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Arts and Culture

The Arts and Culture section highlights creative work in all mediums and disciplines with a special emphasis on artists, writers, performers, and collectives who blur the lines between art-making, personal activism, and community involvement. As they employ new artistic strategies, contemporary creatives continue to expand the role of arts and culture in public life.

This section will feature intriguing and often ground-breaking work and explore how it might illuminate the challenges and opportunities we face as we move toward a commons-based world.

Poetry as Provocation

May 13, 2013 | by Camille Gage

An interview with Sarah Browning of Split This Rock

How Arts and Culture Open a Window to the Wider World

April 25, 2013 | by Camille Gage

And help us more clearly see all that we share

Submission Guidelines

April 24, 2013 | By On the Commons Team

Poetry submissions are currently OPEN. Click here to learn how to submit.

Great Movies, Music, Art & Stories That Evoke the Commons

January 14, 2012 | By Jay Walljasper

An artistic canon of collaboration and sharing (Please add your favorites)

How Artists Strengthen Communities

May 21, 2013 | By Camille Gage

The rise of creative placemaking raises interesting questions

UNCOMMON/WORD Poet Advisors

May 14, 2013 | By Camille Gage

A Woman Ahead of Her Time

April 22, 2013 | By David Bollier

Jane Jacobs was a visionary champion of great cities, who is celebrated each May with Jane's Walks around the world.

The End of the Post Office as a Public Institution?

February 6, 2013 | By David Morris

The Post Office will close half its processing centers this year and end Saturday delivery

The Tragic Death of a Commons Hero

January 24, 2013 | By David Bollier

Aaron Swartz (1986-2013)

Creative Tension Between the Individual and the Group

January 22, 2013 | By Sarah Schultz & Sarah Peters

Lewis Hyde on the cultural dynamics of the commons

How Disney Raids the Public Domain

January 8, 2013 | By On the Commons Team

And gives nothing back in return because Mickey Mouse is locked up under copyright in the castle

The Beehive Collective Creates a Buzz About the True Costs of Coal

January 7, 2013 | by Nica Horvitz

The Beehive Collective Creates a Buzz About the True Costs of Coal: