PAPA (H)ours

No PAPAs?!

Last PAPA Festival we tried an experiment with an alternative currency. In exchange for volunteering the labor it took to made the festival, people received an alternative currency, which we called PAPA (H)ours- or PAPAs.   We realized, however, that this system of exchange needed a bit more infrastructure than we anticipated. We all needed a bit more experience in bartering and exchange to authentically support an alternative currency (and each other). So this year, we decided to change things a bit. There will be no PAPAs given out for the work done at the festival. The benefit of the voluntary work (which is still essential) is the festival itself.

However, the festival does create the perfect gathering place for exchanging our created pieces. In an effort to better support and value the artists' work, items and services in the Bartering Village will be sold for US dollars (USD), not PAPAs. Folks are still welcome to give away items and we encourage the direct bartering of goods (such as trading a CD for a bar of homemade soap between the artists). However, most things will be sold in a more familiar way using the dollar currency. The hope is that with a little more practice and time we can learn about each other's skills and value them creatively and in a reciprocal manner.

To help, we've created an online bartering forum (www.papafestival.org/papaforum) to continue the exchange of goods between festivals. The hope is to discover and encourage the development of our artistic and utilitarian skills.

Bartering Village Forum

You can use this forum to:

• Arrange trades for our physical Bartering Village in advance.
• Continue our gift-based economy outside of PAPA Fest.
• If you still have PAPAs and would like to trade them, this could be the place to do it. This is also a place to trade in other ways: barter goods, services, USD, etc.
• Above all we'd like to see this experiment move beyond the symbolic- into genuine support and exchange of our gifts.

Here's a description of how we used PAPAs at the festival in 2006:

This gathering requires each of us to contribute the work of our hands. Volunteering will be the basis of our experiment in growing a gift-based economy As you volunteer an hour of your time to help create the festival- it takes each of our efforts- you will receive a PAPA (H)our. Some examples of things that would be compensated with a PAPA (H)our includes: helping in the Children’s Village, cooking food for others, emptying trash bins, making art, music or poetry to be shared. A PAPA (H)our (or PAPAs) can then be exchanged with others for art, services to each other, like haircuts, music, or whatever you come up with. We’re hoping to create a relational way to share our skills, resources, and time. Simulatneously, we will build a village based on the work of our hands. Again this is an experiment, come prepared to try something new (and yet really old).