Friday, September 30, 2011

The Ground Zero Credo

I promised to share our vision... after all, we can't get you involved if we don't.   *smile*  
  •  We value the people who support art in any context:  those who enjoy art, those who produce art, and those who empower artists by encouraging them and providing them with places to engage their creativity.
  • We believe that freedom of expression through art can provide common ground and has the capacity to unite people across continents, socioeconomic status, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other aspect that can potentially divide people.   
  • We believe there are no rights or wrongs in art… it is a beautiful matter of interpretation.
  • We believe in the arts community, especially in Second Life and believe that we can support each other to realize our visions and dreams without diminishing the extensive individual efforts being put forward 
  • We believe that virtual worlds  allow for unprecedented  collaboration among artists and worldwide audiences.   We want to be part of that evolution because it excites us to consider all the possibilities and we want to help raise awareness of those possibilities.
  • We believe that there are many people, some of whom have Second Life accounts and others who don't, who have not had the opportunity to experience the arts in the virtual domain.  We believe in helping those people find the art that will feed their soul.
  • We believe in providing a variety of music and arts at our location and especially supporting those who are taking the brave step of putting their art out for public viewing or performance for the first time.. 
  • We believe in courtesy and respect for others and what they are doing.  We believe in honest and respectful communication which includes constructive criticism when appropriate.
  • We believe in fostering an environment where people do their best to maintain a positive outlook so the creative energy can flow. 
  • We believe in empowering people to pursue their vision by connecting them to the resources that already exist for them to do so or creating resources through collaborative innovation if the methods don’t yet exist. 
  • We believe that there are many others with similar vision to ours who are great contributors in their own way,  and we just need to reach out to find each other so we can magnify and enhance the individual efforts through development of a broader support network.
Our mission is to provide a place of community and resource for artists.   We want people to come and use our space – play music or do performance arts on our stage, display visual arts in our pavilion, use our sky lounge for meetings or gatherings.  We want people who are working on a collaboration to know there is a place where they can get together.  We also want newcomers, either to Second Life or to the arts therein, to have a place to start.  Whether they just want to learn about what’s out there as a consumer, or whether they want to produce their own art….  Or if they have been making music in non-virtual worlds for a long time and want to see if they can expand their audience…  and many more possible scenarios.

Our current platform is a chunk of virtual land in Second Life and a presence on the internet, but we are open to letting the concept grow and evolve over time.  Our ultimate vision is to provide the resources necessary to allow those who chose to port their art between virtual and non-virtual worlds to do so.  We are open to helping artists come into Second Life as well as the other way around.

If you have read this far, and you share any part of our vision, please contact us!  We would love to meet like minded people to join forces!!  We can only imagine what can be accomplished when committed people with shared vision are working together!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Welcome to the blog!

Hey everyone!
Whether you made it here from our site or just happened in, we welcome you!  <<Ground Zero>> Music and Art is a location in the virtual world of Second Life.  It is a new place for performing and visual artists.  Some see it as a music venue and it is that.  But it also exists as more.  We have a pavilion where visual art can be displayed.  In the sky over the sim, we have a conference center and meeting place.  We also have space for art creation on a small scale. 

So who are we, and how did we decide this is a good idea?  Well, here's a picture of us as our Second Life avatars, Thea Dee and GMetal Svartur.  No, we are not a romantic pair, but we do share a vision and a partnership in this place we have decided to call <<Ground Zero>>.   You will probably hear from me (Thea) here on the web the most. 



I will not go into much detail about the real life people behind these avvies.  At some point well into the future there may be need to reveal more about our real life selves but for the time being it is not neccesary.  I will say that we both have real life backgrounds in the technical side of the entertainment industry.  In Second Life, we met after seeing each other at a variety of music shows.  We got to talking one day and realized we shared a vision for a place in Second Life that we could provide as our gift to the live music community that has given both of us so much.  We believe in the power of art as an equalizer... everyone that wants to do so should have an opportunity to participate in art whether as a creator or observer/audience and that virtual environments make those things more accessible to more people. 

We also see the potential to use Second Life and other virtual worlds as a platform for gaining worldwide audiences and participation for those doing real life art and hope to draw people together that are already working on that aspect.


The beauty of Second Life is everywhere and can be hard to find at the same time.  We ultimately want to provide a jumping off point for those who want to participate in the arts.  We strive to be a resource center as well as a home point.  We welcome everyone from the brand newest participant to the person that was there on the day Linden Labs launched the world.  We believe in the power of shared vision and collaboration and that you never know where the people you work best with will be.    More on the vision, values and mission in a later blog.

Things you will find on this blog over time may include:
  • Information about events at <<Ground Zero>>
  • Links to blogs and arts things we love both in SL and RL
  • Suggestions for other venues and creative places in SL that our readers can visit
  • Information about virtual art and collaboration resources
  • Musings about whatever we feel like musing about 
  • Where to find things needed to create art and music in second life 

Things you will not find on our blog
  •  Politically charged rants
  • Advertising (ok well.. here's the deal with that.. we will suggest multiple options when recommending items for art creation.. and who knows what ads blogger may institute, but we strive to be a non-commercial entity)
  • Overly negative commentary about artists, venues or Second Life itself.  We try to be positive people and may make constructive comments when we see something.. but if we do it is gonna be because we want to help be part of the solutions..

Ultimately, we want this blog to be useful to the readers.   If you have suggestions, please go to the profile and send us an email... or find us in world!