"Artists are regular people who struggle. There are working-class artists and people from very diverse backgrounds who make up a large part of our creative economy..."
Almost everything traditionally thought of as economic development is just another way to funnel more of the worlds wealth and natural capital into the hands of the very rich, thereby making them richer and more desirous of political systems that let the rich run rampant over communities and ecosystems. We need to flip things over so that economic development is better understood as a bottom up development in which the priority of investment is low income communities and communities of color that would most benefit from environmental cleanups, restorations, and conservation. Climate Justice has to be a major organizing principle, and arts from the bottom up clearly synergizes with a Climate Justice economy.
great piece on important community development work ...thanks for the reporting!
Almost everything traditionally thought of as economic development is just another way to funnel more of the worlds wealth and natural capital into the hands of the very rich, thereby making them richer and more desirous of political systems that let the rich run rampant over communities and ecosystems. We need to flip things over so that economic development is better understood as a bottom up development in which the priority of investment is low income communities and communities of color that would most benefit from environmental cleanups, restorations, and conservation. Climate Justice has to be a major organizing principle, and arts from the bottom up clearly synergizes with a Climate Justice economy.