We want to be a positive influence in the world, and empower others to be so too. In this post we explain why, and the methodology of how through our work, which is making the arts available and relevant for all.
Our species is intrinsically connected to the well being of the worlds ecosystem, if we take care of our humanity, we take care of our majestic world. After all, we share our breath with trees, we are the ecosystem too. And for this reason we focus on our human relationships. When we are able to invest time into the art of human relations, to our connections to one another, we are happier, and when we are happy, we need less pointless shit..ta da! Very simple...And luckily humanity has thousands of years of experience on how to practise the expressions required to enrich ourselves, and its called art, dance and music...All these are a form of play, which is all mammals form of learning and bonding.
We believe that humanity’s well being depends on our capacity to bond as we are cognitively wired as a pack animal, similar to wolves or Chimpanzees; to be hormonally and immunologically balanced, we require physical contact with others, without this contact our health declines. On a basic fundamental level, if a pack/tribe is socially inept, it couldn't hunt effectively, if knowledge wasn't passed down, we struggled to know how to survive droughts or sickness. Our capacity to function as a tribe is as fundamental to our well being as food and water. That is why nature wisely evolved our hormones to require connections, Oxytocin for example is a hormone secreted by the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland. AKA the "cuddle hormone" AKA "love hormone," because it is released when people are snuggling, or bonding... and this hormone is required to be able to give birth, so we literally can't exist without it...along with Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphins and more. Without human connections; love, nice sensations, exorcise, laughter etc. these hormones are imbalanced, and it effects our sleep, digestion, mood, and obviously health.
So how do we fuel our connections?
Many of our species arts are manifestations to practice the complexity of our relations, in many parts of the world, the more the arts were expressed freely, the better organized the society was, and the less conflict is evident between people. This we believe is because our species needs to express to be able to love and be loved, it is our way to cope with being sentient beings. The arts are tools passed down by our ancestors that help us play, express and learn. These cultural tools or 'Folklore' passes down knowledge from generation to generation, helping us better understand our situation, which in turn betters our quality of life in many ways.
Why does enabling better human relations through cultural tools bugger up the world less?
Because we need less when we are happy...
When we dance, when we paint, when we eat together, laugh together, sing together, live together with love, we aid each other, and in turn we improve our quality of life, without so much dependence on consumerism. With the arts you can make something magical from nothing but your own creative capacity, since our ancestors were painting their caves, we have been using the same tools to build bonds and improve quality of life, no matter the circumstances...
In the status quo of the conventional narrative, we are rarely given the chance to prioritize these practices/tools, Investing our time & energy to our job is financially rewarded, however there is less support to have time invested into our friendships, family and partners, which can lead to poor conflict resolutions, which in turn is detrimental to our quality of life.
Within our collaborative we try to create moments & opportunities through art, music and movement workshops, that give the opportunity to invest time into the practise of expressing ourselves, and focus energy into the connections to ourselves and each other, empowering people to flourish in whatever way they need. because we believe that humanity’s quality of life depends on our capacity to bond, to love, and be loved, to have meaning and tribe.
This is why we set up our collaborative, and we hope to get the chance to keep empowering people from all walks of life through the arts.
Methodology behind.
Play Theory, Mutual Aid, Self Directed Education, Biology, Quantuum Physics, Tango, Expression Corporal, FeldenKrais, Evolutionary Anthropology & psychology, and a touch of perspicacity.
Feel free to look at some of our projects to see in practical terms how art can make a difference.
https://www.thelovingcollaborative.com/post/eco-friendly-mural-with-kids