How UnLondon is Building a Creative City
This post is a summary of a lighting talk given at the Code For Canada launch on April 5th in Toronto, Ontario.
The UnLondon Digital Media Association is a grassroots, community led organization — working at the intersection of art + make + technology. As a community of creators, makers and instigators we believe that the best work happens at the intersection of disciplines, and at the edges where ideas collide with each other.
Since our launch in 2010, we’ve built our community on these principles, enabling innovations, new ideas, and game changing projects to find the facilities, the education and the advocacy that they need for success.
Three words “Gather. Create. Improve” sum up everything we do, and even the story of they came to express UnLondon is a testament to their efficacy. As a brand new non-profit in early 2010 we realized that we need a mission and vision statement. Our experiences were with unconferences (participant-driven, agenda-less, gatherings) and so we chose to apply the same approach for this exercise. We invited our community to spend an afternoon with us, discussing and shaping ideas, imagery and concepts. We complemented ideas, expanding on them and refining them over time. Yet nothing seemed to stick. At that point one of the participants walked up to a whiteboard and wrote these three words: Gather. Create. Improve.
We instantly realized that not only was that what we had been doing all day, its was also what we wanted UnLondon to always do.
Gather. When we bring community together we discover and learn together. We are collectively smarter, more effective and impactful than we are individually — even when we disagree. At UnLondon we facilitate opportunities to spend more time connected physically and digitally.
Create. We are all creators, we are hardwired to build, design, influence, shape and inform. I tell new members at UnLondon that everyone has something to teach someone else, that you know something or have done something that someone else hasn’t and you can learn with them.
Improve. The process is more important than the product. We need to appreciate the path that we take towards creating and realize that it’s never done. There is always something to add, an invitation to remix, and a way to re-imagine.
What started on a whiteboard in the basement of a research building at Western has grown and flourished into a community of passionate and excited Londoners from many walks of life, experiences and goals.
In the past 7 years UnLondon has expanded our programs, services and support in order to reach more Londoners and to help them realize the contribution that they can have. In just 3 years we’ve taught over 1500 elementary and highschool students a wide range of digital literacy skills, we continue to deliver creative workshops, entrepreneurial programs and connect mentors with proteges.
We are now preparing to launch Civic Tech London, an expansion on the work started many years ago in our Open Data community, and with several successful hackathons under our belts, we are preparing to address new civic opportunities. Civic Tech London will launch at the Go Open Data conference in London on May 5 and 6th.
In 2017 it’s imperative that we move from a culture of consumers, into a community of creators. From those watching YouTube to people watching political affairs, we need to encourage everyone that there is an opportunity for them to write the next chapter and that their voice can contribute to the creative community that we want to build. Community flourishes when we share a common problem, collaborate on solutions and invest in each other.
