5×5…haters goona hate, but sometimes with good reason
Posted 27 January 2011 by NickThis morning Rick DeVos, the mastermind behind ArtPrize and heir to the Amway fortune announced his new venture, 5×5 Night. The idea behind it is that anyone with an idea, be it entrepreneurial, artistic, a community project, whatever, presents their proposal and a jury votes on it. The winner, or winners are awarded $5000. Upon first glance, there is certainly nothing controversial here. But the announcement, and the ensuing conversation has been just that.
Let me state up front that I don’t intend to use this post to do an in-depth study of things that the DeVos family has been connected to that I personally find objectionable. You can go on Wikipedia and read more about that yourself if you’re interested. But please know, from ties to war profiteers, connections to anti-homosexual groups, and pretty much the entire business model of Amway, I find plenty in the family’s history to object to.
That being said, I think 5×5 is a pretty good thing, just as I think ArtPrize is. However, I still think it’s worthy to critique some aspects of it. First and foremost, that it is not an original idea. As the feature story in Rapid Growth Media (who broke the news of 5×5) points out, the group Sunday Soup has been doing pretty much the same thing for nearly a year, just on a smaller scale. I have attended several of the Sunday Soup events and found them to be great community gatherings. They are often sparsely attended and the money given to the winners is not a lot. But the people presenting are always passionate about the work they are pursuing.
As someone who roots for the little guy, which Sunday Soup definitely is, my fear is that it will be swept away by 5×5. I understand the laws of the market and if Sunday Soup can’t compete then that is on them. However it still saddens me that so few participated in a small community event, but people are getting all worked up by DeVos’ newest announcement.
The most interesting aspect of this announcement however, seems to be the community’s reaction. Twitter has been abuzz all day with varying opinions of 5×5, and DeVos’s involvement in it. While I think honest critique often gets confused with “whining”, people are undoubtably going to be skeptical of anything that contains the name of our city’s most powerful family. As one tweeter (who maintains a private account, hence I will not link to it directly) put it to me:
The point is, if this story didn’t contain the D-word, nobody would be saying that. And you know it.
I don’t know Rick DeVos and don’t know what his political beliefs are. His ventures thus far have been largely apolitical, and been more entrepreneurial. However he bears the burden of coming from one of the most elite families in the country, and who also have deep ties to far-right causes. No matter how many cool things he does, even if they are beneficial to our city, he will have to carry that burden. It is our responsibility as citizens and consumers to critique and question the elites of our community, even if their work appears to be nothing but beneficial.
Post Details
- Post Title: 5×5…haters goona hate, but sometimes with good reason
- Date Posted: 27 January 2011
- Author: Nick
- Filed As: Grand Rapids
- Tags: 5X5 Night, ArtPrize, Rick DeVos, Sunday Soup
- Shortlink:
- You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
9 Opinions have been expressed on “5×5…haters goona hate, but sometimes with good reason”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jennifer K Design and Carl Furrow, Nick Manes. Nick Manes said: 5×5…haters goona hate, but sometimes with good reason (New post on http://www.nickmanes.com) http://bit.ly/fVOgXh [...]
well said. i do my best to judge someone based on who THEY actually are, not who their parents are.
Sean, thank you. I agree completely that we should judge on individual merit, not on family ties or connections. However, I’ve been getting the feeling that anyone who even questions these events (Artprize, 5×5, etc) that are considered great for our town is considered a whiner. That needs to change. We all should question, or critique these events. Otherwise we are nothing but passive consumers.
As with Artprize, skeptics or dissenters of 5×5 are being asked, “What have you done for GR lately?” or “What new company did you create that created jobs?” That kind of rhetoric cannot be argued against, because it is not the point of the complaint.
People have opinions. People have doubts. Let’s have conversation and dialog, and not pointless defensiveness, and hurtful back-and-forths.
Thank you for posting.
I want to see honest critique, not bullshit about the family name. I want to see people stop telling them how to spend their money. I want people to stop bitching every time we cover a story with them in it about how we need to cover the small stuff, indicating to me they only read the publication when they are in it. I got a complaint about Sunday Soup, saying we should cover it. Not only did they get a larger profile and photoshoot, they’ve been covered in gsync three times, including this week.
I, too, think Sunday Soup is great, but it isn’t for everyone. I have rehearsal and can’t make it. I’m free during 5×5 and look forward to going. No one is going to stop Sunday Soup from doing it. A lot of small art projects can be financed that way.
