I thought we were an Autonomous Collective...

[Despanan]

So, yeah. Check it out:



Our Website (Still under construction at the time of this posting)

The Manifesto:

Originally Posted by Autonomous Collective

Let it be known that we, the assembled artists of Autonomous Collective, through the process of artistic creation, administrative experience, and earnest democratic collaboration, have reached the following conclusions as to the state of the Arts and Culture in the modern-day United States of America. Namely that the biggest threats to the continued quality and relevance of the Arts in general and Theatre in particular are as follows:

1) The current corporate/capitalist administrative structure of subscriber-based, artistic-director-centered institutions.

2) An over-adherence to academic and class-based elitism and the triumph of personal relationships and family connections over genuine artistic merit.

3) The fascism, authoritarianism, and unabashed snobbery inherent in the current top-down, hierarchical model which dominates our contemporary artistic landscape.

How many times have theatre companies blunted their message out of fear of upsetting the established order?

How many seasons have been planned around the tastes and prejudices of a theater’s subscribers and primary contributors to the detriment of their mission and overall artistic integrity?

How many company members have, out of fear of offending those at the top, rallied behind a sub-par show and remained silent or worse, given false praise to a work which they did not believe in?

How many companies have been destroyed by the departure of a beloved artistic director, and/or the subsequent entrance of leadership lacking in courage, integrity or artistic vision?

How many companies have been lost to the internal political squabbles over who the decision-makers are to be?

How many companies have become little more than cults of personality centered around the leadership?

How many arts organizations are currently staffed with people whose primary goal is to ensure their continued invitations to the right parties?

How many so-called “political” works have turned out to be mere upper-class apologism designed to assuage the guilt of those who economically exploit their fellow man?

How many times has art become a product to be consumed and then cast aside like so many cheeseburger wrappers?

Enough. If arts and artists are to retain their hallowed position and sacred responsibility as the mirrors and voices of our culture then we must abandon the current corporate hierarchical structure. We must abandon the idea of an Arts dominated by capitalism, fascism, and upper-class elites. We must reject the voice of the market, the academic and the bourgeois and allow art to again become what it has always been at its’ core: the voice of the people. We must allow that voice to dominate all other aspects of the creative process, because if we do not, then all our toil is in vain.

Therefore, we the undersigned members of Autonomous Collective have chosen to reject the current capitalist model and embrace the Anarcho-Syndicalist structure and ideology. In a market dominated by top-down authoritarian absolutism, generational wealth and privilege, and economically exploitative wage-slavery, we of Autonomous Collective hereby found a company built around and driven by bottom-up egalitarian democracy.
We hereby found a company without formal leaders, without hierarchical pay discrepancies, and without any allegiance which supersedes our artistic mission: Which is, the creation of honest, challenging, groundbreaking art of exceptional scope and depth. Art which does not seek to give you the answers that you’re looking for, nor to confirm your preconceived ideas and biases, but grassroots egalitarian art by the people, for the people. Art which is not only hostile to stagnation but in point of fact demands a constant state of revolution both within the collaborative process and the company at large.

We do not seek to silence the playwright, we do not seek to overlook the sweat of the stagehand; we do not seek to drown-out the voice of the intern. The voices and the labor, the ideas and passions of all those who are engaged in working towards an artistic end within the Collective are held as equally valuable and all collaborators are ensured just and due credit as well as fair compensation for their contribution at all times and in all endeavors. All decisions regarding the collective itself, the work we produce and the members we take on are hereby to be made through a process of direct democracy and all members are to be granted a single, equal vote.
We are Autonomous Collective. We are a community of worker-artists centered around egalitarianism, direct democracy, and the collaborative process. We are Theatre from Below.

No Gods. No Kings. No Artistic Directors.

I know, I know. I used to give Alan SO much shit about Anarchism, but honestly, living in NYC and seeing just how bad the distribution of wealth is in this country...well I decided to put my money where my mouth was very steadily going. Plus "The Take" was really inspiring (Thanks JCC) So yeah, Kontan and I have founded a Theatre and Arts Production Company based on an Anarcho-Syndicalist model.

Our first production is going to be Mic. in the NYC international Fringe Festival.

Capitalists say this approach can't work. We feel like proving them wrong.




