Neighbors, Communities, and Connective Fibers
This month we want to talk about “social contracts.” While social contracts exist widely across different societal spaces and can impact daily life in multiple ways, they sometimes get overlooked in the kinds of issues that MaCCNO navigates. Much of our work deals with the ways that law and policy impact cultural people, places, and practices: policy changes, City Council votes, legal disputes over sound and shared space or law-enforcement guidelines, the legality of music venues and live music outdoors, etc. But there are many elements of cultural disputes, relationships, and complex interactions which are not overseen by legal guidelines. And these can be far more nuanced and harder to navigate when conflict does arise, because the legal system doesn’t account for the kinds of intricacies that are part of socially-based relationships.
Social contracts are a reflection of the strength of the community, the tight connections between neighbors, friends, coworkers. Social contracts disappear as the community fabric frays, and it is incredibly difficult to rebuild them once they are broken. Social contracts can be more complicated to negotiate. MaCCNO knows well the distinction between legal questions—disputes that can be won—and social discussions where there is no clear winning and losing. For example, we could conceivably pass a City ordinance allowing all music-presenting businesses to charge a cover legally (many currently cannot if they are technically operating as restaurants). But convincing businesses to actually do it would be a social contract, rather than legal.
Here are a few more examples.
Imagine a small neighborhood bar which has live music. It is not legally classified as a “music venue” under zoning law, and the music happens on certain nights when specific musicians or bands, who know the venue owner, have made a habit of playing. Occasionally, someone might hire a brass band for a birthday celebration. The hours of the live music go until it “feels right” for the musicians or bartender or the owner to decide to stop, or because they know that certain hours work well for the neighbors on the block. Then, a new neighbor moves in on the block, or a home becomes a short-term rental. Now the new occupants, disliking the live music they can hear from the neighborhood bar, discover that, legally speaking, that bar does not have the necessary permits or zoning to host live entertainment. Even if the bar is able to negotiate legal permission to have live music, the legal parameters cannot possibly capture the complexities of the previous arrangement. It was the strong social contract that created a neighborhood and culturally appropriate space—the law may be able to protect the ability of the business to host music, but it can’t dictate cultural or social norms, and new residents who are unfamiliar with or hostile to existing social contracts can often be very disruptive.
Another example might be employees of a business who are familiar with and supportive of street performers who play outside it. Street performers are part of the French Quarter ecosystem, a dense network of connections. When those connections are strong and flexible, it can benefit everyone. Store employees forming an acquaintance with street performers they see regularly can lead to discussions about when the musicians should ideally play, boosting business as the performers draw attention to the location and work out the best configuration to get pedestrian traffic to flow in and out of a store, and can create opportunities for additional gigs for street performers from the customers and employees they’ve come to know. In this instance, the social contract creates a synergy that brings economic benefit, reduces the potential for conflict, and increases visibility for everyone involved.
Or, look to the previous iteration of the New Orleans Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, which banned the use of any amplification by bands providing live music in restaurants. Common sense and social contracts frequently led to small bands—duos and trios, with a singer using a mic and small amplifier, even though this was technically in violation of the law. However, even though the social contract led to a common sense practice that benefited both performers and the business, it put them in legal jeopardy, as a complaint or surprise inspection by the Department of Safety and Permits could expose the violation. As a part of our work, we were able to update the Zoning Ordinance in 2016 to remove the ban on amplification in restaurants, allowing musicians and businesses to design their live music experiences to best suit their spaces—and match the existing social contract.
Legal contracts—zoning law, legal parameters of live music, City ordinances about street performers, etc.—fall short of capturing the complex realities of cultural practices. They often cannot possibly provide the nuance and detail in guidance and governance that New Orleans’ precious cultural heritage deserves. MaCCNO is proud to fight for the legal rights of cultural practitioners, and to strengthen the New Orleans legal system and the cultural economy to benefit the folks who are the foundation of the city. But we also want to take time to recognize the importance of social contracts, and how they can be just as important to fight for, with a distinct set of challenges and complexities. The strongest cultural policy decisions must account for both.
This space is provided to MaCCNO as a community service and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or editorial policies of ANTIGRAVITY.
