In my understanding of community cultural development, there is comprehension of the process of formulating culture in relation to a specific environment as the result of interaction and interpretation of elements within and affecting the community’s inhabitants. It is through this interaction that a symbolic understanding of natural elements and the resonance of humans within the community create a cohesive understanding of community cultural identity. This cohesive cultural identity is often directly reflected and easily absorbable through arts generated by the community and community arts institutions.

My current understanding of community cultural development aids in the class lectures I conduct for the Don’t Touch My Hair exhibition in that I am better able to relay the exhibition as a reflection of university culture through the individual stories displayed on the museum walls. An understanding that the exhibition is reflective of student culture has created a greater sense of connectivity for those attending the lectures as well as viewers in that the exhibition as a whole translates individual identities through the common core topic of hair while also presenting multiple perspectives at the University of Oregon that demonstrate the diversity of cultural translations of a hair as a natural material.

My future work, can be greatly influenced by an understanding of community cultural development in that the links between the evolution of natural elements into cultural objects will allow me to develop an understanding of how to create an authentic understanding of culture through nature in art.

As discussed in class, additional questions and concerns include how to translate cryptic elements of culture for visibility and understanding as well as how to generate a sense of natural culture that upholds the essence of nature through cultural translation?

Understanding and responding to Community Cultural Development

The Community Cultural Development, in my opinion, is a process of building a relationship, either between the professionals and the communities or between the developers and the artists.

The Community Cultural Developers are more like an agency, building a bridge that connects the communities and the artists with the maximum of the expression of the art and the full understanding of the communities. Like we discussed in class last weekend, it is not to fulfill the gap or needs like the purpose of most of the project. My understanding to that is the community cultural development is an active action, and it not necessary for the public but necessary for the communities to express their arts.

I’m now more interested in how the museum engages the visitors and the communities, understanding the community cultural development can help me figure out the essentials of museums conducting their work within the communities.

Karen Lu

My understanding of community cultural development is about the relationship to culture and the improvement of the human condition. In addition the focus on the development of cultures through public awareness and social conditions. This is important in my current and future work as a curator. These skills of becoming an active participant  in cultural life  and building awareness open doors to engaging the community. To learn and understand the importance of community cultural development will help me represent works of art in a cultural context. This will  allow me to provide the community a deeper engagment with the art. This will also bring to life the history of the culture being represented. One question I have in the sense of Stories being shared. How do you know when it is acceptable to share a story in the terms of say a journal or a letter for example, from like the 1600s? Let’s say this letter came from and Indian tribe, would it be correct to contact that tribe to see if they want the story shared or because the letters old, would it not matter to the tribal culture?