Dispatch #3
When I pitched this class, I wanted to partner with an external publication that students could both learn from and work on. A publication in 2026 can literally be anything (a series of LinkedIn posts, a YouTube video, a database of revealing emails…) and so, a collaborator needed to have a clear audience, a recognizable but flexible voice, and have multiple outputs. Index Space, the co-working and peer-led programming venue, seemed like a fantastic choice. They model many of the things I think designers and writers need to understand right now, including how to balance creative work with the realities of living in an expensive city.
Elie Andersen, co-founder of Index Space, generously helped us achieve this by allowing us to partner with Index, and this week, was our first guest speaker!
Elie talked about the origins of Index, from its pandemic-era online events, to the present where they have 2 New York City locations, 4 international nodes, host hundreds of events, and a growing archive of resources on their website. She shared that Fluxus “happenings,” which we looked at last week, were an inspiration for their business. Similar to how these art events had clear instructions but left room for spontaneity, Index has a clear framework and lets their audience propose the events they host. Cohesion and surprise!
It was interesting to see the event proposal form Index uses. It’s a great example of how questions can contribute to the quality of the response. Elie talked candidly about how much labor goes on bts. In addition to running the business, she also designs graphics and edits the event submissions. This is where AI becomes helpful because it helps with efficiency, but only works because it’s used to honor the original author’s submission with the clear editorial direction Elie provides.
A theme that also came up was about making decisions based on observation rather than expectation. For example, Index used to promote events through a newsletter and Instagram but they saw that Instagram alone was already reaching their audience. This is a small note, but I think that it’s a helpful reminder that finding the custom solution for your own initiative is more important than blindly following generic advice or how-tos.
We ended the session with an activity where we shared the communities we’re a part of. I participated, too, and had fun connecting with students over liking dance and also being an “early generation immigrant.”
For homework, students are reading “Are All Events Slop Now?” by Gael Aitor. Under his social club Grownkid, Gael hosts playful weekly gatherings for young people searching for community. Events like "Fight Your Evil Situationship Boxing Rave" are very of-the-moment and rely in part on novelty and virality, but when viewed alongside Index Space, both point to a shared desire for people to participate and connect, and how design and language help achieve that.
