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"When cultural boundaries break down, creativity comes pouring through in a burst of energy." 3
"Culture concerns everyone and it is the most essential thing of all, as it is culture that gives us reason for living, and sometimes for dying." UNESCO conference 4
"It often takes a while for ideas to permeate institutions" 7
"'Cultural Democracy' denotes an approach to cultural policy and development characterized by pluralism, participation, and equity in a many-to-many framework, as opposed to the approach that seeks to 'democratize' established culture by improving distribution systems from the center to many." 9
"The key distinction between CCD and art works that employ some of its methods lies in the role of the artist: when the individual artist's vision--that person's aesthetic ideas, structural choices, and cultural vocabulary--control the work in which community members take part, the work--however powerful, beautiful, or moving, however valid as art--is not community cultural development, because it doesn't honor CCD's underlying principle of equality of participation and its underlying aim of collective expression. This difference is not a matter of technique, style, or skill, but of core purpose. This distinction illustrates both the challenge and potential pitfall of CCD's translation into an academic discipline: institutionalizing insurgency without domesticating it." 9
"Authentic CCD must be fluid and improvisatory" 9
"What gives [CCD] special merit is that its mean and ends are inseparable...to use the expressive gifts that are uniquely human to convey the special contributions of each cultural community to our existential task of understanding an repairing the world we share." 10
"Individual and communal 'voice' is at the heart of both the form and function of CAP programming." 15
"Community is a complex and dynamic living entity" 17
"Every group member is both a 'teacher' and 'learner' 17
"They (the youth) felt heard and understood--and recognized as equal partners in all the learning and teaching that went on." 29
"A true partnership [is when] knowledge flows both ways" 31
"All the participants expressed more interest in the process than the product, they cared more about the journey than the destination." That's what's wrong with formal assessments, standardized testing!
"They (the students) need to be in a space where there's no judgement, or if there is, they can handle it. That's the kind of space we create with these exercises, it underlies the whole process. They need to be released while they're writing as well, so there's less chance they'll edit themselves, so it's quality writing." 37
On teaching: "You can't just regurgitate something you've read from a book. You've got to truly understand what you're teaching, and believe in it heart and soul. Teenagers will leave if you don't. They can't be bored, they can't be embarrassed. They have to learn something real." 38
"If its a soulless exercise, the youth will feel it. If you don't really believe in what you're doing, they'll know. They won't know why, but they'll know you're not teaching quality to them, you're just teaching. And they already get enough of that." 38
Artistic statements: "What do you believe is creativity? And how are you going to pass that along?" 38
"As young teachers (or anyone), when they get nervous, they get tunnel vision, and instead of looking at the situation and reacting to it, they just plow through whatever they're doing, whether it's working or not, trying to get to the end. But the end result flows from the process--you can't take those steps away and still have it work." 41
"But I don't find that moment of conflict, the emotional moment, to be the real moment of learning. The turning point is when everything is calm again and we examine the emotional moment, and then we deconstruct it. That's the important part of the process." 42
"What it means to be an artist citizen..."48
On participation: "You either participate or you leave. We don't have spectators here, so either you get in the game or you find another team to play on...you can't watch an education." 51
"[Education is a] vehicle [for getting peoples'] mindsets to change and to begin to understand what culture is, the importance of culture, the importance of being connected to something that enriches their lives, makes they healthy, so that they learn to be committed to what it is they are capable of producing. Exposing them to resources that may aid them in their quest." 52
"I think that in terms of community arts, you can go all the way back to Egypt, come up through Egypt, and back through to Thailand, back to the pagoda and India, coming through the Russian icon, the great cathedrals in Europe, all the way down to the Incas, the Aztecs, all the way across the Aztecs...All of that art created by these cultures had a purpose, it was community-based." 52
"The thing that's significant about all of that work is that it was designed for people who were visually, but not necessarily verbally, literate." 52
"I think education is simply making people literate to the iconography of the visual life." 52
"I think it is our responsibility to make young people understand that. You have to help them learn the grammar [of art]. The grammar is actually life itself." 52
On students: "You know, they can speak it now. If they can speak it and if they can demonstrate it in their work, then they can also teach it. So I try to make teachers of them immediately. One of the best things I got from Xavier was that you're your own best teacher." 53
"there are creative ways to motivate them to want to know and want to seek it out. There are different formulas for each kid." 53
"I think education is nothing more than making people aware of their tools for living and life. To me, the only way of approaching the whole deal is improvisation." 53
"There's no way to teach individuals collectively" 54
"I think talent is nothing more than having a bent toward doing something so you're going to spend a lot of time with it." 54
"A big part of my ob is teaching that student the responsibility of holding up his end of the job. It's creating a contract." 54
"Every student who walks in that door has to realize that this education is not a right, it's a privilege." 54
"I was becoming a person, a human being, I wasn't just becoming an artist. I may have had that as my focus, but what I think is that it shaped the whole person. It shaped a personality." 55
"If they handed me something, and I'd say 'thank you', they didn't say 'you're welcome', they'd say 'pass it on'." 56
"It's not giving back to the community, it's passing on to the community what's theirs." 56
"What we're trying to build collectively, and what community arts is about, is somehow trying to reestablish the extended family culture." 57
"Use your pride to teach you...the only thing that we can teach you is, nothing about art, but about being an emissary, and that was the bottom line." 57
"We are all prepared for a certain journey in life and you're getting those kids ready for that journey." 57
