in mind with AP is a semi-frequent collection of works in a zine that focus on sustainability and the solarpunk genre and movement. It’d include fiction that encourages working towards positive futures for people and the planet, information on the current advances and movements being made, conversations with those people who are working in sustainable fields moving the needle, and things that you can do right now to help create a positive future.

I’m looking for more creatives, collaborators, and entrepreneurial spirits that are interested in going on this journey with me. If that seems at all interesting to you, I have a pitch deck with more info. It covers some similar but different information about our conversation here. It also doubles as a window into how AP might tell stories; you get the picture through one channel, but by going to a different channel you get more context…a fuller picture.

Thanks for sticking through to the end. Again, here’s the deck for more information, and a place to sign up for a chat with me about the project. Hope to talk to you soon! thx :) - Dip

[grunge-samurai]

Not too sound like a self-centered, arrogant, narcissistic asshole (which, not gonna lie, I can tend to be) but I fucking HATE when I'm at a party or any other type of social gathering, and I walk past a girl that's eyeing me like candy, just for one of her friends to tell me "hey, she said she's interested in you”.

No, she's not. She's probably already fallen in love and imagined a life together with an idealized, tender but hyper-masculinized version of me where I'm the perfect boyfriend that checks all of her boxes. I'm just human. I have my flaws. Just because I may look like a hunk doesn't mean I am or even act like one. I'm a massive nerd with niche interests that get brushed off as weird or boring by 90% of people that are too caught up on my looks. Yeah, I exercise, take good care of myself, have "traditionally masculine" skills that I like to even out with what would be considered more "feminine" ones (like cooking or sewing), but so what?

I'm only a guy trying to find his own peace of mind. Don't come into my life trying to turn me into yours.

I feel for every woman that has to suffer from the same kind of shit from low self-steem guys with mommy issues that think they need a female figure to save them because they're too chicken shit to work on themselves and their issues.

[afewstitchmarkersmissing]

Hi hello I just got this email with what is, in my opinion, an incredibly bad take™️ - it is giving peak white peoples performative activism, especially as this is an organization that (in my experience) doesn’t actually do a TON to make its events accessible. I’ve tried before to get them to have more accessible and inclusive events, but I was literally the ONLY PERSON trying, which sucked and definitely burned me out.

However! this is literally the most ridiculous thing ever! And I am feeling CHAOTIC and want to make some privileged cis white people cry and have been inspired to go fight them just to be messy. and also make them think about doing some real activism for once.

But if I have a plan, why am I posting this on tumblr? WELL! while I have… a spicy brain™️, I’m not physically disabled or unable to stand. And because only one person I know follows me on tumblr (and I trust her!)(I doubt any of the messy org people are on tumblr tbh) can put this on the internet and 1. hopefully… entertain? people with this; 2. see if people with actual lived experience also think this is… WILD; And 3. give me fodder for drama, if you’re feeling petty.

But also HEY this is also just me ranting!! Because like YIKES ON BIKES (there have been, and continue to be, red flags with the org, but I keep working with the good people to do some very important direct access and visibility work so…)

ALT TEXT: A screenshot of two paragraphs of an email that reads, “A short time after the committee selected ‘Stand in Solidarity’ for this year’s theme, it was brought to our attention that the use of the word ‘stand’ could be perceived as ableist and offensive to members of our community, particularly members of the persons with disabilities community.

As an organization committed to inclusion and equity, the take this feedback very seriously. After some discussion with the Executive Board, we would like the convene the Media Committee to consider changing or altering the theme for this year.”

[tabney2023]

Pride Month 2023: Embrace Everyone

[seniorsfirstau]

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[wondermutt20]

"When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free."

President Barack Obama - 44th President of the United States

[waterbearable]

rant about media literacy and genuine commitment to justice/equity for "leftists" below bc i'm. annoyed.

ok so. annoyance prompted by a twt post. nothing against the op, i don't know this person, this is really abt the content of the post itself. reproduced here:

Ngl if your show's opening villain monologue is just "disabled people deserve to be able to exist without constant suffering" and it's framed as ontologically evil, yeah go fuck yourself

on the surface, seemingly good point! seemingly good post! i certainly don't disagree with the idea on the surface. i am curious as to what this is referencing. apparently, it's referencing the show d*pesick. and here's the thing. this seems to remove DS from its context. granted, i've not watched the entirety of the show, but i have watched the episode and this scene. and sure, its villain is talking about how people deserve to have pain relief and disabled folks/folks that experience chronic pain should not have to constantly suffer. but the villain that op is talking about is literally a head of a private pharma company. i guarantee you that this man was not trying to innocently market a drug for disabled folks!!! and the show doesn't seem to be saying that pain management is bad-there are ppl in this show, first episode, experiencing severe pain from workplace injury that are shown in a sympathetic light. these people don't deserve to suffer. you don't want these people to experience pain-but you also don't want big pharma to be selling people pain medication that can be addictive!

i'm certainly not an expert in the subject or perfect in my interests, but i do care about health equity. i care about harm reduction-which means not throwing people who use substances to the side. it does not mean cutting off all access to substances and leaving people to suffer, whether they are using for pain management or not.

so what's my point?? my point is not that d*pesick is a good show. i couldn't care less. my point is that when we get takes like this, you're ignoring context in favor of the surface-level progressivism that is easy to promote on social media. you're ignoring history, you're often ignoring SEVERAL aspects of class, race, gender, ability, etc that play into larger societal problems.

and that is exactly how corporations and propaganda get you. because they can take the surface language of progressivism, they can take the language that you want to hear to feel safe and then screw you. they can talk about self-care and shame you for being mentally ill in the same breath. they can emphasize diversity and inclusion while alienating the people of color in the room. and if you are actually committed to serving communities, if you are actively committed to equity and justice, you have to be smart. you have to think critically.

[revivalofthoughts]

CTA

What to say that hasn’t been said before? Talk of equality and empowerment Now seem like only lore. Snatch that freedom! The time to ask is gone. More and more, every day, every dawn.