Arts & Culture

The Arts and Culture working group is concerned with supporting a media creation friendly environment for artists and contributors. There are two venues by which art will be created. Analog art, such as protest song and signs, will likely be created individually or on site with other protesters. Digital art, such as design and mp3 format music, will be created by computer and shared via the internet. We will discuss each of these topics separately.

For some, it will come as a question what the difference between media and medium is. Others will cringe at the word media itself. However the definition of media is any means by which an artist can communicate with a wide audience. That media may be radio, television, or digital video. The medium is the material which you used to create your media. This distinction will become important, as it would ideally be the task of the A&C working group to manage a pool of these potential mediums for free-use by artists.

The importance of understanding copyrights

Copyright is a very difficult thing for most laymen to understand. However for a movement this large, it is very important for us to recognize that using stolen intellectual property (IP) is very dangerous for us, as it gives big media companies a weapon to use against us. There are indeed times when we can legally use someone else's IP, such as if we're creating satire, however I'm not a lawyer so I cannot help you to navigate this very explosive subject.

It is best, therefore, if we create our own IP to be shared amongst the group. Best practice would dictate the opensourcing or freeuse of all content shared. One example would be the use of http://commons.wikimedia.org/ for the sharing of high definition pictures. Another might be the use of http://creativecommons.org/.

Analog Media

Posters (Designs)

Flyers (Designs)

Caricatures (commercial designers usually take less than 100$)

T-Shirts

Hellium filled toy balloons (99 red of course http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbosw_nena-99-red-balloons-1984_music)

We have a lending library/free library set up at the People's Plaza in MN. Any books about Non-violent Action, History of Protest, Globalization, Fair trade...very welcome and helpful for teach-ins and questions.

PROTEST SONGS

Try and use the tactics from the 60's - Pete Seeger has great songs that everybody can sing along to, here is the link to the website: http://www.peteseeger.net/songsby.htm

You can also check out Richard Farina -HOUSE UN-AMERICAN BLUES ACTIVITY DREAM http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=10283

One of the greatest songwriters ever was Joe Hill, and you ought to know about him. If you're Troy Davis you ought to be Joe Hill too, because if we really mean it that we won't ever forget, we can't forget after just one short century. They killed Joe for the songs he wrote us. Joe didn't ask us for anything except that we keep fighting. Sing his songs.

http://www.OccupySongbook.org is a developing resource and repository for protest lyrics that have been adapted for the Occupy movement.

ON-SITE CRAFTS

I am creating two public art projects that could easily be replicated or xpanded on in any location. WALL STREET wRAP SHEET and EQUALITY QUILT. Thrift store bedding and markers, paint, anything you can use to get your message on fabric. People will write or draw their frustrations with the greedy 1% (on the sheet), and express what they see as needed to build a new, more equitable society (on the quilt). I will bring our wrap and quilt to NYC LIBERTY PLAZA on Oct. 20 and leave them to warm the occupiers with our energies during the NYC winter chiill.

Digital Media

Mediums of note:
Music
Spoken Word
Video
Performance Art
Photography
Illustration & Painting
Animation
Interactive/Interface Design
Graphic Design

One methodology, which has proven useful in the past, is to create a database of raw material that artists have free access too. Those artists would then use that material to create awesome art, which they would share with the movement, and in the process likely create more material to add to the database.

Note: As requested, the Together Occupy handbill/poster has been uploaded and is available for download in the Arts & Culture files section. Feel free to reproduce in any capacity. The graphic is uploaded as four images per page, which when printed double sided, make four handbills. For small poster/handbill form, I recommend printing on card-stock paper for sturdiness and in red for aesthetic efficacy and continuity. Solidarity. (Link Plz)