"They're all doing their own thing, absolute diversity, and they're all dancing on the exact beat. Complete unity. That's what I think this community is about. And it's an improvisational thing." 59
"We are not culturally deprived. The way its been presented, they don't need anybody to bring them the culture, they are part of a culture, and they've just got to recognize it. Our job is to create recognition of this." 60
"Challenges and tensions between established practice and innovation, ...the dynamic potential inherent when participants are allowed to create new programming for generations to follow." 63
"Her sketchbook became the bridge between the world and her artwork, a tool connecting learning with life." 69
"The most important part of art, of culture, is to share it" 71
"School taught me to isolate myself, do amazing things but not connect with my family, community, or the values that ground me, I wanted something different for my students." 71
"Writing was the zipper that meshed everything together...Recitation is like music, rhythm, chanting...Even the quiet ones caught fire." 75
"Once you've started challenging things you keep observing and challenging. You have the opportunity for a different type of life." 76
"When you are truly empowered you are responsible to share learning. It's not just a question of kindness. In the times we live in, it's a responsibility." 77
"An art practice doesn't begin and end in an art studio. The ideas go beyond the walls, battling segregationist and hierarchical systems that limit ideas of cultural authority to a few. Who at our institutional table is missing? If you are present, you are responsible for change." 77
"Art is a transformative practice that arises from people's struggles to make sense of the world." 81
"An artist is capable of creating work that activates, propels, and gives vigor to people's daily lives." 82
A great project: "I remember one high school student writing about anger...he shared that he is working hard to clear away that cloud when he feels angry. That same day in the lab, the student who wrote about foggy anger posed for some pictures with the digital camera. The pictures were manipulated in the computer adding different elements and lots of fog." 87
And from it arose this questionnaire and the project of "windows"
"What weather are you?
"What weather best describes you when you're angry?
"What's the weather like in your home?
"What kind of weather do you experience in school?
"Which of the elements do you feel best describes you: earth, wind, fire, or water?
...hope they also asked why!
"Improvisation brings an authenticity to the exchange, and new forms are realized." 93
"Weight of expectation" 102
"One must ask, are we striving to give the child something that we feel he or she should have...or to draw something out? Respecting children's right and wanting the best for them, we must interrogate our own vision, mission, and goals. It takes a tremendous amount of effort and practice to critically analyze our own ideas, opinions, and feelings, and acknowledge how they might impact others." 103
"It is important to think intergenerationally" 104
"I'm troubled by terms like 'high' and 'low' art." 104
The participating children should have the right to define beauty for themselves" 105
"We cannot assume that our story is everyone else's story--or the only one worth writing." 106
"The question that arose was whether mainstream higher education institutions can really prepare artists to work beyond the environment of the art world." 108 This goes for any ed institutions--can they go beyond the classroom?
"Structuring projects so that there is a creative tension between certain limitations and the choices participants have to create their own meanings." 117
"Being alert to teachable moments is part of the art of facilitating quality art encounters." 117
"Creating a rhythm of working back and forth between solo and collaborative projects throughout a program can build community along the way while continuing to honor each individual's need to express his or her own ideas." 118
"Community assets, not liabilities, should be stressed" 119
"Oftentimes the expression of a participant's 'voice' can take the form of a disciplinary problem--worse, it could take the form of non-attendance." 120
"You can't discipline a child whom you do not love or at least have respectful relationship with...lack of respect is contagious" 120
"The personal decisions that artists make in their lives shape their work, their audiences, and their unique way of looking at the world...Like life, there isn't just one trajectory to becoming an artist." 124
"When you institutionalize it...you extinguish the potentially radical possibilities." 125
"Community remains a euphemism for poor and working people, for people of color, for people who don't have money or resources and live in poor neighborhoods, usually urban areas." 125
"Parallel universes within the art world." 126
"So many of the young people I worked with were so damaged by the school system that they really did not want to be told how to do something." 126
"Fear of confrontation leads to censorship" 126
"Artists should always ask what's next and try to make something happen that's different and unusual and radical" 127
"Quality is an unavoidable topic because it has to do with how one measures the success of a project. A discernible lack of 'quality' jeopardizes future funding." 128
"The more radical something is, the more difficult its success will be...this is the energy that drives a project and makes it interesting." 129
Students learned "how to use art as a vehicle for analyzing information about their environment" 129
"Regenerative cycle that encourages young people to venture out into society and return to their communities with new knowledge" 130
"The real successes of a community arts program...are the individuals who are transformed by the experience, and ...are able to give this experience back to others. But the final challenge will most likely be the juggling act that a life with one foot in the community becomes." 130
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Things to check out:
Wallace Foundation
MacArthur Fellowships
San Francisco's Neighborhood Arts Program
Reciprocal University for the Arts Project CA
Xavier University, Nawlins (and the Junior School of Art)
Free Street Programs (and Ron Bieganski)
Kid SmART
Pieces of Power
Faces of Culture
Youth Inspirational Connection, Inc
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Jamaica Center for Art and Learning
Johanna Poethig, artist
CSUMB's digital mural class
Columbia's Vision 2010
Mid Atlantic Artists and Communities: America Creates for the Millennium Project
NEA Visual Arts Fellowship
http://arlenegoldbard.com
Books to read:
Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, Adams and Goldbard
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire
Cultural Development: Experiences and Policies, Augustin Girard
Grassroots Theatre, Robert Gard
Toward a Pedagogy of Cases, Lee Shulman
Narrating Cultural Citizenship: Oral Histories and First Generation Latino and Latina Students, Rita Benmayor, New Pedagogies fr Social Change, Social Justice Journal
