-----Original Message----- From: Ray Harrell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 4:02 PM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: RE: [Futurework] How about cooperatives?
The Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble, Inc. is a not for profit cooperative. I've developed five ensembles through it with two being five years each. The problem for us was always the outside. The music business didn't know what to do with us. Neither did the unions. Opera America called us a "school" because, like a ballet company we had classes. We pooled our resources cooperatively and developed recordings and over 100 performances per years. We created a structure similar to the structures in the Old Soviet Union opera companies where the performed and took classes to advance their skills. The superiority of the Soviet structures was due to the capital support their companies got from the state. As a result their alums have moved to America and taken over the performing as American Schools couldn't compete. We attempted something like that here but as a cooperative self funded by the members. We began in 1978. In 2003 we had an American Masters Arts Festival honoring Ned Rorem as the composer and had a Symposium on "What would it take to have an American Music Center with repertory company and instrumental and vocal ensemble in every city in America over 100,000 population?" We considered that a generic company was the only way that we could deal with the productivity lag built into all Classical Culture projects in a utilitarian capital market structure. A high quality standard (generic) model would reduce costs and make the "economie of scale" a possibility as different cities used the same productions encoded in computer programs through a generic state of the art theatrical unit used in all of the cities across the nation. The Interactive Management conference that we had in Washington, D.C. led by John N. Warfield's team was very good at articulating the problematics of the Arts in America. What was less successful were the solutions. The Order of Process worked out used the tools available at the time which are terribly degrading to the ego of the Artist who takes a beating every time they work on the Art, from their inner demons. To then put them into the position of preaching, proselytizing, selling and begging for capital is often more than most of these elite specialists can bear. It's one thing to have a job but quite another to have to work forty hours a week at no pay just to keep up the practice of your skill. The solution for us was to found a cooperative business and to fund it ourselves as an investment. That worked for five years each with the two ensembles and then each of them exploded as people felt that they could find better ideas elsewhere. Of course, they didn't. None of them have accomplished the level of artistic output as they did in the coop and they haven't made enough money to offset the cost of upkeep in their skills. But even with that its better than some Doctors I know who are bleeding out hundreds of thousands of dollars in private practices with huge overhead and a sketchy medical structure to support them. Next to that, the Arts seems almost pastoral:>)) Ray Evans Harrell -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sally Lerner Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 3:08 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] How about cooperatives? Now that Ray has energized the list (and reminded us that music is often the best solace), what potential do any/all of you see in re-examining co-operatives (i.e.producer, consumer, worker, credit unions) as possible roads to better ways of organizing lives (while we await the advent of basic income and the bit tax, of course). I've been digging into recent literature and examples (e.g. the Cleveland Model in the U.S.), finding some useful analysis of why co-ops are good, especially in crises, why they have trouble starting up and surviving, what can be done to address the problems, etc. etc. --good stuff, definitely stimulates hopeful thoughts. Which I need day to day to counter the sick feeling from the BP disaster - a whole ecosystem and culture -- and way of life -- wiped out. Check google and amazon for a wealth of material on co-operatives. Is this a path worth re-visiting? Is Mondragon still relevant for the future of work? What think all of you? Cheers, Sally _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
