Step 1: What is a Community?
A community is "a unified body of individuals", as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. They can be unified by various factors such as living in the same neighbourhood, sharing an interest, having a common history, or sharing common characteristics.
For example, an institute of higher art education is a community connecting its members to a common educational goal or mutual workspace.
What Means Community to You?
Define what you consider to be a community.
Is it local or global? What factors unify its members?
What are examples of communities you belong to?
Step 2: Collecting Knowledge and Getting Inspired
Step 3: Brainstorming
Conduct a thought experiment where you envision a community that best aligns with your ideals. Use these questions to guide your thought process. You can collect your thoughts in the form that feels most comfortable to you eg. a written text, mind-map, voice memo, or video.
Where is this community located? (This doesn't have to be a physical space or realistic, may also be digital)
How large is this community?
What are the aspects that connect its members? (eg. beliefs, goals, location, professional interests, socio-political interests, characteristics, shared history)
What exchanges are there between the community members? How would these exchanges be structured? (eg. material goods, monetary, emotional, communication, knowledge exchange)
What are the components necessary for the community to thrive? (eg. shared activities, support systems - internal or external, mental and or physical health, stability/security)
How would the community sustain itself? Would it be reliant on external infrastructure?
How does belonging to this community benefit its members in their well-being?
What would your engagement in the community look like?
Step 4: Creative Output
Develop a creative representation of this community. It can take the form of a collage, mood board, photographs, video, painting, sound collage, song, animation, or performance.
Share the results with us!
Upload your pictures of your results on Instagram with #FAST45.
Step 5: Your Current Local Community
Bring your vision back to your local surroundings. What ideas from your ideal community could have a positive impact on the already existing communities in your life? How could you share these ideas with them? How could you help improve them in the future?
Below are some examples of challenges you could undertake in order to build or develop communities around you. Feel free to share your further results with us via Instagram #FAST45.
Challenges
Get to know your local community initiatives (NGOs, organisations, volunteers). Find out how you could collaborate with them.
Encourage the people around you to also take this class and stage a mini-exhibition with your results.
Create a spot for community exchange. It can be as much as just hanging a piece of paper that says "Leave or take whatever you need". Invite your friends or neighbours to also leave some things ranging from food to clothes to books.
Pick a (local) community project and reflect on it critically. What was good about it? What was missing? What could be done better? What would you add based on your previous brainstorming?
Think about the next 25 years. How will communities develop in the future? What new ways for a connection could there be? Write a short story about this future community.
List of Figures