The Banana Republic of NXNE

On Friday I sat on a panel titled Why NXNE Sucks? This was a NXNE initiative aimed at providing a space for members from the local arts community to air their grievances about NXNE. As an attempted coup d'état to quash negative sentiment and puzzle panellists, they abolished their 45-day radius clause minutes before the panel started.

My thesis on NXNE’s state of the union was simple: all of the current issues they face are symptoms of a foundational misunderstanding of and respect for the role played by local and emerging artists in their festival. NXNE is huge and important not because of the large talent they draw or the relatively-new Yonge/Dundas Square shows, but the cumulative impact of engaging with the massive local and emerging arts community. It is the mayhem in the streets that defines NXNE, not the MiO/Fleshlight/Samsung-sponsored “mayhem” at Y/D Square.

Walking out of the panel I felt like a parliamentary candidate in a Banana republic; NXNE staffers, having shown their hand by abolishing the radius clause, began celebrating within their ivory towers and sky castles while the commoner’s debated their false democracy for forty five minutes.

The truth of the matter is that the 45-day radius clause was a symptom of a larger problem. Weird Canada’s petition to end the 45-day radius clause received over 3,000 signatures, but the real meat came with Executive Director Marie LeBlanc Flanagan’s survey, containing hundreds of allegations about NXNE’s treatment of artists, volunteers, venue managers, and pass-holders.

Marie’s research pointed to a large, systemic problem with NXNE, most of it having very little to do with the radius clause.

Here are my thoughts about the panel, and a call to action for the future.

Quashing the Radius Clause: Not a Victory

Let’s get this straight. The press-release about quashing the radius clause contained more damning information than the clause itself. It became finally transparent that the clause had nothing to do with treating artists like “gourmet cheeseburgers” (NXNE’s words), but everything to do with CMW moving their dates forward and encroaching on NXNE’s territory. What does this mean and why is it so offensive? In response to CMW, NXNE punished the entire local arts community by introducing a 45-day radius clause. NXNE used local artists; NXNE abused their position of power, using artists to leverage themselves against CMW.

If your organization relies entirely on the local arts community for its cumulative impact and success, then you need to think very carefully about your actions. The inability to see how a 45-day radius clause, introduced to protect NXNE from CMW, would negatively affect local and emerging artists is a massive warning sign on the long-term viability of NXNE.

The Panel Title

The panel was titled “Why NXNE Sucks?” Before the panel Marie and I sat down to discuss how we would best represent our community. One of the things she pointed out was:

(paraphrased) NXNE has gathered incredible leaders of the local community, and instead of asking them “how do we make NXNE the best possible music festival?” They’ve turned the whole thing into a marketing gimmick.

Marie LeBlanc Flanagan

Marie’s observation blew my mind. While I didn’t like the VICEification of the title, I never considered that NXNE effectively wasted an amazing opportunity: they had Dan Seligmann from Pop Montreal, Aubrey Jax from BlogTO, Paul Lawton of The Ketamines, and myself, together, and instead of us talking about what makes festivals amazing, we were there to complain.

Sure “Make NXNE The Most Rad” is not as catchy, but if your goal is to actually improve NXNE by engaging with the local arts community, then the title is less important.

Who Was On The Panel

Let’s talk about who was on this panel. I believe the first person who joined was Aubrey Jax. From there, she recommended that Paul Lawton join, and Paul recommended me. I am grateful to both of them for including me. However, NXNE should have taken a more responsible approach to finding better representation: three collaborators, a NXNE insider, and someone from Pop Montreal hardly makes a representative panel. I believe both Aubrey and Paul would agree with this, and while NXNE will fall on the “panel is too small” excuse, I’d argue working around that limitation in the name of better representation would have been better and more responsible.

Even worse, my proposal to have Marie LeBlanc Flanagan on the panel was rejected. Weird Canada is run jointly by Marie and myself (truthfully: mostly it’s Marie), so to have me and not both of us on that panel seemed strange. I petitioned and was rejected. When I told them I’d rather have Marie on that panel as most of our ideas come from her, they said they “wanted an artist.” When I told them I wasn’t an artist, they asserted even more “no.”

Marie wrote an incredible FAQ about the sexism of NXNE’s panel. And if you looked on that stage every single person was white.

Before you start storming down on the “PC police,” simply ask yourself: why wasn’t there better representation?

NXNE Is Accountable To Whom?

Gone are the days where businesses were allowed to project their idioms onto the public; in the age of digital empowerment the most successful businesses are platforms for humans and communities to create their own identities and take charge of their own lives (unfortunately often on the terms the platform). Think google, twitter, facebook, tumblr, pinterest, change, airbnb, etsy, groupon, dropbox, etc. at the end of the day these are all products that are defined and tuned (often mathematically) to better represent their users. Startups pivot as desires change, and new products emerge in places previously thought impossible.

Where does this leave a meagre music festival? If they want to take their work to the next level, not just the level that SXSW has achieved, but even further, to a state where they are both a unique reflection of and tool of empowerment for the greater Toronto area, where artists large and small travel from around the world to participate in a unique cultural and economic exchange of ideas; if NXNE wants to think beyond each year, beyond musical and digital programming, and far into a sustainable future of immense growth and respect, they need to immediately address their foundational misunderstanding of the role the local arts community plays. Once they become a tool of empowerment for this community, there is no limit.

Local and emerging arts communities are extremely agile, performant, and strong; they have immense vision, greater flexibility, better representation, and are able to achieve more with fewer resources. They are intimately connected to their communities and able to enable them to achieve massive projects. By becoming a platform for the empowerment these organizations, there is no limit on the possibilities for NXNE (or any organization acting in this capacity).

Unfortunately, given NXNE’s limited vision, structure, and status within the community, I do not think this is possible for them.

So What?

It’s time we take charge of our community, of our technology, and our vision. It’s time we smash the shackles placed on us by the likes of NXNE, CMW, and public arts funding. It’s time we start building tools to empower our community and end the abusive terms demanded by these organizations; organizations that exist to empower the privileged, maintain the status quo, and serve the interest of individuals instead of our community. It’s time for us to start building organizations that think years into the future; a future beyond capitalism; a future capable of empowering individuals and communities to bring humanity to the furthest possible heights.

What Next?

(the below ideas are personal do not necessarily represent those of Weird Canada or Wyrd Arts Initiatives)

• I am calling for a massive artist boycott of both NXNE and CMW in 2015.
• I am calling on artists and the community to program music and art events during those festivals under a common banner.
• I am calling for the overhaul of all public art funding, beginning with introducing more resource-based funding .
• I am calling on the City of Toronto to establish a permanent all-ages venue, freely bookable on a combination of first-come-first-serve, lottery, and fixed-use basis, focused on usage by under-age bands and promoters.
• I am calling on the City of Toronto to fund educational programs in said venue.
• I am calling on the City of Toronto to fund and establish an annual music and arts festival in and around said all-ages venue.

I am sick and tired of not thinking big; I am sick and tired of asking for less in an effort to meet the terms of others. This is our life and we get one chance to live it.

Act now.