The Importance of Community
A beautiful and powerful blog from François Matarasso about community.
‘Social media creates connections and markets, sometimes crowds, but rarely genuine communities. Community emerges when people go through the same things at the same time in the same place. It emerges from their differences in common. It’s precious, and community artists need to imagine new ways of nurturing it in the frightening times we now inhabit.’
The long shadow of deprivation
A great piece of research from the IFS on social mobility
‘In areas with the highest social mobility, disadvantaged individuals aged around 28 earn more than twice as much as their counterparts in the lowest-mobility areas (over £20,000 compared with under £10,000).’
Top five soft skills
A really interesting piece on the skills you need to get hired from LinkedIn via the World Economic Forum. And the top five soft skills are:
- Creativity (yes – really – and if you are looking for new business ideas, why not start here/)
- Persuasion
- Collaboration
- Adaptability
- Emotional intelligence
Culture is bad for you
An important new book recently released by Manchester University Press, produced by Orian Brook, Mark Taylor & Dave O’Brien. An important challenge to the sector to address the inequalities that characterise its workforce and audiences.
a-n 40th anniversary newsletter
Fancy trying your hand at editing to help celebrate a-n’s 40th anniversary? You do need to be an a-n member but it’s an interesting opportunity for those who are.
a-n The Artists Information Company is turning 40 this autumn and as part of the celebrations we’re seeking four a-n members who will commission content and contribute ideas as Guest Editors of a new series of special online publications, Artists Newsletter.
Women in graphic design
Shout out to just a few of the many talented women who work in graphic design, but who too often are not acknowledged. One of my favourite design books is Jessica Helfand’s ‘Design: The Invention of Desire’ and I think she deserves a special mention too. How many of these designers did you know?
And that’s essential—this practice of interrogating your assumption— and something that is central to any visual practice. (Jessica Helfand)