We believe in the power of fostering community within SMC and reaching outside of ourselves to support our greater community. We strengthen our music community through SMC events, regular meetings, potlucks and jam sessions, and by supporting one another’s work. We bridge to our wider community by supporting local, cultural and political issues, to name a few, through organizational outreach and partnerships.

We believe that all SMC members, like all civilians, should have equal voice and we therefore model our organizational process to empower our members. All of our decisions - no matter how big or small - are discussed and voted on in a conscientious collective manner. We actively challenge our internal systems and assumptions to ensure that all individuals are given space to raise questions, concerns, comments and ideas.

We champion equity not only within our organization, but also in the context of our larger community. Through our Policy Working Group we advocate for fair and just labor practices and opportunities for all working musicians in order to foster a more equitable music scene.

The SMC Community grows when each individual, whether a member or not, is empowered with knowledge. We offer free and affordable skill workshops for musicians that are open to the public. We also connect musicians to existing resources and seek out community partners that help us create new growth opportunities for musicians. Through our free skill building workshops we hope to foster an equitable business landscape where paywalls and social currency are not barriers for entry for independent music makers.

We recognize that creation and the creative process is the backbone of music. We strive to use this foundation to work on the creative solutions that are needed to deal with social and political problems holistically. Creative thinking is needed to challenge the status quo and not repeat mistakes.

We believe that you should never have to compromise your art to make a living. Music is more than a commodity, an entertainment, a living, and however much we all need to make a living, we understand how damaging it can be to reduce one’s music solely to that.

We believe that health is the necessary foundation upon which a community can achieve its truest potential. We recognize that health is both individual and collective and often consists of aspects that are inherently in conflict. We seek to recognize the essential, nebulous, and unrealized nature of health as an ideal and create spaces in which an honest exploration and development of mental, physical, and spiritual health can occur for our members as individuals, members of a collective, and contributors to music culture.

We believe that as a matter of collective survival, our work must be centered in sustainability.

We build sustainability and resilience within SMC through the tools and resources we provide independent artists as well as the culture of care we embody in our community support practices. We support the work of organizers and activists on the frontlines of the intersectional issues of climate, racial, and economic justice both locally and globally towards the larger goal of creating a more sustainable and loving way forward for our music community in NYC and beyond.

We believe that creating safe, inclusive spaces at our SMC meetups, forums, and events contributes to a more equitable and thriving music community, and that every performer should feel safe in the venues and spaces where they work. We center BIPOC and Womxn voices through our moderated discussions, safe space protocols, and progressive stack, ensuring that historically privileged voices do not dominate and that privacy and consent is respectfully practiced. We advocate for standardized venue safety protocols in our communities to protect the most vulnerable against harassment, violence, and Covid exposure. We strive to create healthy spaces that encourage listening and sharing. We envision a music culture where everyone feels seen, heard, and safe.

Before we engage in any critical work, we must ask ourselves: Who are we answerable to?

Our work in SMC is rooted in holding those in power and privilege accountable, and in holding ourselves accountable to the same standards.

We practice accountability internally through critical, transparent, and decentralized dialogue, decision making, and conflict resolution. We also work to create spaces where music creatives and venue owners can hold each other accountable, with the goal of creating a mutually responsible and mutually beneficial music ecosystem.

As music culture workers, we have a responsibility to be answerable to the communities we displace through our nightlife culture, and to the original Indigenous inhabitants of the land we occupy. We are also accountable to the organizations we work in solidarity with, and above all, to our Mission.