We’ve been taught that cities need to be dense in order to work. Large groups of people, living, working and playing in close proximity breeds cooperation, which breeds innovation.
Constraints are important. Nothing is infinite. This same idea works for businesses, clubs, sports teams and any sort of group that has a common goal. Hell, Captain Planet REQUIRES five people to even appear.
It seems Phoenix and Arizona as a whole has forgotten this. We have events that are offshoots of other events. We have businesses dedicated to bringing the Valley together copied. We have Gangplank and now we have Archipelago. We have Fractal, we have Dojo Collective. We have Pecha Kucha and we have Ignite.
What in the hell are we doing? Are we so naive that we think we’ll all survive on our own? Do we not understand that the only way to be great is to work together?
From the outside, Arizona is seen as a backwater, racist state that’s gone off the deep end. From the inside, we’re a bunch of insecure posers who can’t stomach the fact that we may not actually be good enough to be noticed nationally, yet we shy away from criticism. We are scared of what people might say, because no matter what, image is the absolute most important thing for nearly everyone in charge of these splintered attempts to building something.
Enough is enough. Get your shit together, creative class. Stop looking out only for yourselves. We’re wasting time trying to make ourselves the stars.
Let’s work to make everyone else shine.
(edit: not one of my better posts. Poorly researched, poorly thought out and mainly a knee-jerk reaction to what I didn’t yet understand. Nice job by Brandon Willey and Mark Dudlik in the comments.
How about a random post?
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{ 7 comments }
Well, speaking to the things I'm directly involved in, which is half of those, I think i can explain (partly) why you are wrong.
Firstly: fractal isn't in anyway the same or similar to Gangplank. Its an open space that invites people to come hang out and work, which is true of both, yes. But, that's also true of any library. fractal has actually started to become a concert venue as well.
Dojo Collective is literally related (philosophically) to none of these things in any way. Its a set of design initiatives. We're trying to bring a design museum and library to Phoenix. We're trying to create youth design mentoring programs. We're trying to help aid professional development. We're acting as the non-profit umbrella under which Phoenix Design Week happens. We do have an event similar to hacknight, but we only explain it as “a night like hacknight, but for designers” because thats an easy way to explain whats going on to those familiar with GP. How do we explain it to other groups? Its like a studio night with like-minded individuals. Its a way for designers to spend time working on their passion projects, and bounce ideas/collaborate with each other. Its also a way to talk about our work with each other, and discuss design.
As for PechaKucha…yes, its exactly like Ignite. It was around before Ignite, globally, but not locally. I talked with some people at Ignite before I even approached the Tokyo organization about bringing the event to Phoenix. And, while someone else is actually in charge (much to the event's detriment) there's a valid reason that we chose to do PK instead of a Design Ignite. It was a simple matter of audience. The way I explained it is this: PechaKucha is designer/architects/creatives talking about their work to an industry audience. Its designers talking to designers. If we were to do a Design Ignite, it'd be Designers talking about design to the general public. This small difference changes the nature of the presentations (technical/theory vs. What it is). PechaKucha was something people had been trying to bring to Phoenix for years (seriously, dating back to at least 2006/7)
Well, on to my main point however. For Me, Andrew (@courdek), Bully and others, there's one very important thing that you don't see happening when you say we're all competing: The conversations between these groups. Bully and myself have had long conversations with Derek about what we're doing with Dojo/fractal how it relates/doesn't relate, how we're not competing for the same audience, how we're supporting each other by addressing the needs of a different part of our communities. Me and Jeff talked in depth about the differences between PK and Ignite, and how both would be great for the community. We're all talking to each other, though maybe not as transparently as you'd like.
So I'd say…you're probably right about some of the competition in Phoenix, about some of the duplicated efforts. But, with your examples above, you're wrong. Which is okay, I'm glad you're making us talk about why we're doing seemingly similar things. It gives us the excuse to share our process, share our collective goals and be transparent about our conversations and collaborations.
well lets just say the Archipelago wasn't a big shocker honestly to anybody… typical however
Tyler, we've already connected via DM and we'll connect tomorrow on the phone to hopefully straighten out the misconceptions behind the intentions and actual plans for Archipelago. We just had lunch this week together and I believe we are on the same page. I'm 100% about unification and collaboration (as Derek & Jade can attest to as well) and absolutely NOT about competition or reinventing the wheel.
Chuck, I'm not really sure what you mean by it not being a big shocker. There really wasn't any meat to your comment so I don't know how to respond appropriately. I don't believe you were there at IgniteASU last night (I didn't see you anyway) and so you completely missed my presentation. Until you get a chance to learn more about it (or until we explain the movement better on the website – its weak, I know) it would be best not to make assumptions. If you'd like to grab a beer or coffee with me and chat in person about this I'm open over the next few weeks. Let me know. You know where to find me.
You going to post something new, or are you just going to make us read this garbage for a few more days?
Wow Bryan. Animosity at its best. Anyway, thank you for your desire to learn more about all the great things happening in and around Phoenix. I'm not sure if you were referring to me, Tyler, Chuck, or Mark.
If you were writing to me, I plan to write a post about my actual IgniteASU presentation when the video is released. The suspense must be killing you I know. Until then, you'll have to just trust that I, as a friend (or at least good acquaintance) of most of the people doing rad, healthy, productive things in Phoenix would not do anything to knowingly compete with them.
But you don't know me, and I don't know you. So I can understand if you don't trust me or believe me, or care at all. You posted anonymously and so I can't reach out to you to try to remedy our lack of acquaintance. Bummer. I'm always around if you ever want to grab a cup of tea and chat.
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Tyler, thanks for the Update brother. You know I appreciate your voice here in Phoenix. It's deeply needed to help smack us around and wake us up from our stupor from time to time. Or always. Thanks again man.
Dude, that's my bro giving me shit. He does that from time to time.
That's awesome. I'm an idiot. Nice to meet you Bryan. Please excuse my defensive posturing and keep up the harassments.
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