Archive:Boston SCS One Sheet Draft

Tim Hwang / Elizabeth Stark 7/22/07

Who We Are

The Shared Culture Space (SCS) is a recently formed initiative to develop a cultural center that will bring together groups working on technology, music, art, education, law, and beyond. It will be open and accessible to the Boston and Cambridge community, and will forge connections with other spaces worldwide in an effort to foster a more cohesive and collaborative shared cultural ecosystem.

Mission

We seek to provide a shared space open to the entire community, bringing together a wide array of groups in the Boston area, and fostering interest in individual community members, young and old, in a shared, freely available culture.

The space will be an exhibition space for artwork and film, a meeting space for groups working on free culture-related issues, a free editingand recording space for video and music, and a project workspace with free wifi, and more.

Community Outreach

Local

In the local arena, the SCS will reach out to various groups in the Boston area spanning education, art, culture, technology, policy, and beyond. Examples include OLPC, local schools, universities, and institutes, Science Commons, the Free Software Foundation, the Berwick Institute, the Berkman Center, and Art Interactive.

To foster the crucial dialogue and cross-fertilization between groups working in similar cultural arenas, the SCS will also aim to become a touching point between various projects in the Boston area through regular sharing meetings where community developments can be discussed.

Global

On the global level, the SCS will be a pilot project for a network of shared culture spaces around the world. It will forge connections with preexisting shared culture spaces in countries such as Brazil, Croatia, and Germany, and seek to establish a global network of such spaces. Furthermore, it will establish links with international organizations working to further issues surrounding open education and free content.

Projects

Beyond merely serving as a community resource center for existing groups in the community, the SCS also aims to develop several independent projects that will serve to structure and give a greater direction to the space.

To handle daily maintenance and foster activity in the space, we plan to develop a four-person residency program that will provide living area in the SCS and a stipend to pursue a shared culture project. Residents will apply for the position, and as part of their residency they will provide regular workshops open to the public. [not sure if this is worth including -- ES]

The SCS will also aggressively develop a media library to archive free content and collect the growing body of literature on the intersection of technology with shared culture principles.

Other examples of projects and programming include a new media music program, with well-respected musicians coming to teach young people about music production and editing in a shared environment, and an open content program where the community works together to contribute to existing free content projects.

How You Can Help

We are seeking a room, open space in Cambridge that would be able to house such a center. An ideal location would be Central Square, as we are looking to reach out to communities beyond the universities, but we are willing to consider any location in the Boston area.

We are also looking for donations to maintain the space and in support of our residency program. We would be able to arrange non-profit and tax-deductable status.

As always, the success of the SCS depends crucially on engaging the larger Boston community and beyond. Groups that are seeking space to house their projects or would like to participate in developing this center are strongly encouraged to get in touch.

Contact

Feel free to contact Tim Hwang (thwang@fas.harvard.edu) or Elizabeth Stark (estark@law.harvard.edu) for more information and with any questions.