MFR is a Mission (Not an Institution)

mis*sion

-noun

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mission

16. an assigned or self-imposed duty or task; calling; vocation.

17. a sending or being sent for some duty or purpose.

18. those sent.

in*sti*tu*tion

-noun

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/institution

1. an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or program, esp. one of a public, educational, or charitable character: This college is the best institution of its kind.

With time, I’ve come to appreciate mission statements. Both of my employers have excellent ones (though one is unofficial, it’s widely used – much more real within our community than the one on the books!). A mission statement provides identity, and direction; it says who we are and where we’re going.

The mission of Mr. Furious Records, a community of artists with roots in Crete, NE, is to facilitate the creation of excellent sound recordings and to curate and distribute the recordings in ways that enhance the community’s creativity and integrity. (v 1.0)

I left out that we’re a “netlabel.” A netlabel is a type of distribution model; we are currently using that model, but the model is not what we are.

We are not an organization. We organize, but our core identity is not institutional; it is communal. If the community goes away, MFR is gone as well. There is no content to MFR; it is an empty scaffolding, carefully conceived, that exists to support artists’ content. As artists identify needs or concerns, the community may respond, but MFR does not push content out to artists that does not speak to a previously discerned call within the community.

We are a mission. We are not any of the means we may use to fulfill our mission.

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