Gen Art merger, MAGIC Ecollection, design news and beer

The big news is social enterprise right now is the question of cooperatives & health care design, but we're going to take a pass on that for a little while--go to JustMeans Health for ongoing commentary, and expect much more here after August! For now, as many of you set out to escape the summer languor with a quick (or long) trip to the beach, here are a few brief news items of note:

• Gen Art is--or was--a hybrid venture consisting of for-profit and nonprofit organizations that worked in tandem to help promote emerging fashion designers. Like many small arts-related social enterprises it has reportedly been experiencing its fair share of financial distress, but behind the scenes it has also been taking action to move forward. This week the announcement came that the for-profit arm of Gen Art will be merging with the commercial promoter Rock Media, which will be assuming all of Gen Art's outstanding liabilities.
  
  The merger highlights at least two important issues regarding social enterprise: (1) having a commercial business will not necessarily pay the bills, and (2) transactions that assure financial survival nonetheless raise legitimate questions about the long-term viability of the organization's social mission. Ten years from now, will Gen Art 2.0 be a major force for emerging designers or a commercial conglomerate with a legacy foundation that makes a few token grants? We'll see.



• In other fashion news, the upcoming WWD MAGIC trade show has been featuring the designers connected to Ecollection, the show's sustainability initiative. If you want to see "what's new and what's next in the world of design and sustainability," WWD has become a must-read.



• Fashion is not the only aspect of social enterprise design that's been getting a lot of press recently. Change Observer and IDEO should be part of everyone's daily social enterprise news intake, as should Information Aesthetics, which offers fascinating looks at such issues as train vs. air travel, water levels & climate change and relative beer consumption by country.
  
  What? You don't think beer has anything to do with social enterprise? Then you should definitely check out the new Arthur Guinness Fund for Social Enterprise!