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Tentative budget division, AC June Working group, Utrecht 2015
Together, the AC ecosystem has decided on the ways that the funds will be allocated:
Each member organization (except DOEN) receives the same amount: 75,000 euros per year. This amount reflects two components:
Each year up to 50,000 euros will be allocated to each organization as institutional funds, to be used for the organisation’s own lifeline plan (see self-limitation).
An additional 25,000 euros (21,000 in 2015) will be allocated to each organization to be used as part of the de-centralized collective pot (each organization can contribute some of its institutional funding to the collective pot if the organization decides to do so). AC members can use the funds from the collective pot for the following activities Self Organized Assembly, Banga, Experimental Tooling Projects (ETPs), Fundraising, and Communication, but also for Collective savings, which has been conceived of as a way to prepare for unforeseen eventualities and thus to consolidate AC self-determination. (See Collective Savings below.) Time-strike and Advance payment.
A shared budget sheet has been created that encompasses both the finances per activity and the time investment per activity for each organization. It is available to all of the organizations for individual and collective study.
The funds of AC, although collectively owned, are decentralized, each of the members keeping part of it. The use of the Budget and the funds is practiced through the prism of self-limitation. This will be particularly true in relation to the institutional funds provided to each organization by AC.
Currently, AC budget is still being covered almost exclusively by the funds provided by DOEN who has committed for a 3-year period; negotiations are being undertaken for an additional 2-year. Steps to locate additional income are being researched by the Fund-raising Working Group.
In total, each organization will receive AC funds for institutional purposes for a period of maximum 5 years (or a maximum of 250,000 EUR over 5 years).
In line with the ethical principle of attending to the diversity of situations and challenges faced by each organisation towards its self-sustainability, members were given the option to exceptionally request their 3-years of institutional funds in one lump sum, instead of annual instalments. This allowed for members to decide on the payment method that best suits the needs and conditions of their Lifeline Plan.
Ethical principles of self-limitation and collective care should be kept in mind by each organization while forecasting their annual budget. In particular, the amount that will be used for institutional purposes. In order for decentralisation, mutualism and trust to function in AC, organizations and individuals would have to limit themselves to only what is best for all involved. This means that each should take only what one needs and contribute as they can. This will not be controlled or enforced by the group but can only be managed by the self.
It is worth stressing that if organisations reach self-sustainability before the 5 year period, it is assumed that they will subscribe to self-limitation, and will still receive funds for collective activities. Also it needs to be stressed that discontinuation of financial support to any organisation within the network is by no means equal to exclusion from the network.
All logistical costs related to these activities will be taken from the collective pot. The groups involved will organize the activities, lodging, local transport and eating arrangements in their country, but each organization will contribute to the costs relating to their participation using funds from their share of the collective pot. In some cases upper limits for the costs have been established and can be found in the Administration Group (Attaya) Guidelines.
An important means to build trust, solidarity and sustainability within and outside of the AC network.
Within our budgets, each AC member is to dedicate some funds to an immaterial shared ‘pot’ (an account) for times of emergency, crisis or particular needs for care. This way of managing the resources revolve around the possible anxiety and fear of whether they could lead us to sustainability.
Collective Savings might not just contain money, but time and other resources as identified in the Resource Map. The saving fund can contain the returned funds that are not used by the partner for the current year.
Rather than bringing the notion of Collective Savings back to the concepts of individualism, we take it as an idea and means by which we practice generosity. Within the generosity holds the thinking that we value imagination and speculation in relation to the future. It is a space where we transform the ethics: mutualism, interdependency, coexistence, valuing personal rhythm- into an actual practice
The saving mechanism hereinafter has been proposed by the Administration working group (aka Attaya)
Attaya suggests that each institution saves at least 10% of each year’s collective money.
From discussions in the Kyrgystan assembly, Attaya thinks that we need to increase the percentage of savings to 15% for next years.
Each institution can decide to make extra savings from their own institutional budget. You need to inform your attiya and he/she will mark it in google drive sheet.
The leftovers funds in the collective pot will also be transferred to the savings at the end of each year. You need to inform your attiya and he/she will mark it in google drive sheet.
D.3.1 Philosophy
D.3.2 Allocation of funds
(And what we are going to do to be commonly wealthy)
Arts Collaboratory generates and sustains itself through commonwealths. Commonwealths do not only include money and knowledge but also: affection, care, energy, time, aesthetic opinions, critiques[9] and other tangible and intangible resources. We go beyond money and knowledge in order to subvert the concept that the (so called) ’global south’ ‘lacks resources’. We believe that resources are not lacking: it’s just that the definition of resource lacks ethics and radical imagination.
