Tom Tresser

Tom’s Talk About (and Prototype of) The Gift Economy

Tom Tresser — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 02:33:39 +0000

I presented at TEDxIIT on Saturday, April 14, on the south side campus of IIT. I talked about The Gift Economy and created one among the attendees. 82 of the 100 attendees actually offered something to their fellow attendees! Click on the player below to listen and click on the Slideshare viewer to watch the presentation. Watch all the presentations on Livestream.

The Gift Economy + Report of Prototype

View more PowerPoint from Thomas Tresser

What We Don’t Know (About The Infrastructure Trust)

Tom Tresser — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:51:33 +0000

From the great investigation team of Joravsky & Dumke:

“Everybody’s talking about Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to create a “trust fund” that would use private money to build infrastructure, though nobody seems to understand how it would actually work. But that’s not stopping aldermen from getting ready to approve it as soon as next week.

Of course, utter ignorance has never kept the City Council from adopting sweeping policies at the mayor’s behest. Remember the parking meter sell-off?

In case you’ve somehow forgotten, the parking meter deal gave private investors control of our streets and untold billions in future revenue for a bundle of cash up-front. Aldermen signed off even though they hadn’t read the information about it that Mayor Daley gave them a couple hours before they voted.

The difference with the infrastructure trust fund is that Mayor Emanuel has provided virtually no information for the aldermen to avoid reading. In Chicago, that’s called reform.

Let’s review what we know—or think we know—about the trust, and what no one has been willing or able to explain.

WHAT WE KNOW: Chicago’s infrastructure is crumbling. And if it’s not fixed, we’ll slip into the lake. On that everyone agrees.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW: Why Mayor Emanuel didn’t start by conducting and sharing a formal analysis of what needs to be fixed, how much it will cost, and what are the best ways to pay for it—you know, to make sure it’s done fairly and efficiently and all that.

WHAT WE KNOW: The city’s going to have to borrow money to finance projects to fix the infrastructure.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW: How the mayor’s going raise the money to fix the infrastructure, who will profit, and what’s to stop the taxpayers from getting soaked.”

Read the full article…

Let’s Talk About Power at “Creative Chicago Expo”!

Tom Tresser — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:38:31 +0000

The 2012 Creative Chicago Expo is this Friday and Saturday at The Chicago Cultural Center. I will be conducting a round table discussion on how the creative community might organize for power. The discussions will be held in Preston Bradley Hall (on the second floor of the Cultural Center) near the Chicago Artists Resource table. Anyone is welcome to attend and join the conversation. My session will be on Saturday, March 24 at 11am.

Stand Up For Creativity 2012: Time To Advocate for Power & Resources – how to get serious resources for the arts and artists in Chicago and the U.S.

Tom To Present @ Occupy Midwest

Tom Tresser — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:54:05 +0000

I’ll be in St. Louis on March 16 and 17 as part of the Occupy The Midwest Regional Conference. Join me and thousands of activists, concerned citizens and Occupiers under the Gateway Arch. I’ll be presenting on the No Games Chicago campaign and also “Community Organizing 101.” You can see the presentations at my teaching web site.

CounterSpin Radio Interview On No Games Chicago Camapign

Tom Tresser — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:17:57 +0000

CounterSpin Radio, a project of FAIR, interviewed me about my experience with the No Games Chicago campaign (10 minutes). This was sparked by a recent front page article in The New York Times about forced evictions in Rio as part of the prep for the 2016 Olympics.

Tom Part of Boost Camp for Arts Entrepreneurs

Tom Tresser — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:27:19 +0000

I’ve been added to the faculty of The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship’s 2012 Boost Camp. The Boost Camp is a series of 12 online experiences will help you work through a variety of relevant and specific topics to help you build your creative career. You will be guided and given the tools and information needed to execute your strategy you develop during the course. You will be introduced to creative, entrepreneurial and innovative experts from around the world, along with a community of artists with whom you will be able to share knowledge and opportunities. I’ll be doing a session on “Introduction to the Creative Economy – Why Creativity Fuels Progress” on June 9. Learn more here…

We know there is no one simple path that’s right for everyone. Boost Camp provides lectures by industry experts, group interaction and one-on-one sessions.

Tom Interviewed By Evoca Founder

Tom Tresser — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:55:02 +0000

Murem Sharpe, the CEO and founder of the online audio service Evoca, interviewed Tom online. Tom has been using Evoca for online recording and archiving speeches for a number of years. This is the audio file, 21 minutes.

Click to listen

Support Will Guzzardi for State Rep

Tom Tresser — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:56:14 +0000

Will Guzzardi is the real deal. I’ve been urging cultural workers, nonprofit managers and social change agents to run for office for over 20 years. I tried it myself. Will is a grassroots journalist and has done investigative work on social change issues and has fully participated in the social change movements in his community of Logan Square. Now he is a candidate in the race for the Democratic nomination for State Representative of the 39th District. He has got the Democratic Machine on the run! Listen to this seven minute speech and you will know why the people of the 39th District are excited about the idea of having a real fighter for the 99% representing them – and not a mouth piece for large corporations, the tax evasion industry and big pharma – they ALREADY have enough paid reps shilling for them!

Join the push to take back our local government from the 1%!

Global CEOs Say Creativity #1 “Must Have”

Tom Tresser — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:12:42 +0000

Good Magazine made this two minute video illustrating the 2010 IBM Global CEO Report where over 1,500 CEOs from 63 countries said that creativity was the Number One trait they are looking for from their managers. That’s why I’m teaching a class on creativity and business at the IIT Stuart School of Business.

GOOD Magazine Illustrates IBM’s 2010 CEO Study from Kaldor on Vimeo.

Nonprofits Have Failed America – Solution? Political Action

Tom Tresser — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:51:28 +0000

Tom gave this ten minute talk at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute forum on the future of nonprofits. Bottom line – nonprofits have failed us. Solution? Click here.