NETWORK VANGUARD
The Creative Collective Alliance is a grass roots cultural arts foundation sponsored by the Los Angeles Leadership Academy, A 501c3 Non Profit Corporation in good standing with the State of California and the United States Internal Revenue Service.
The Creative Collective Alliance is a small yet ever increasing republic of artists and free thinkers who have harmonized their individual motivations into a Collective "Mastermind" for the sole purpose of affording any individual who seeks it, the opportunity to empower themselves creatively, financially, emotionally and spiritually through the practical application of spiritual principles, service and creative action.
“The intellect can be made to look far beyond the range of what men and women ordinarily see, but not all the colleges in the world can alone confer this power - this is the reward of self-culture; each must acquire it for himself; and perhaps this is why the power of observing deeply and widely is so much oftener found in those men and those women who have never crossed the threshold of any college but the University of Hard Knocks."
Observation-Russell H Conwell
THE CREATIVE COLLECTIVE ALLIANCE NETWORK
FULFILLING OUR OWN FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS
In hindsight, WE have lived much of our life with our finger squarely on the pulse of the more negative manifestations of the human condition. In order to fully UNDERSTAND one must become part of what ever it is that they wish to know. Mr Gates, as you read our words, KNEW what you had to do and did not wait on Harvard to validate you in your own quest to fulfill your personal legend.
School is something of a disaster in our modern era. The confined mind learns to play the game early on is rewarded for thinking inside the dotted lines. If one were to look up the definition of addiction, Self defeating belief or trauma and recite it back to his teacher, they would gain the merits of a book-based education which had yet to be tested in the laboratory of human experience.
Instead many of our members rebelled against confines of this single dimensional learning machine and abandoned ourselves into the tragedies of life them self. We became the same person in the books our peers would study about. We escaped into each and every fear driven behavior until there was nothing left to do except succumb to our own self imposed fate.
Somehow we completed this well rounded education with our mind and body still very much in tact. If we could survive those dark years and live to articulate our findings in such a way that both the street junkie and the college professor could relate to then this is what we have an obligation to do.
We see now that much of our existence spent enduring the disappointments of human relationships was exactly as it was supposed to be. We were supposed to endure the years of isolation, frustration, fear and pain in order to serve those whom we met on our decent downward.
Through personal experience and reflection upon our own struggles and pains we have developed a practical plan of action that we have already began to implement on a local level.
Our farmers market which we collectively own and operate came to fruition through a 1500 dollar consultation fee the author of this grant proposal was paid to assist another local business in setting up a farmers market of their own. He has years of experience running many successful markets for a private owner and made good use of his experience as an example of WORKING WITH WHAT HE HAD NOW. The author of this grant proposal spent every last dollar of that money, which was all he had at the time on fees needed to legally open a certified market of that sort. On a microcosmic level he understood that to be worthy of ownership he would have to develop the essential tools required to do so. It should be known that through out that process he was overwhelmed with fear and self doubt to the point of sickness.
In hind sight it was the single greatest gift he could have to given to himself because he could now see exactly what he was capable of rather than what He BELIEVED he was capable of.
Once it was opened he had to be very conscious of his thoughts and actions due to an ingrained self defeating belief system which was fighting for its life. Some of these beliefs were that he was neither worthy of owning nor capable of managing the business even though he had already demonstrated the FACT that he could many times over the course of his life. Managing someone Else's interests or being a leader in a group were not quite the same as STANDING ON YOUR OWN and assuming FULL responsibility.
This might not seem like that big of a triumph to a man of your stature but none the less all is relative and I am sure you can relate to a time in your life when you had the very same doubts and fears. It is through this relation that all men can find communion. It was also a gesture to the powers that be. If men like the author could shoulder some of the burden and responsibility of taking ownership, first with themselves and then within the arena of life then this could pave the way for others of my sort to do the same. Perhaps over time more and more men will do as I have done and then the powers that be would no longer feel encumbered by our woes.
It is within the confines of our humble start up market where we collectively established the vendor ownership structure covered at length in a section to come. We as a group were able to work out some of the kinks that always arise when combining accepted structures with imagination to produce totally new combination of elements that at their most fundamental level never change. Thus the term of “Nothing New Under The Sun” holds true.
Our Silversun farmers and Artisan Market, which has been open since July 7th of last year has been a vital learning tool in order for us to become a serious co operative worthy of your considerations. It is one thing to have great ideas that may work as outlined in grants just like this. However we have had the advantage of practically applying all Arms of the Alliance on a small scale to verify both their effectiveness and their ability to fulfillment the most fundamental of human need. This is where you and your wife's organization come into the equation.
Members of our collective spent two previous years developing the guiding principles of Creative Collective LA and specifically, Our OPEN GATHERING event platform. With less than 500 dollars of start up capitol we started producing grass roots art and music events for the recovery community. Within a 6 month period we went from a small Aurthur Murray dance rehearsal space with a modest attendance of 80 to 120 people to a 20,000 square foot yoga studio in Hollywood which catered to upwards of 800 people per event.
We are all about designing structures that affect the most possible cause for the least amount of resources. We even took it upon ourselves to design and build 10 free standing art walls that would showcase over 50 local artists per event. This was essential since the beautiful and ideal yoga studio had one condition which was the only draw back. No art could be hung on their walls. Additionally, being an all inclusive collective, we found it far more beneficial to produce eclectic gatherings with a 5-10 dollar door donation that serves a thousand people than a black tie dinner at 500 dollars a plate which caters to 100 people.
This is is perhaps one of our greatest strengths in that our main and constant motivation is to SERVE rather than PROFIT. We have discovered that profit is a natural bi-product of doing what we love. On average our Golden Bridge Gatherings would collect 5-8,000 dollars at the door which we found to be more than sufficient to sustain future gatherings however we never intended upon being a one trick pony so to speak and made a conscious decision to turn our sights into new and uncharted realms that needed serious consideration prior to advancement.
The mortal clamors for power and prestige we rumbling through our steering committee meetings and our principle members saw that more internal work would be necessary THEN in order to be better suited to lead NOW. We had to ready ourselves for the moment when our paths would have the potential of crossing the likes of your own. We can report without a doubt that the first round of growing pains has been transcended. We now posses the essential understanding to meet the inevitable challenges of the future with adequate tools to steady the course.
CREATIVE COLLECTIVE L.A.
*Fraternal organization showcasing and inspiring creative action*
ART BRUT
*Homeless and institutionalized Artist outreach program*
THE BLACK BUTTERFLY PROJECT
*Supporting and empowering creators in transition*
SELF DEFEATING BELIEFS ANONYMOUS
*12 Step program addressing the cause rather than the effect*
THE LOTUS FLOWER
*Structured group residential program addressing self defeating beliefs*
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
*Reality TV show about the human condition in all its manifestations*
LIVE LOVE L.A.
*Vacant commercial structures converted into live/work cultural art hubs*
THE PEOPLES MARKET
*Vendor-Owned Farmer Market investing half the profits to their customers*
