Author: Katherine

In my Burning Man research, I discussed how organizers had to establish a new field for running a temporary arts community, which included working with governmental agencies to develop applicable policies and regulations. These efforts are also crucial for other organizations.

This past week, one of my City University of New York (CUNY) colleagues at Hunter College, Howard Lune, won the ARNOVA Best Book Award for Urban Action Networks: HIV/AIDS and Community Organizing in New York City (2006, Rowman & Littlefield). I highly recommend this book for those who want to understand how community groups can engage in collective action to construct a new field of organizations and institutions. In the United States, we now seem to take the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS for granted, as many organizations and programs are devoted to these aims. But, this was not always the case – in fact, during the 1980s, both the U.S. government and medical profession were slow to recognize HIV/AIDS as a problem for the general population, and neither institutions were not prepared to deal with the outbreak of a new, not-yet-well-understood disease. Lune’s book shows how a network of activists and advocacy groups in the New York City area were crucial to establishing a new field for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Collective, coordinated, grassroots activity focused state efforts on addressing a national (and worldwide) problem.

Another co-winner for the ARNOVA book prize is The Volunteers: A Social Profile (2006, Indiana Press) by Marc Musick and John Wilson. I haven’t read this book yet, but I’m glad to see it’s now available for those of us who want to understand more about volunteerism.

P.S. An interesting instance of the interplay between scholarship and art: Lune’s book cover features an artist’s sculpture of the genetic material of the HIV virus.

In “Chip Conley: Should I Take My Burning Man Pics off Facebook?“, a CEO of a chain of boutique hotels muses on the consequences of sharing his non-business life, including the end of a 8-year-long relationship and a trip to Burning Man, shared via social networking tools Twitter and Facebook. Apparently, younger members of his firm expressed concerns about the CEO’s sharing his life and extracurricular activities via posts and photos.

Other renowned business leaders, including Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are known Burners, but none (at least to my knowledge) have been publicly criticized for participating in Burning Man. A few comments to the article sneer that CEO Conley is trying too hard to be cool, while a few other comments condemn the CEO as a hedonist.

However, most posts are supportive. Like the majority of posters, I think it’s healthier for an organization when its leaders and members have outside interests and responsibilities. Otherwise, the organization risks turning into a total institution that overworks members.

My next talk is on Thur., Nov. 12, 2009 4pm EST
“Sustainable Communities: Enabling Creative Chaos at Burning Man”
SUNY-Stony Brook, New York
Wang Building, Lecture Hall 1

Regardless of the economic situation, making an honest living from the arts is never easy. The rewards tend to be concentrated among the top stars, so the majority make do with other careers or odd jobs. However, an economic downturn might bring about unexpected opportunities. During the Depression, the Works Progress/Projects Administration (WPA) provided jobs for those who were out-of-work. Under the WPA, artists generated murals and other works, contributing art that is now part of the everyday experience.

In an interesting, contemporary meta-art-project, the Work Office is trying to raise funds to support NYC artists on WPA-era wages of $23.50 per week. Artists are tasked with “simple, idea-based assignments to explore, document, or improve life in New York.” According to the project’s description, the two leaders “will perform the dull bureaucratic work that ensures that their employees make artwork.”

Such a juxtaposition suggests that bureaucracy and creativity are uneasy partners. Some, like Steven Dubin, who studied a governmental-funded Artists-in-Residency program in Chicago, are skeptical about the abilities of bureaucracy to support the arts. My research on Burning Man suggests that when judiciously applied, bureaucratic practices can enable creativity.

*I almost wrote “recession” in this entry’s title, but we’re still waiting for the official announcement from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

In Enabling Creative Chaos, I included the below photo of the Dreamer, a sculpture that I had visited at Burning Man 2005. I had always wondered about this installation’s story, especially since the sculpture included an inner sanctuary, and its eyes closed and opened, depending upon the time of day. Someone also positioned an oversized, used Q-tip near its ear, which you can barely see in the shadow.

