The Strength of Diversity: The Strength of the Arts

With immigration reform at the forefront of political life and the ongoing discussion about equity in our workplaces and military, I was pleased to participate in a recent gathering in Detroit called SphinxCon, which took a look at diversity in our lives and in the arts. It couldn't have come at a more important time in our national consciousness. Regardless of specific demographic numbers or predicted change, every community right now holds within itself an extraordinary amount of difference, diversity and smaller sub-communities that make up the whole. And we are more fortunate for it.

In the 21st century, a multiversity of lifestyles, beliefs, values, practices and ethnicities are already thriving in our communities. But we must as a society do a better job of celebrating what exists now along with maximizing the benefits of the changes to come.

The leaders gathered in Detroit argued that the arts are the best tool we have in our arsenal for connecting, bridging and creating understanding between, and even within, all these communities. Today's America is filled with people from different backgrounds engaging in very different forms of expression, and one role of the arts is to become a point of connection, of communication and of listening, of participating in the lives of our fellow community members. Maria Rosario Jackson of the Kresge Foundation spoke about “cultural kitchens;” places where, in her words, “members of geographic communities or communities of interest gather to be generative — to use their imagination, to make and experience art that nourishes, provokes and inspires… They take many forms. They can be art centers, community based organizations, ethnic specific cultural organizations, mutual aid societies and, sometimes, churches and even commercial entities. What they have in common is that they are beacons for collective creative activity.”