A message from IAO director, Saskia Wilson-Brown
Resolutions are flying, and they seem, y’know, substantial, this year. We’re all going through it. We’re going to exercise more, learn a language, make a schedule, spend time with our parents, make an effort with our friends, take direct action to ameliorate the world. It’s time! We can do it! It’s just a question of will!
Here at the IAO, our goals are similarly sunny and optimistic: We’ve got lots of big, fun plans. We’ve also got, like, less than zero long-term strategies to back them up. For better or worse, it’s how we roll.
Truth is, human beings are no good at controlling the unknown. We have no bloody idea where the world is heading, let alone our lives or businesses. Most of us involved in the IAO are artists; a band of philosophers with a keen action-impulse. We can only do what we do best: Work hard at incrementally improving the IAO, and try our best to take it day-by-day. It’s more zen and it makes us nimble. But strategy? Psssshhhh. Fugheddaboutit.
Having said that, I think we’ll succeed at our big, fun, totally-unstrategic plans. We’ll build a still. We’ll publish a book. We’ll develop a more robust education program. We’ll do a better job at engaging our fantastic members. We’ll partner with great people and institutions. We’ll force ourselves to fundraise. We’ll write more grant applications. We’ll produce and manage the (yuge! tremendous!) Art and Olfaction Awards. We’ll keep it weird. We’ll keep it communal. We’ll live up to our occasional nickname: ‘The Institute for Esoteric Activities’. It’s the best we can do – and it’s also WAY more fun.
Buckle up: It’s going to be a rollercoaster year.
– Saskia (<— not a pigeon)
Read our January newsletter here
