The creative process has always been an act of community. Nothing is created in a vacuum. We built language and culture together. We sang while we did our daily tasks, and later, we gathered and listened to the stories of our elders. The things that our ancient communities produced were, while often beautiful, largely utilitarian. This was the dawn of technology, when each day brought a new advance, a better tool, a more efficient method or a more clever game. These creative leaps were often born of the collective creative effort of the communities in which they arose, and each advance in science or art was necessarily directly beneficial to those communities. Music, art, cuisine and technology functioned not so much as the individualistic statements of a lone creator but as a cooperative cultural journey, a collective effort that allowed its members to recreate their worlds in their own image. This conception of work and creativity as cultural dialogue is found in the call and response found in blues and gospel music or the cultural allusions and musical interplay of jazz. We controlled our own means of production, and distribution was largely an organic process, shaped by culture and geography. The faces reflected in our art and shared cultural experience were our own. That all started to change when the politics of power began to play out on a large scale worldwide. As tribes became nations and the balance of power began to shift to a small ruling elite, their tastes and motivations began dictating what art was to be produced. While the wholly synthetic set of creative parameters which arose during this period ended up producing some indisputably great art (creativity tends to find a way out under any circumstances), the reality is that a large swath of the works we routinely and ritually enshrine as monuments to the highest ideals in culture, were actually only mirroring the values of those it was produced for, the ruling class, at the expense of everything else. By taking the engine of culture away from the people and attempting to commodify creativity, the role of art and creativity shifted from that of a cultural centerpiece and a shared interactive language to a mere status-symbol, or worse, a tool of propaganda, produced and enjoyed by the few. In recent memory, the situation had degraded to the point that what we termed “culture” was often really “product”, churned out on an assembly line. Why else would every song on the radio sound the same? The whims of “the market” had effectively supplanted the needs of the people. It wasn’t until the advent of the internet that the balance of power began to shift. We didn’t know it yet in the mid 90’s, but the means to regain our freedom of expression and build a global culture had been born. Suddenly, we could communicate with people around the world with ease, exchanging music, films, worldviews and ideas at the speed of sound. It was like we were suddenly back in our old village, only now it was vastly larger. The world had become a village and the computer screen was our campfire. Well, almost. Because with so many different ideas, personalities, options, opinions and opportunities available in all of their unregulated, uncensored and non-standardized glory, it’s become almost impossible to separate truth from fiction. While there are services that claim to connect those that wish to launch a business, or make a movie, or build a rocket ship with the service providers that will help make their dream a reality, these services fail to provide much support beyond the initial introduction. The overwhelming impression one gets when visiting these sites is a lot more like No Man’s Land or the Wild West, than they are a place where people can exchange ideas creatively. Giggrabbers is a free, innovative platform that helps users start and develop businesses. Its primary goal is to facilitate the connection between an entrepreneur and a freelancer, in a seamless and secured way. In other words, when you’re looking for the right person or team of people to bring your next big idea or project to life, Giggrabbers provides a platform where you can post your project, receive proposals and budget estimates, find Ms. or Mr. Right for the job, and transfer funds securely on one user-friendly platform. Filmmakers, event coordinators, builders, inventors, entrepreneurs and anyone who has a vision to realize or a story to tell: We have the tools we need to make our dreams a reality. Don’t wait for permission. It’s time to reclaim creativity and culture, and begin to tell our own stories again. Finally, the people have the power! Let’s use it wisely. Post your project today. It’s free.