Arts Collaboratory believes that commonwealths are co-owned and co-generated by all. Arts Collaboratory is an eco-system that generates its wealth through intra-action and inter-action with other parties. Each member is regarded as an autonomous node while at once being interdependent with the others. Differences such as time, value, distance, language, empathy and silence, are rooted in our various contexts and are acknowledged as valid and human factors to shape and inform the modes of contribution of each member to the network. Arts Collaboratory is not a static pocket but a rhizomatic living system that intra-acts and inter-acts with new external things.
There are a variety of ways to contribute to the commonwealth. We propose that ‘funding applications’ be replaced in order to decolonize “art and culture by developing new and interdependent forms of critique and aesthetics, as well as new art forms themselves and attention to experiments in indigenous traditions.”[10] Based on new paradigms we work towards a sustainable future for our organizations and towards a future that is full of commonwealths.
In the current way capitalism is practiced, we are accustomed to think and act in ways that lead to maximizing profit, aiming for bigger outputs while keeping our expenses as low as possible. In the not-for-profit context, this can translate into seeking more funding, partnerships, establishing new activities and programmes, calculating success through external indicators such as audience numbers, etc..
This quest is often at the cost of our body, our social and learning time, and our spirit. Additionally, many of the member organisations in Arts Collaboratory fulfill and/or feel compelled to fulfill multiple roles that in other realities are taken on by governments, educational institutions, etc. Therefore, the pressure on each organisation is out of balance with its size, and many are under threat of burnout.
Instead of complying with this trend, Arts Collaboratory proposes degrowth (see vocabulary) as a sustainable and viable alternative. A principle that reflects how AC envisions budget and planning.
In order to practice un-learning and to provide a healthier picture of the ‘cost’ of each activity, we are building the habit of measuring the amount of time spent on these activities, alongside the financial costs. Activities are considered in relation to labour (visible and invisible) and time, and what it does to our life.
Arts Collaboratory is not an externality to the members that compose it, rather it functions as an eco-system, interconnected in terms of reflection, activities, and structure.
The relevance of each organisation to its local environment, as well as the value the translocal collaboration brings to that reality is reflected in the way the budget is conceived and managed: The funds of AC are collectively owned, belonging to the whole eco-system and not to one organisation in particular.
The Lifeline Plans replace what is known as a funding application. While conventional funding applications obey the logic of production, expansion, and productivity in the face of judgemental evaluation—approval or non-approval—this system draws from the ethical principle of inclusivity and care, and makes a plan that celebrates life and living processes. It does not shy away from experimentation and interrogation, leaving open the door for trial and error.
The Lifeline Plans that we create, become ‘lifelines’ which reflect all the interests, needs and priorities of the organizations that form the Arts Collaboratory and serve as a kind of foundation for the network. The plans serve as a readily available main reference which can be used to learn about the activities of the members of the network.
The Lifeline Plans are written for a period of minimum 5 years, the agreed time that each organization will receive funding from within AC.
In 2015, AC secured funding from DOEN for a 3-year period, with a high possibility of a renewal for an additional 2-years. This was a guarantee to enable Arts Collaboratory to start building sustainability without a competitive or (self-) exploitative scheme.
This proposal invited all the current Arts Collaboratory members to create a Lifeline Plan of maximum 5 pages.
It was requested that the Lifeline plans include the following details:
Articulate the resources already generated by each organisation by creating a Resource Map (see section D2 for full details of the Resource Map);
Discuss ‘life-lines’ (instead of deadlines) and ways to survive long-term by creating a Lifeline Proposal that includes long term thinking on the sustainable survival of our organisations (create a timeline to articulate how we are thinking long term);
Budget (see section D3 for details): At the moment, the funds available are equally set between the current members of the AC ecosystem at 75,000 Euro per year for a period of 5 years. The usage of the funds is two-folds: a max. of 50,000 Euro could be used to fuel the life-line of each member, while the rest is destined for the permanent activities and working groups of AC (Assembly, Banga Meetings, communication, ETP, etc.).
The Lifeline plan is one of the investments that each organization gives in terms of imagination for sustainability, it is an exercise to imagine how to survive with the possibility of using some specific resources and walking with the other experiences of AC Members.
The plans were submitted to DOEN and a commitment for funding for 3 years was given to all of the organizations.