One of my interviewees, Steve Mobia, sent me a link that thoughtfully explains the origins of the piece. Read about his experiences with conceptualizing this piece, which includes his history with the Cacophony Society, Pepe Ozan’s artistry, and the dreamwork rituals at Burning Man here. Also, learn whether keeping time at Burning Man works!

Today’s NYTimes article about the Park Slope Food Coop addresses an issue that plagues many organizations. How do you motivate members to keep contributing, rather than just “free riding” off the efforts of other, productive members? According to the article, rather than rely on paid staff like most grocery stores, the Park Slope Food Coop runs mainly on members’ efforts. To encourage members to contribute, the Coop relies on a dual carrot and stick approach. The carrot consists of access to desirable produce and goods at lower prices. The stick consists of having to make-up double shifts for every missed shift during a designated time period, or risk being dropped as a member (errant members can re-apply once if they pay the membership fee again). But, as the article points out, certain kinds of members can easily fall on the sidelines. Single parents, those with partners who do not want to work in the coop, those with demanding jobs, etc. are at a disadvantage.

Burning Man, like other organizations that rely upon volunteers, has faced similar issues, although it hasn’t adopted the approach of the Park Slope Coop. Volunteer coordinators recognize that some volunteers might get distracted, particularly during the event, and plan accordingly. In other cases, organizers realize that some tasks have to be compensated to ensure that the work will get done according to their satisfaction. For more on this topic, see chapter 5 in my Enabling Creative Chaos book.

The Japanese concept of kaizen was one management fad that swept manufacturing plants in the U.S. Under kaizen, workers are expected to continuously improve their work process for efficiency. Sounds good, right? However, researchers have documented how kaizen usually results in the intensification of work. Employees work an increasing number of tasks at maximum capacity at breakneck speed, often for little or no added rewards. Laurie Graham, who worked as a covert participant-observer at a car manufacturing plant that introduced kaizen, teamwork, and other new practices, argues that such practices are intended to enhance managerial control, without any corresponding benefits for the workers (see On the Line at Subaru-Isuzu: the Japanese Worker and the American Worker, 1995, ILR Press).

This past weekend, I finally saw creative use of kaizen for a higher purpose: inspiring thoughts about how we can re-imagine everyday urban life. Since the 2010 Burning Man theme is “Metropolis,” one artist set up a participatory art project at this year’s New York City Decompression, a post-Burning Man event. The artist provided instructions for kaizening life in NYC: think about how to improve NYC, write your suggestion on a shim, and tie your suggestion to one of three possible hanging sculptures. Most participants’ suggestions involved general mandates, such as more “love,” “improve the MTA (public transportation),” and “more cookies.” One of the few specific instructions, along with a drawing on the reverse, is below. Is Australia ready to make some exports?

Where I live, littering is not an uncommon act: a person will deliberately drop a bag of fast food waste onto the curb for someone else to clean up while a garbage can waits within 20 feet. Each day, the high-rise housing projects develop a small ring of debris along their buildings’ perimeters as a few residents drop trash from their windows (I’m not sure why: maybe their garbage chute/elevator doesn’t work, or residents are afraid to go into the hallway, or an alternative explanation that I am loathe to think about), which hard-hatted workers will clean up. The sidewalks are riddled with darkened pieces of gum and the occasional unmentionable.

Burning Man is a relief, if only for a few days. While volunteering with Media Mecca, I helped to sort and crush cans for recycling and picked up other moop (matter-out-of-place) during each shift. These daily clean-up efforts are especially important since the Burning Man event practices Leave-No-Trace (LNT). Since there is no garbage collection service, participants need to pack out their own garbage and belongings. In addition, the event site must be returned to a condition considered acceptable by the federal Bureau of Land Management, which manages the Nevada Black Rock Desert. As mentioned in a past post, Burning Man organizers are willing to use shame to get event participants to clean up.

After surveying the 2009 event site for moop, the Department of Public Works has put up a color-coded map. Green areas were deemed acceptable, yellow areas needed some work, and red areas were bad. Theme camps in the red and yellow areas will probably face social pressure to clean-up, or they may not be welcomed back.

Click on this photo to zoom in:

If New York City was mapped accordingly, areas of my neighborhood would probably be a deep, intense red.