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The Culture of Kinship
What lies at the heart of our philosophy is what lies at the heart of the word kinship. We believe in the essential nature and critical value of all beings as interconnected parts of a greater whole. In that, we hold high affinity, association, and connection among the disparate parts. We invite you to join us as we practice these core tenets together:
We are a community of practice with encouraging and supportive spaces for people to take risks, be vulnerable, and be honest. Generosity is the kindling of the kinship community.
We encourage listening and empathy and the generous sharing of resources and skills.
We prioritize embodied knowledge, direct-lived experiences, and poeises (knowing through making) and celebrate multiple and different ways of knowing.
We encourage questions over suggestions or directives to best benefit artists whose work is unfolding. As a community of creators and makers from all experience levels, we promote respectful sharing and discussion.
We respect all beings, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion.
We acknowledge that cultural inequities exist within many art institutions and communities. We are always looking for ways to improve our platform and engagement tools for historically marginalized, excluded, or oppressed peoples.
Please use your best judgment when sharing content that could be upsetting. Trigger and content warnings are welcome and should precede the content.
We encourage and request acknowledgment of direct and indirect collaborators. Including land acknowledgements (see below). Don’t take authorship of something that is not yours. Do publicly celebrate your community-inspired sources and inspirations.
To create accessibility for people of all income levels, we use a sliding-scale economic model for our memberships and programs. As a member-supported community, we rely on your honesty and generosity when selecting your contribution level.
Megan Driving Hawk
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the traditional land names and generations of Indigenous Peoples who originally stewarded these lands & waterways and who have lived in reciprocity with the more-than-human-kin we photograph and live among globally today.
We continuously learn from and are accountable to a long lineage of Indigenous knowledge, passed on from elders, artists, and living practices, that understands kinship not as metaphor but as ways of being. We recognize this ongoing responsibility for the land and kin we live among.
We encourage individuals to research & support local Indigenous-led land stewards and work in humble partnership to create land acknowledgments to honor peoples and places.
As a starting place, we recommend:
Special thanks to Megan Driving Hawk, Liz Titone and Sarah Barker.