This project emerged from the leaving records ecosystem, and over the last year, we’ve been engaged in an open experiment in small scale digital community gardening. ( . )
With genre.garden, we’ve been building the prototype of a VSOP ( very small online platform) to create a third space online, an alternative to the monolithic, commodified attention economy-driven apps that we’ve all become dependent on. We are researching and employing tools to replicate the positive, functional dynamics that we love about social media, and redesign them into a non-extractive, community-oriented environment. We support the sharing of knowledge within this community, including new publishing & funding tools, concepts and resources such as grants, residencies, fellowships and other opportunities to innovate sustainable, novel mechanisms to fund free public art.
We recognize that artists and open source software developers share many common challenges and we hope to build bridges between these communities to facilitate mutually beneficial collaborations that support the flourishing of both groups.
Our core intention is to foster a safe, all-inclusive space to gather online, share resources, and create together. Through these experiments in mutually beneficial, collaborative publishing practices, we are building an OS toolkit DIY digital garden, for any community to fork and replicate in service of their own. To follow our development process, join our telegram group here.
Currently, there are three active projects in the garden:
Archive: Community submitted footage from concerts
Calendar: Community curated calendar
Resources: Community curated resources board (open calls, grants, etc.)
Contribute ~ Contact:
vibe check & connect in the Leaving Records discord
genre.garden telegram for development updates & opportunities to contribute
Submit to the community archive
Submit to the community calendar
Submit to the community resources