Episode 10: Milenko Matanovic - Everyday Democracy

<h2><u>Threshold Questions / Delicious Quotes</u></h2><p><strong>Why is our democracy struggling, What's wrong? </strong></p><blockquote><em>Right now the default modality is that we are at our worst with each other. And that troubles me because we are robbing ourselves of the possibility to understand, first of all, the complexity of our time and second of all, to prepare ourselves for a future that would work for all of us.</em></blockquote><p><strong>How can the process of community art-making help strengthen a struggling democracy?</strong></p><blockquote><em>This is not an academic idea. This has been tested, and I'm more convinced than ever that we live in this treacherous and wonderful in between times right now, and the quality of this in-between time is that the music, the background, the understanding has changed, but our habits have not. So, we still dance to the music with all the dance steps. And so, it's absolutely vital to start learning the new dance, ... unless we learn these new qualities and apply them to daily activities, and everybody has a chance to that. A staff meeting can be a mini kindergarten for learning collaborative practice, ... what interests me right now, is everyday democracy and how opportunities are everywhere and inviting us to rise to the occasion. ... That's the foundation for which the change will happen</em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><p><strong>Under what conditions can we rise to our better selves?</strong></p><blockquote><em>So what we've learned is when something specific is at stake, it's easier for people to flip from their differences into what can I contribute ... which is powerful. So, when it's abstract, we just argue about how we're different.</em></blockquote><p><br></p><p><strong>What is the artists job when our collective capacities are threatened?</strong></p><blockquote><em>We artists do not do it for them, they do it with them. Artists need to accept responsibility that they ... they need to put their ego aside. And when they exercise, the eg