Principle #2: treat relationship as art
What it is
Relationship as art is a design principle that we apply to Street Works in service to multiple characteristics of loving care and solidarity.
This design principle is important to Street Works because we believe...
Too many of our relationships are guided by transaction. This corrupts how we engage and our ability to build long-term trust and solidarity.
So what if we, and the relationships we form, are the art? Relationships are beautiful, and systems are little more than guidelines for relationship. When relationships are nurtured with a creative eye, the possibility for system evolution is endless.
Goals
To treat relationship as art, all Street Works projects aim to the following with artists, community members, paid team members, members of other organizations, and volunteers:
Design joy and self-expression into collaboration
Nurture relationships, regardless of whether there's a project attached to it
Always have an open door to meeting, connecting, and supporting.
To treat relationship as art, all Street Works festivals will work to:
Create artistic experiences uniquely designed to spark or deepen relationships, between passersby, participants, and organizers.
Why
We live in systems that often prioritize art over artists and products over the processes that create them. While outcomes do matter, an obsession with controlling results—wanting to fix or predict what will happen— come at the expense of how we relate to one another, and democracy. Justice asks us to pay attention to process: how power is shared, how decisions are made, and how we show up in relationship with one another.
But it can be hard to put relationships first. Many of us are navigating systems that demand urgency and productivity just to meet basic needs like rent and food. When our work isn’t designed to value relationships, neglecting them becomes a condition of survival.
By reframing relationship as a meaningful and intentional art form, we see its creative potential. Thoughtfully designed relationships can foster joy, deepen belonging, and open up new possibilities for how we create. It also invites us to see system design as an art practice.
