BeHereNow is a developing social utility with the goal of maximally reducing screen time spent to result in in-person social experiences, through design choices that reduce social cost and social friction. It operates as a peer-to-peer node system, rooted in the rules that dictated how social systems worked pre digital age.
BeHereNow is an in-person events system based on a small community made up of artists and art projects.
Contemporary social platforms are optimized for engagement — which in practice means maximizing the time users spend looking at a screen. The social cost of this is high: passive consumption replaces genuine connection, and the friction of scheduling real events in a world saturated with digital alternatives discourages the in-person gatherings that most people know, privately, they value more.
BeHereNow starts from a different premise. Every design decision is evaluated against a single question: does this reduce the time and effort required to get people into the same physical space? If a feature does not serve that goal, it is not included. The platform is built to be used briefly and set down — not to be scrolled.
The platform operates on a peer-to-peer node model. Each member is a trusted node in a social graph. Events are created by members and shared only with their direct connections. Those connections can RSVP and, if the host permits, forward the event to their own connections. There is no public timeline, no algorithmic recommendation, and no discovery mechanic.
The social graph is the network, and the network grows only through direct invitation. This mirrors the way communities organized before the era of digital communication — through word-of-mouth, through personal relationships, and through the natural limits of who you trust enough to include. The rules that governed social systems before platforms existed are the rules BeHereNow is designed around.
The result is a platform that functions more like a small-town notice board than a social media feed: locally relevant, personally accountable, and oriented toward action rather than consumption.
BeHereNow's community is small and rooted in the Los Angeles and Ventura County arts ecosystem. Its core members are studio artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and the art projects and collectives they build together. The platform was built to serve this specific community and has no objective of expanding beyond what can be organically and sustainably supported.
The community was built around a shared observation: independent artists spend a disproportionate amount of energy maintaining the social infrastructure of their creative lives — staying connected to collaborators, organizing gatherings, keeping communities cohesive across long distances and busy schedules. BeHereNow is an attempt to reduce that overhead while preserving the authenticity of the relationships it facilitates.
The platform is supported by Cultivate Art Nonprofit, a registered nonprofit organization whose mission is to build genuine infrastructure for working artists — including the social infrastructure that connects them to one another and to their audiences in person.
BeHereNow is not a public event discovery platform. It is not a social network. It is not designed to grow its user base or increase time spent on the app. There are no public profiles, no follower counts, no likes, no algorithmic recommendations, and no advertising. The platform exists to serve one purpose: getting a small group of trusted people into the same room.
BeHereNow is operated by Cultivate Art Nonprofit. For any questions, support requests, or inquiries about the platform, please reach out directly.