If someone takes a good idea and does something similar, it is only a positive outcome. If the people behind Sunday Soup are upset, then explain why. They certainly didn’t invent competing for a prize or minigrants. Asserting that they should be the only ones provide minigrants for ideas in gr is selfish.
Basically, every time we cover artprize and now this in a positive light, people complain and look for a hidden agenda. But these people are totally silent when we talked about Sunday Soup, Lotus Odeyssey and other organizations not containing DeVos ties as though only a rich family could be possible of agenda, and at the same time, as though they couldn’t possibly simply be altruistic.
What’s most offensive is that all this media watchdoggery shows a severe ignorance… it shows that when the underdog is covered, their champions do not listen.
I, for one, have been disgusted today with some of the pettiness.
Let’s see how this plays out. Let’s see if the first people to comment about how they’re going tp try out — SHFTB — apply, even though they constantly mock the family. And let’s see if they don’t get in if it gets blamed on a conservative agenda. It seems to me that for all the shots taken, including gr30k, which I was a part of, they’re pretty good natured and don’t ever hinder anyone.
Let’s see if the first winner does something great. If the first winner is pitching a mobile web app to find gay people and go bash them, then we can talk about hidden agendas or conservative bias. Until then, its bullshit.
Which sounds a lot like whininh to me.
Juliet,
thanks for your comment. As far as an honest critique of the family, I think there are several. But just to briefly back up what I said in the post regarding ties to war profiteers/criminals, Dick DeVos’s sister Betsy is married to Erik Prince, former owner of Blackwater, a private mercenary firm who has made billions in profits from the US government via wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (also our allie Pakistan). I own the book Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill which provides a good amount of insight into the family connections. As for ties to anti-homosexual groups, check out their link to Focus on the Family. Don’t even get me started on Amway as a pyramid scheme/religious organization. Just let me know if you’re interested and I’ll be happy to send you some links on this stuff. But all of this is beside the point. That was previous generations and Rick appears to be doing something entirely different. KUDOS TO HIM!
As far as the Sunday Soup aspect, I don’t think I ever asserted that they should be the only ones doing minigrants. My only point was that very few paid attention to that group or got involved in it. I tip my hat to RGM for covering it. But now that DeVos announces he’s doing something very similar, everyone loves it. As I stated in the post, I am not opposed to Rick DeVos or him doing 5×5. I think it’s good and I hope people do great things with this platform.
I don’t know what your email inbox looked like today. If it is half as ugly as you have briefly described then that is terrible. But I honestly have not seen much of what I would consider whining. I have seen lots of people who appear to like it, and others who also appear to like but have some questions and reservations. I fall into the latter.
With the whole soup thing, I’m more addressing all comments on the whole, not just yours.
I get the reasons for having reservations about the politics of some family members, but Rick (and the other employees of Pomegranate who often get overlooked) seem to be decent folk, who were kind to me even before I had anything to do with the media.
If I can use an analogy we can all understand, its like telling Luke Skywalker to get lost because Darth Vader is his dad.
My inbox isn’t that ugly… I mean, its frustrating, but its okay. I just wish people would notice the small groups we talk about, not hate on the biggies.
Not one person emailed me about Teamwork Bags or Haute Lunch today.
The problem with separating the DeVos family from Rick DeVos’ ventures is that he gets his money due to his family connections. Consequently, I’m inclined to say that the family’s politics DO matter.
I think the criticism is valid. 5X5 shows have gone on in Grand Rapids way before this. Jen Schaub, Rebecca Rodriguez and Lisa Crow put one on in 2003 at the Lofi Gallery, that brought a lot of people out and brought a lot of really good conversations in the local art scene. I believe the UICA has done similar shows. This looks like to me big money co opting the Grand Rapids art community. All Devos family politics aside, a general media critique that must be considered is the coverage that these events get when the Devos name or “Big Money” is attached. Rapid Growth coverage is one thing but as hard as it is to believe most people in Grand Rapids get their news from the local TV outlets who cover Rick Devos’ events like crazy. Things that are more community based, small donation, Sunday Soup, Avenue for the Arts, Mexicains Sans Frontieres, Richard App Gallery, Sanctuary Folk Art, what have you events and organizations will never get the coverage that the big money gets.
Also politics up fornt. Rick Devos was listed as a supporter on Justin Amash’s website. Justin Amash is pro-life and supports the Defense of Marriage Act.