In Community and Cultural Development what has really stuck out to me is the concept of “listen, dialogue and action” when innating a program or project. It is a simple concept but one that can easily be overlooked. Is the need there and does the community want what you are trying to offer? The feedback an individual or organization receives through the planning and implementation of a program is critical to the overall success. I feel this class will heavily influence my future career path. My dream job would be a Creative Aging Director at an art museum or art related nonprofit. The concept of Paulo Freire’s dialogical method in education is something I already feel I engage in through the different arts in healthcare programs I help facilitate at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. I recognize that I learn and grow so much from working with the participants of the different arts access programs, through engaging in conversations as well as in the guidance I offer throughout the creation process. The Paulo Freire concept of education as freedom is something I was immediately able to apply to the marginalized communities I work with. Through the process of arts creation community members have the freedom to express themselves and process different emotions. In some cases this can lead to the sense of healing and comfort. The concept of education being an act of love and courage resonated with me. I am interested in learning more about process and product as it relates to Community and Cultural Development. Personally, the emphasis in the workshops I facilitate is getting the most you can out of the process and the product is secondary. I am wondering how my peers feel about the emphasis on process or product in their own artistic and cultural endeavors?
Community Cultural Development can help me as both an artist and arts administrator. Through what we are learning, I feel that this class will give me better cultural competency. The ability to interact with other cultures and understanding their needs is vital in being an artist and administrator. One must be able to communicate effectively to create an effective piece of art. And to be a valuable asset in a community as an arts administrator, you need to recognize and be sensitive to the needs of cultures besides your own. If I become an administrator of a venue, I will need to make a safe space for people of all cultures to express themselves. Too many theatres are spaces for older, white upper middle class people. That culture is represented in everything we see in our society. An artist or administrator’s job is to tell stories or allow stories to be told and there are more stories that need to be represented. In telling stories to a culture from another culture, we also improve the cultural competency of our community. As arts administrators are important people in the public eye of a city, what they say and do is scrutinized. How can arts administrators who are from the dominant culture be effective at being an “ally” (or maybe in response to Bill’s comment about this term: “active ally”)to different cultures and set an example? Especially in a town that lacks diversity like Eugene. As artists and administrators, how can we bring more diversity to our art and our community in Eugene and help develop the cultures here that are underrepresented?
I think it would be important to ask the members of these underrepresented cultures. It is important to understand the individual stories of the members of these cultures, especially in Eugene. Valuing and allowing people to creatively express their individual stories and personal histories revolving around a topic that does not automatically pinpoint or objectivity individuals as assets of a community because they reflect a community goal of diversity will reveal the similarities, differences, and complexities of their lives that do not solely revolve around their status as a member of an non dominant culture . Valuing and uplifting members of these communities by giving them the same voice as the dominant group and not objectifying them as a race or culture will strengthen and expand these communities. If art and cultural administrators are constantly asking people to reveal their stories in relation to ethnicity, culture, and race to benefit an idea of diversity or as a reflection of said arts/cultural institution where they lack agency they could feel used. In other words, I think if a community lacks a large population of a specific culture a focus on telling a multitude of individual stories through the arts will present multiple perspectives within said cultures to the community while also strengthening an understanding of individual members and the facets of the group as a whole. This is the same technique that have been used to tell the stories of the members of the dominant group for centuries.
Hi Rose, thanks for this. I too would love to hear how others are feeling about the process or product question.
Bill
Yes yes yes! It’s so patronizing to roll into a community and be like “oh here’s a program I’ve developed, I know you need it, so like, you’re welcome.”
I think we have to be able to see the beauty and benefit to the process, instead of being product-driven. Just like how we were talking about the asset-based approach, rather than needs-based. Which totally blew my mind up, because we have operated on the needs-based model for SO. LONG.