Build Community Like a Social Alchemist
Life is a Festival #17: Bear Kittay (Good Money)
Bear Kittay is an entrepreneur, political organizer, musician and was once the Global Ambassador for Burning Man. He also led the acquisition of Fly Ranch for the Burning Man organization. He is currently co-founder of Good Money, a new online banking platform owned by the people in service of the planet. Bear considers himself a Social Alchemist, weaving together disparate communities around the world.
On on the podcast we discuss how building a community is different than leveraging a network. We talk about creating small intentional communities and how they are kept together through ritual and ceremony. We consider the dark side of creating communities of common interests and clustering values. We finish up the podcast with an exclusive of Bear and Wavy’s new track “Clarity.”
Community is a process, not a place.
LISTEN
Links
TIMESTAMPS
6 mins: What is a Social Alchemist?
9 mins: The unique gifts of different Burning Man regional events
13 mins: When I met Bear and he took me to Fly Ranch
15 mins: How Bear and I both got sent away to therapeutic boarding schools
18 mins: Bear’s background as a political organizer with “music for Democracy” and Organizer.com
21 mins: How Bear went to work for Burning Man to get a PhD in Post-Capitalism
27 mins: How online social infrastructure was built for the purpose of extractive capitalism
32 mins: The Fly Ranch vision of a physical location for the global community of Burning Man
38 mins: Building community vs leveraging networks
42 mins: How intentional communities stay together through shared ritual
48 mins: The dark side of communities, clustering and filter bubbles
53 mins: Community is a process, not a place
58 mins: Good Money and creating alternatives to extractive capitalism
105 mins: What brings Bear back to creating music
108 mins: Bear’s best advice for budding social alchemists
110 mins: Bear shares his original track: Clarity
Special thanks to my rad producer Ari Andersen (Host of the Millennials Don’t Suck Podcast)
My multi-disciplinary design partner Andy McErlean
And the most delightful dj atish for the truly festive theme song: “Peculiar Colors” [Manjumasi]