Also, before you ask, no this is not the secret. The secret, believe it or not, is even cooler than this. Now,if you don't mind Please like the Facebook Page

Any Questions?

[Grausamkeit]

The secret is that you are Kontan, right?

I hope that your company does well and leaves the naysayers eating their words.

[Alan]

I want a poster of that, so I can be all hipster and say I liked you guys before you were cool.

[Despanan]

The Secret is [Confidential.]

[Alan]

I would take out the word fascism from the manifesto though.

[Despanan]

That's the first draft.

Why may I ask?

[Despanan]

Originally Posted by Alan

I want a poster of that, so I can be all hipster and say I liked you guys before you were cool.

I'm going to have posters printed. So this will happen soon. stay tuned.

[Alan]

The word fascism is thrown around too much for no reason, and even if you think you're not just throwing it around (which I do think you are) this will be a pretty easy criticism to make of you guys, just another standard American anarchist collective, instead of a genuine leftist experiment - more CrimethInc. than SI; more John Zerzan than Safdar Hashmi.

[Despanan]

Originally Posted by Alan

The word fascism is thrown around too much for no reason, and even if you think you're not just throwing it around (which I do think you are) this will be a pretty easy criticism to make of you guys, just another standard American anarchist collective, instead of a genuine leftist experiment - more CrimethInc. than SI; more John Zerzan than Safdar Hashmi.

Hmmm...you may have a point there. We were really using it in the extreme authoritarian connotation, but you're right the actual definition doesn't apply.

The reason that made it there, is that I've had numerous conversations that "fascism" in a sense, is not only alive and tolerated in the arts, but in fact encouraged by many organizations. Despotism may be a better word.

It works colloquially but it does make us seem less legitimate.

I'll talk to Kontan, and when it comes time to vote on it and officially ratify the manifesto it probably won't be in there.

[Ben Lahnger]

Originally Posted by Despanan

Why may I ask?

You may ask because you have a human brain, and it might strike your fancy to do so.

[Despanan]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

You may ask because you have a human brain, and it might strike your fancy to do so.

[CptSternn]

Thats pretty cool.

Also, it was myself who first recommended The Take.

You also would probably like 'The New Rulers Of The World' by John Pilger. It's a documentary from 2001 that when watching it you will think they are psychic.

[Angelic Dissonance2]

YES. And this is similar to why I support graffiti.

[Despanan]

Yo, if you want an autonomous collective poster, it's a perk for donation:

http://www.indiegogo.com/Fund-Mic-at...=145721&i=addr

[JCC]

Originally Posted by CptSternn

Thats pretty cool.

Also, it was myself who first recommended The Take.

You also would probably like 'The New Rulers Of The World' by John Pilger. It's a documentary from 2001 that when watching it you will think they are psychic.

It was me.

[JCC]

Also, your dad is going to go fucking nuts.

[Despanan]

Review just came in on Mic.! Check it out:

http://www.nytheatre.com/showpage.aspx?s=mic_13000

[Grausamkeit]

Congratulations on the great review!

[JCC]

First maximus, now Despanan. I feel like I should write a play and temporarily move to NY to rock the Fringe and keep this Gnet tradition alive.

[Despanan]

Fuck yeah JCC. DO THAT SHIT.

You don't need to move to NY though, the Fringe is an international festival, so you can apply and get in as a brit.

You can also do the Edinborough fringe.

[AshleyO]

This is empirical evidence that G.net itself has better writers in its forums than Dark Regions Press.

Just sayin'....

[JCC]

Originally Posted by Despanan

Fuck yeah JCC. DO THAT SHIT.

You don't need to move to NY though, the Fringe is an international festival, so you can apply and get in as a brit.

You can also do the Edinborough fringe.

I have no idea what to do after the script is written. I'm an intellectual, I don't get my hands dirty finding actors and shit.

[AshleyO]

Why doesn't Autonomous Collective just produce JCC's play if they like it?

[JCC]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT GOOD IDEA! Hold up a few days while I get working on this 21st century masterpiece of political polemic Despanan, Fringe 2012 baby!

[Despanan]

Here's Beezy Douglas performing "Slapstick Tragedy" the opening song of Mic. in the kickoff production of both Mic. and Autonomous Collective!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6cXZ...layer_embedded