About

Emergence Media explores the power of creative expression to activate social transformation. We work with a core group of artists and projects, and a wide network of collaborative partners to produce music, multimedia, installations, tours, workshops, and special events. We are based in Detroit, Michigan.

Our current focus is supporting Complex Movements, an artist collective exploring the relationship between complex science and social justice movements. We also produce special events, for example, the recent "I Do Mind Dying" multimedia performance at New Center Park.

For booking information, please contact us. Products developed by Emergence artists and partners are available in our store.

Emergence was started in 2007. Read about the co-founders of Emergence Media below.

Invincible, Co-Founder

Invincible/ill Weaver is a lyricist with the heart of a healer, and the mind of a physicist. In addition to their work as a performing artist, they have over a decade of organizing experience with Detroit Summer, a multi-racial, inter-generational collective in Detroit that is transforming communities through youth facilitative leadership, creativity, and collective action. They were also the co-coordinator and co-founder of the Detroit Future Youth network to support social justice and media-based youth projects throughout the city. Over the years they have produced events, organized actions, designed curriculum, facilitated workshops, woven participatory community media projects, and more while simultaneously creating music, media, and touring.

They co-founded Emergence after years of turning down record deals and rejecting the music exploitation industry. During a trip to Palestine with Detroit Summer in 2007 they met with and learned about the Palestine Fair Trade Association. They left wondering what a fair trade, cooperative economics model could look like in the context of music, media, and cultural work. Emergence was partly inspired by that vision, and continues to be a practiced experiment of how mutual support and cooperative autonomy can replace the crabs in a barrel/fighting over crumbs approach most artists are pitted against each other through.

The name “Emergence” grew from a conversation with mentor Grace Lee Boggs, when Grace mentioned that one of the main lessons she took from the women's movement was that "we should not be waiting for singular charismatic leaders to tell us what direction to go, but instead be like midwives, supporting the birth of movements that are already emerging." This led to exploring the scientific concept of Emergence.

"In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is conceived as a process whereby larger entities, patterns, and regularities arise through interactions among smaller or simpler entities that themselves do not exhibit such properties." (Emergence - Wikipedia)

View Invincible's artist page.

Wesley Taylor, Co-Founder

Wesley Taylor is a graphic designer, fine artist, musician, and curator. He started out as both an emcee and graphic designer in the hip-hop group, Athletic Mic League. He got into making music partly as an excuse to make album covers. He became a co-founding partner of Emergence as an excuse to make art and conceptualize creative projects.

Emergence has provided a way to teach himself how to be an artist, and face the challenge of developing imagery that aligns with identities that are shifting and evolving, and for playing with new aesthetics. He values being part of broadcasting subject matter and stories that aren't regularly shared in a popular way.

"With this work we set out to create a new model based on principles that were new to all of us going into this. The whole process has been an education; we learn as we go, and we don't have a formula. Whatever we find out that works, we are willing to share with others to support their success, however they define it. We are a lab of cooperative economics, and our understanding of that evolves over time, and better applies to our practice. It's an imperfect system that we are always trying to tweak, and can be a great alternative and an ongoing solution to the various challenges that many artists in our community face."

Wes is also a co-founder and co-owner of Talking Dolls design studio. He is a professor at Lawrence Tech University in Detroit, and has taught at Eastern Michigan University, and Wayne State University.

View Wesley Taylor's artist page.