BNV2013

BNV2013 – Creative Ecosystems

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Let’s live beyond ourselves and our moment for this week. This week, let’s live for eachother… It’s not about your Egosystem. I’m telling you, it’s what Marc Bamuthi Joseph calls a creative ecosystem. – Hodari Davis, Youth Speaks

This was the first time I heard the term Creative Ecosystem, while working with Dimitri Moore as part of the Brave New Voices Online Crew. It stuck with me because it’s an idea that had been germinating in my brain as art permaculture, which isn’t nearly as catchy. I like this definition of the concept:

Creative Ecosystems – Application which is designed to use biological ecosystems to produce art – GitHub

Chicago’s become a creative ecosystem this weekend as EXPO Chicago, Edition and Fountain Art Fairs herald the beginning of Fall. There’s plenty of art for you to see in the real world this weekend so I thought I’d share some more videos from the last time I witnessed an event like this in our city. Cyphers are a large part of what goes on at Brave New Voices. Poets gathering from all around the world means there’ll be some freestyling because it’s their way of sharpening their skills and spreading ideas from city to city. This Afterhours Cypher was more structured than others that spring up more spontaneously, with prompts by local hip hop artist, Phenom.

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BNV2013 – They’re Better Than Were

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I was lucky to be at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts a few weeks ago for Brave New Voices, an annual slam poetry competition run by Youth Speaks. Dimitri Moore, head of the BNV Online Crew, invited me to manage their footage and edit short videos. He coordinated over a dozen young photographers and videographers from a handful of Chicago youth media organizations through 5 days of live poetry. I was locked in a dungeon, unable to experience the action for myself but the footage that came through gave me hope for the human race. I posted a whole bunch of videos to The Youtube that I’ll share over the next few weeks.

This is the second most viewed video from the Quarter Finals round of the competition. Enjoy.

Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race… They’re better than we are. They’re better than we were on these issues. – President Obama

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