Art for People's Sake: Artists and Community in Black Chicago, 1965-1975

Review of Art for People's Sake: Artists and Community in Black Chicago, 1965-1975, Reviewed September 2019 by Stacy R. Williams, Head, Helen Topping Architecture & Fine Arts Library, University of Southern California, [email protected]

Foreword

The Afrikan Hiphop Caravan is an annual project run by various Hip Hop activist networks spread across the African continent and the diaspora. Despite the fact that Hip Hop has been used as a tool for mobilising toward social transformation and to contest authority, oppression and power, as, for instance, during the presidential elections in Senegal in the early 2000s, elements of the culture, particularly rap, have also been appropriated by the ruling elite (see, for instance, Kellerer this volume) and underwent commodification, or, in other words, were adopted into mainstream pop culture in many places. The key aim of the Hiphop Conference is to create a platform for Hip Hop scholars, cultural activists, artists and community organisers to critically analyse current debates surrounding African Hip Hop, to deepen the understanding of Africa\u27s urban youth cultures, and to share strategies and experiences in mobilising young people for social justice and transformation

Ice Project

In 1995, under the artistic leadership of Judith Marcuse, DanceArts (now JMP) began a remarkable project, one that eventually brought together thousands of teenagers, professonal artists and community resource people in national collaboration.The ICE Project started with two years of small group workshops that involved some three hundred 15 to 18 old young people. These workshops were designed for teenagers to explore and express the pressures in their lives using the languages of art practice

What is Same but Different and why does it matter?

A detailed outline of the Same but Different Desert Art forums held in Alice Springs in 2012 and 2013, and an introduction to the essays, interviews, films and images that make up the 'Same but Different' section of this issue of CSR

Pismo Beach Public Art Program

Public art plays a significant role in communities around the world. It embodies a close relationship between the artist, the space in which it’s being exhibited, and the public. The development of this project examined various literary sources that demonstrated the importance of public art and how cities, artists, and community members may benefit from the incorporation of public art. This project included the framework for development of a Public Art Program for the City of Pismo Beach, California, which outlined the critical steps of a planning process and implementation of the program

Community Transformations: The Promise of Arts-Based Community Development

The Twin Cities is recognized across the country as a hotbed for the arts, which not only enhances cultural life but strengthens the region in other ways. Dozens of art galleries, theater companies, music venues, design firms, and other arts organizations attract talented workers, high-paying firms, and growth industries to this area. This natural relationship between cultural abundance and economic prosperity is a cornerstone of the influential "creative class" theory that explains why some cities thrive and others wither. Yet creativity is not limited to privileged, upper-middle class circles. The arts make a substantial impact in low-income and minority communities by knitting community bonds, inspiring young people, animating a new sense of possibility, bolstering economic development, and forging a positive identity for challenged neighborhoods

Making Meaningful Connections: Characteristics of Arts Groups that Engage New and Diverse Participants

For the last two decades, arts organizations of various kinds have focused increasing attention on participant development. Many have become more customer-centered in their practices and have successfully attracted more or different participants to their programs. These efforts have produced a growing body of knowledge on effective arts engagement techniques -- the specific programming, marketing and social media strategies that organizations are using to attract participants.Smart programming and marketing strategies are critical, and they have helped many cultural organizations attract new participants for specific programs. Depending on the organization, targeted populations have included teenagers, young adults, African American professionals, families, Latinos, veterans' groups, low-income populations, Arab Americans and others. Yet overall, the participant mix for the majority of cultural institutions remains largely unmixed. It is still the rare cultural organization whose regular participants truly reflect the socio-economic, ethnic or generational demographics of its wider community.This report offers an initial framework of key organizational characteristics for cultural institutions that are genuinely engaging participants who reflect their communities' changing demographics. It is not comprehensive, and the concepts outlined here may apply differently to different kinds of institutions. This summary is intended to spark thinking and discussion among organizations that are interested in better connecting with diverse participants and sustaining those relationships over time. It may also spur further experimentation and testing, and encourage leaders to deepen their understanding of the organizational dynamics that are essential to achieving more diverse participation in nonprofit cultural institutions.This research sought to understand the underlying organizational characteristics of successful engagement of diverse participants by arts organizations. The findings presented are a synthesis of research from multiple sources

Hos in the garden: staging and resisting neoliberal creativity

This article takes up the challenge of extending and enhancing the literature on arts interventions and creative city policies by considering the role of feminist and queer artistic praxis in contemporary urban politics. Here I reflect on the complicities and potentialities of two Toronto-based arts interventions: Dig In and the Dirty Plotz cabaret. I analyse an example of community based arts strategy that strived to ‘revitalise’ one disinvested Toronto neighbourhood. I also reflect on my experience performing drag king urban planner, Toby Sharp. Reflecting on these examples, I show how market-oriented arts policies entangle women artists in the cultivation of spaces of depoliticised feminism, homonormativity and white privilege. However, I also demonstrate how women artists are playfully and performatively pushing back at hegemonic regimes with the radical aesthetic praxis of cabaret. I maintain that bringing critical feminist arts spaces and cabaret practice into discussions about neoliberal urban policies uncovers sites of feminist resistance and solidarity, interventions that challenge violent processes of colonisation and privatisation on multiple fronts

Make Art Real

The Make Art Real project aims to introduce new audiences to the arts. It supports Theme II of VCU’s Quest for Distinction by promoting and fostering creative expression through innovative collaborations. The project involves displaying existing connections between art and non-art disciplines, as well as making new connections. These unusual pairings are then placed on exhibition through a lunch-time lecture series named “Unexpected_Connections,” which allow faculty, staff, and students to lead and participate in discussions about the reality of art. The lecture series is the first sustainable and reoccurring program to be held in the Depot building, a multidisciplinary facility which is intended to foster interdisciplinary collaborations. The targeted audience includes faculty, staff, students, and members of the greater VCU community