My first experiences with coworking, and federalism
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007The first time I coworked was in 1999. I’d helped Paul Surdi and David Samuels start the Tisch Talent Guild (TTG) at NYU.
COWORKING:
Paul and Dave got a small office in the lobby of the Tisch School of the Arts. I helped with membership. In the first year, we got 1,000 members, and the number of active members has remained consistent ever since. Students and alumni filled out a form with their interests or with job postings, which we entered into a database and emailed out.
Before TTG, students would post on bulletin boards — directors seeking actors, playwrights seeking directors, that kind of thing.
I produced my first theatrical shows through the TTG. Film students came in and browsed through our wall of headshots. Budgets were planned and advertising campaigns were reviewed in this tiny office. We worked side by side on our own projects. Whomever wanted to drop in stopped by and chatted. I mentored theater students who wanted to produce, and then did produce, their own shows.
The database and listserve was a great way to meet people, and is how I found actors, designers and assistants for my first few shows.
FEDERALISM:
As a student organization, the TTG was under the umbrella of the Student Government, the Tisch Undergraduate Student Council (TUSC). This actually was a kind of federal system and organizational democracy, not so different from how the United States, with its fifty states and federal government, is a federal system and democracy.
TTG officials were elected by TTG members, and we had term limits — students had to leave office when they graduated. We had our own budget, which came from the Student Government but also from other sources, including the general Tisch administration. We made our own decisions about most things, from office hours to how the office was administered, to which projects we’d work on and what services we’d offer our members.
The Student Government had an executive council, elected by the Tisch students. The council met every week with representatives from each of the student clubs, who were chosen and sent by the clubs. The Student Government was given its power through the clubs gathering together, just like the U.S. states historically gave their power to the federal government.
I often attended, and enjoyed being a liaison between the interests of TTG members and members of other clubs. I helped get some partnerships started, some money raised, and generally represented constituent interests and brought back insights and updates from the council to the TTG.
The federal Student Council had a budget it distributed among the clubs. It coordinated broad publicity by organizing club fairs. But each club made their own choices within those parameters — I remember working on budget proposals and press releases. Some folks at TTG even campaigned for some salaried staff positions, which we started.
Sure, we were a student organization, and what we could do was limited. We couldn’t elect the Dean of the school, and we couldn’t set school policy, or choose which teachers were hired or fired. But within our goal to provide student activities and services, we had autonomy, we were motivated, and we had a great time getting a lot done.
WHY I’M SO PASSIONATE ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL DEMOCRACY:
TTG and our Student Government set high standards for me. It was a hands-on experience with coworking and federalism, and showed me the power and joy of organizational democracy.
Coworking and federalist organizational democracy introduced me to lots of people who were passionate about what they worked on. We worked side by side and I learned a lot from them about budgeting, publicity, hiring, managing and getting things done.
That’s probably why I’m so passionate about organizational democracy — it’s a fun way to work with people, have a great time learning, and get more done than I ever imagined.
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