everythingandeveryone

everythingandeveryone
lost and not forgotten
the things i have
the things i want
the things i left behind
yes... and the people too
everythingandeveryone
every me and every you.

I work in Manchester and live in Salford: i am passionate about both cities. I have lived in Manchester and Salford half my life and like most graduates of one of the Universities there i stayed on after i graduated (this creates problems in and of itself, i know). A few years ago, when living in Manchester but working predominantly in London, i started to feel homesick for Manchester and Manchester as a place to work and be creative in. Plus, it was time to give something back to the city that has been my home for 18 years and to become embedded in the place that has been the source of much creativity, inspiration and fun.

I had the seed of an idea: i called it everythingandeveryone. It was a 2 page project idea that started as a bit of a rant, evolved into a premise and some principles and was then burned to CD and left there for a year as i figured out how to move back to working in Manchester for a living and doing something i enjoyed.

I always had this notion that i was from up north, well not from london anyway. i used to tell my mother... ' i was born in yorkshire, right??... "no darling, you were born in newham general hospital... just about!... your father wouldn't get out of bed even though my waters had broken! then he decided to have a shower and eat breakfast before finally he took me to the hospital!"

I shouldn't get distracted by stories about my mother and father... trust me - we'll be here for hours... (days) ...so, back to the project:

Here's the rant, the premise and the principles...

The world is divided by race, politics, wealth, culture, gender
– which lead to disconnection, injustice and war – against self, others and environment - everywhere is opposition:

thought and action religion and atheism muslim and Christian east and west
mortal and immortal animal and human fortunetelling and genetics
capitalism and communism art and science
black and white gay and straight man and woman
maths and music consumption and production life and death

The Premise
We are essentially all part of the same thing, made of the same materials, breathe the same air and when we die, return to the same earth to begin again. Inextricably, we are all connected, and ultimately we are, or have been, or will be, at some point in the history of the universe, part of everythingandeveryone.

How we respond to the world around us including how we treat the environment, how we treat people different from ourselves, younger than ourselves, older than ourselves, opens the floodgate for intolerance if it is not how we would ourselves want to be treated as an essential and component part of the universe.

The Project
This universal project is about finding and revealing connections and common ground between supposedly different spheres of thinking and belief, different forms of existence, whether ‘living’ or ‘dead’.

This project will take form through a range of different media and formats whether existing or yet to be discovered. The project is essentially inter-disciplinary with contributions from all fields and spheres of wisdom and experience.

Outcomes
Connectedness with self, others, universe
Learning through self, others, universe
Action to protect self, others, universe

Through everythingandeveryone people will feel connected to something they originally perceived as different and other than themselves and, for a moment at least, the perceived boundaries, barriers and difference will disperse and a genuine connection felt and acknowledged. Hopefully that’s the start of action – protecting yourself and the rights of others, protecting the environment - and realising that our actions and inactions impact on all of these things in some way, however big or small.

How it works
everythingandeveryone is informed by everythingandeveryone

everythingandeveryone grows through individual and collective ideas, questions, wisdom, experience gathered through contributions and commissions fielded across multiple disciplines
through a programme of online and offline activity: sharing, discussion, events, media, archive, exchange, disruption, play.

Online>>Offline
Live>>archive
Ideas≥≥Experience>>Media>>More

Anyhoooo... this is a longggggg post... this project idea eventually evolved into The Manchester Beacon which is focussed on drawing on the creative and collective intelligence of a city to drive social innovation by connecting people, place and knowledge.