See Appendix for the Guidelines to develop a lifeline plan.
Key to the Lifeline Plans are the Resource Maps of each organization. They are a way for AC members to share with and inform each other of their resources and therefore also areas where they might need particular support from AC in order to achieve a more sustainable and resourceful life. The narrative in the Resource Map visually reflects the ebbs and flows of the organisational life of each organisation and of the AC ecosystem. This includes falling short of expectations and the creative ways the individual organisations and the AC ecosystem cope with vulnerable circumstances.
The maps attempt to capture the recognised capacities of the AC members and other forms of capacities that might be left unknown without the illustration of this Resource Map. While aiming to describe the resources of each organisation, the maps also manifest the quality of the relationships among the members. The organizational maps are active maps; they will be renewed many times as long as AC exists.
These maps also reflect to what extent each organization is embedded in their context, in their struggles and the effect of their programs in their communities.
The materials of the maps consist of, but are not limited to: knowledge, experience, capacities, desire, commitments, facilities, influence, affection, access, people, affinities, vision, ambition, dreams. This includes all the relations with other organisations, groups, and communities in our locality that we share struggles and processes with.
As the Resource Maps not only contain sustainability plans but also the budget and financial reports of each organisation, the financial aspects of the AC organization also undergo a similar process of collective discussion as a form of care of the network to its individual members
The importance of building and developing these Maps is to share the knowledge and complexity of the projects, activities, struggles, programs and movements that are affecting our conditions in our individual contexts and in our collective relationship.
The Resource Maps become tools for building awareness based on affinities and our needs, our ethics and our visions. The maps are an open source tool for other organisations, communities, groups and individuals to visualise what opportunities we might offer and in which areas we might need support. This allows the AC ecosystem to generate decentralised and natural links without the need for any of the participating organisations of Arts Collaboratory to act as mediators—we all are mediators. In this sense, the Resource Maps are key to the active exercise of decentralisation and devolution of power, while allowing collective empowerment that is rhizomatic and expands itself.
Resource maps were included in the first round of Lifeline Plans. This was the first attempt of each organization to identify the individual resources that can be included in a comprehensive resource map of the AC network. They were based on the Arts Collaboratory Ethical Principles, and encourage sharing and caring for others rather than promoting or showcasing achievements. However, it became obvious that there is a need for the creation of a common comprehensive map for collective study and to be able to identify resources for the permanent activities of the network and our sustainability.
The Resource Map working group was established in the Kyrgyzstan assemble and is developing a matrix in which we can organize all of the resources and the needs that have been identified by the AC ecosystem thereby creating a better understanding of the current situation and providing an effective way to put them to practical use by the AC community.
The Internet is the main medium that will be used to store and share the map. It is being developed in different stages. The first will be an extensive questionnaire. The second, an approximation of a visual version, will be developed and then it will become an autonomous platform.
Keeping in line with the idea of care and the individual need of each member to follow their own rhythm. The collective pot could be used to “help-out” a member that need to “borrow” money in order to survive, live, and/ or work towards their sustainability.
Advance payment is seen as lending a hand to one of the member that takes an engagement to give back the amount to the collective pot.
Each member can ask for an advanced payment of maximum 50,000 EUR.
Please refer to Attaya’s guidelines for the requirements for requesting an advanced payment.
The Time Strike is a mechanism to support our power to change the way we use time and transform our way of working within ‘project economy’ into sustainable and radically imagined activities.
The Time Strike Pot is a tool to develop self care and also to take a step further in the activities related with sustainability process and different ways of conviviality. It is a way to show solidarity with specific situations that some of the organizations might encounter.
This is really important for shifting paradigms in terms of criteria and judgment, but also is only received by organizations that ask for it when they need this extra aid or when they are ready to go further in a self sustainability process.
Time Strike Funds will be used for facilitating the Lifeline Plan, furthering a different mode of working and living in common, and assist our different rhythms. It is a spirit keeper, building the collective imaginary.
It could be used in different ways:
As a time to pause activities and do things that we never imagined before; time to do more experiments, time for freedom, and doing a project that has not been funded;
To study and provide space for your ‘own-rhythm practices’: for active, radical imagination and spare time for study; or as a mixture of investment and active study: to go deeper into your sustainable plan;
As a time for the organisation to break away from the routine/daily boringness of life.
Each member can call for a Time strike of maximum 32,000 EUR.
Please refer to Attaya’s guidelines regarding the requirements for a Time Strike request.