fuel, household goods and services, transport, personal goods and services, and opportunity for social and cultural participation. At the same time, researchers have developed an impressive base of evidence supporting Self Determination Theory9, which argues that people are most motivated by intrinsic things - such as having the capability to do things for themselves, having autonomy to make decisions that matter to their lives, and feeling positively related to other people. Those championing cultural commons need to be sensitive to the fact that people who do not have enough material resources are less likely to have the capability to engage in cultural activity. Severe deprivation is likely to rob people of even the ability to appreciate passively a cultural experience. Cultural commons need to empower people, in peer networks, to be creative for themselves. Human beings prefer to be active doers rather than passive recipients. Homo sapiens evolved for over one hundred millenniums in small, close-knit social groups. The transition to postmodern life has been for many too abrupt, too brutal. It is no wonder that mental illnesses - depression, anxiety and addiction - are the fastest growing health problems of the developed world. Yet a social science of human wellbeing can help us to understand our limits, and to rediscover our strengths. As the world begins to recognise the yawning chasm between western TV lifestyles and the actual material resources the Earth can provide, there will be greater demand for authentic cultural experiences rather than throwaway consumer products. Cultural commons have the potential to be a sustainable source of sustenance for people’s hearts in an era of constrained global resources. They can go deep and provide spaces and moments within which people can find deeper kinship and solidarity with one another, as part of a global movement for human flourishing.
Cultural Commoning and Civic Conversation Denis Stewart “..in the shorter run, which is the run of everyday life, a civilisation is irrigated and sustained by its common interchange of ordinary intelligence”. Clive James (2007)10
This article has its origins in my experience of participating in an exploration initiated by Voluntary Arts with others - of ‘our cultural commons’ as a way of thinking about local creative cultural activity and how this can be grown and sustained. The article is in two parts. The first part suggests ways of thinking about ‘culture’, ‘commons’ and, therefore, ‘cultural commons’. The second part shares some perspectives on conversation and its crucial role in a cultural commons. In recent years there has been growing interest in ‘the commons’, not least as part of people’s search for viable and ethical alternatives to current economic and social paradigms. Much has been, and is being, spoken and written on the subject. Prominent in this extensive discourse are concepts and practices related to/rooted in people making common cause – people of diverse character and capability who hold in common a set of values, a sense of human kinship, and a commitment to making a difference and shaping a place for the common good.11 One insight which I find especially helpful in thinking about the commons is expressed in David Bollier’s comment that “the commons is an active, living process. It is less a noun than a verb because it is about the social practices of commoning”.12 There is no commons without commoning. Turning to cultural commons, it is worth considering for a moment the various meanings of the ‘cultural’ descriptor. In its broadest sense, culture can be described, for example, as “the total set of beliefs, customs or way of life of particular groups”.13 At the other extreme, the word is used in very narrow ways as if it were the same thing as ‘the arts’. Between these ends of a spectrum of meanings, it is helpful to see ‘culture’ as denoting an aspect of human society that includes ‘the arts’ (visual, musical, performing, etc), but also other manifestations of human creativity, such as intellectual accomplishments –
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