This lesson should take you about 8 minutes to complete.
An important part of building a movement is finding ways for people from different backgrounds and different ways to come together around a common cause. This is why ‘the demo’ is such a powerful tool. The demo enables people to demonstrate their support for a cause or their concern or anger about an issue in a collective way without necessarily having to know each other. The simple act of turning up, marching, chanting in unison brings people together more effectively than any number of workshops and encounter groups. On the demo, social and personal differences are put in the background while what we have in common comes to the fore. Art is another way to bring people together in ways that enable them to transcend the differences between them.
In the next clip Helena and Alice both talk about collective art production. As you watch, think about the question:
Helena describes working together as ‘always joyful’ and makes the point that the outcome of collective creative work will always be uniquely different to anything any one individual could come up with. In other words, when people work collectively and creatively, they will, almost by definition, think and act differently than they would if they were working alone. This means that when we do creative work collectively, we generally undergo some transformation in our thinking, however small. Alice charts the development of the Artist’s Campaign the Repeal the 8th Amendment from one founding member to a large movements of artists. Although they started with a petition, the realised quickly that they would have to do more. And so they pulled people together in the creative endeavour of banner making. Indeed throughout the entire video of The Wholly Trinity, we see examples of artists and others working collectively.
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