Cosmos Cooperative is a visionary platform co-op dedicated to supporting vibrant conversation, collaboration, and economic solidarity for emerging creators and their communities.
There’s a lot to unpack in just that one sentence! So let’s dive in:
What exactly is Cosmos Co-op?
A platform by & for creative people
Cosmos Co-op is an online and social platform dedicated to providing comprehensive services and opportunities to creatives and their communities.
The technological platform is designed and built by creatives to meet our needs. We enable peer support and dedicated resources to flow to creators at every stage of the creation process—from incubation to production to distribution.
We have in-house publishing imprints: Untimely Books, and Metapsychosis, an online journal where we publish visionary emerging media. We also host a dynamic discussion forum at InfiniteConversations.com, where members can network with collaborators, engage in deep dives, and convene groups such as book clubs or writing groups.
Cosmos provides a hub for creative and philosophical discovery, connection, and engagement. We foster transformative exchanges of intellectual, creative, social, and financial forms of capital—driven by user participation. In doing so, we seek to build a resilient, inclusive community filled with shared values and integral consciousness. Going beyond the ordinary limits of online platforms, Cosmos Local Hubs for in-person creative events and relationship-building are an integral part of our plans.
Whatever Cosmos becomes will be driven by its members’ initiatives and collaborative efforts. In this way, Cosmos is not merely a digital platform in the conventional sense (like Instagram or Patreon). It is a meta-platform—a broad framework encouraging member initiative and emergence—where individuals and communities can pursue their dreams, practice collaboration and creativity, find their kin, and grow their skills.
A cooperative business
What truly sets us apart is we’re a co-op: owned by our users. Platform co-ops are an emerging business model worldwide, in which the users of a digital platform are also the platform’s owners. This radical business model encourages community self-determination, and may present a meaningful alternative to corporate platforms.
For many people, the term membership may evoke the idea of donating to a nonprofit, or joining a professional association. But a co-op is different. In a co-op, becoming a member means becoming a part-owner of the business. Membership entitles you to benefits, rights, and responsibilities, including sharing in a portion of the company’s profits.
But unlike traditional forms of business, which may be motivated primarily by profit, co-op businesses exist to serve their member-owners. Meaning: the goods, services, and community exchanges made possible by the co-op are its true “reason for being,” with profits functioning as merely a mechanism to keep the company able to deliver and improve its member benefits.
Though co-ops are often mistaken for non-profits, they are technically for profit entities; but as cooperative educator Margaret Lund explains, they are “for not only profit.”
Depending on the type of co-op, it could have tens of thousands of members or just two, but what’s important is that those members are coming together in solidarity for a shared economic activity. That’s why a co-op is best understood as part of the solidarity economy in which people engage in conscious economic activity for mutual empowerment.
Also unlike traditional corporations, co-ops are not governed on the basis of who owns the most shares. Co-ops are governed on the principle of democracy, or “one member, one vote.” This enables democratic community control that is core to the co-op identity. Frankly, democracy must be practiced, and takes certain skills and knowledges to manage. If we want to enjoy and sustain democratic societies in general, why not democratize our forums and workplaces? In Cosmos we see it as partly our role to equip people as skilled “cooperators” and stewards of prosocial culture—both within our co-op, and throughout our lives.
Cosmos is multi-stakeholder co-op (aka “solidarity co-op” in Quebec) which means there are different levels and types of membership, which all share in democratic governance.
- Supporting Members form the majority of our membership base. They buy into the co-op through monthly or annual dues, which supports the platform. For this they access our most basic level of benefits and services. Mainly they’re here because they love supporting and consuming the art, media, and discourses happening in Cosmos. This level of membership is open to anyone.
- Creative Members access the greatest spread of benefits and services, and also hold more responsibilities in Cosmos. Creative Members focus on producing creative works such as books, talks, courses, and events. Their cultural works and participatory initiatives become the pulsing heart of Cosmos, which expand the overall “universe” of offerings and attract new audiences. Becoming a Creative Member requires a competitive application, and seats are limited.
- Worker Members are just what they sound like—the workers that keep things running in Cosmos are entitled to their own class of membership & benefits.
Becoming a member of Cosmos Co-op
If you align with what we’re up to, we would love to welcome you into Supporting Membership in Cosmos! We are open worldwide to new Supporting Members.
Your official co-op membership will enable you to participate in our offerings, guide change and collaboration within our platform, and: you get to be a co-owner with us—materially and spiritually!—in this emerging journey of cultural innovation and community self-determination.