Sorrel Salb

The great music scenes of our time had this ecology of talent. Motown, Seattle, Los Angeles, the list goes on. Creative competitiveness, imitation, idea expansion and support are key drivers in the advancement of a music scene. In Show your Work, Austin Kleon writes

“Scenius doesn’t take away from the achievements of those great individuals; it

Although many have tried many times, it is not really possible to command scenius into being... The best you can do is NOT KILL IT. When it pops up, don’t crush it. When it starts rolling, don’t formalize it. When it sparks, fan it. But don’t move the scenius to better quarters. Try to keep accountants and architects and police and do-gooders away

Brian Eno (musician and producer) calls this a “scenius “ .

“Under this model, great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals — artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers — who make up an “ecology of talent.”

The purpose of the II community is the II community. It’s an infinite game. Your goal is that people want to keep wanting to play with you.... I think if you do good work, it’s natural that you will become influential. Like good work is really rare. We want to have a better public discourse and a higher level of intellectual engagement. But it’s

Now that you know the secret, that human progress is the history of great scenia, you have no excuse. You cannot claim ignorance. You have a toolkit, and you have thirteen examples of scenius to mine for further lessons. You should also have the ability to recognize scenius, whether in history books or in its infant form in modern communities. 

Here is Eno’s definition : “ Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius. ”

Thirteen of history’s most productive and influential scenia and their contributions to humanity.

There is one common factor between all these names, whether from the 70s or today, whether punk poets, philosophers, filmmakers, writers or marketing strategists:  they are makers .

They are deeply connected to their creative muscle, they produce on a regular if not daily basis, they test, they fail, they take risks, they explore,  THEY CREATE and

Scenia do not start fully-formed. Instead, they evolve through three stages: communities, micro-scenia, and scenia. 

Community: a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common; a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

Examples: early personal