Arts and Community Development

While I was volunteering at the Park Slope Armory evacuation shelter I asked for advice from a member of the clergy when I encountered a problem I couldn’t solve. He told me to follow my instinct. I said I didn’t trust my instinct; the situation was far beyond my experience. He responded, “This is your opportunity to stretch yourself.” A lot of stretching has been going on in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. People, organizations, and communities have been coming together to meet a challenge and stretch in ways we had no idea were pos-sible.

February 5, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

“As this has never been done before, we have no idea what we’re doing today,” Joanna Haigood half-joked at the launch of Paseo, less a walking tour than a movable, danceable feast, a peripatetic block party that, for one delightful hour, would twist through the South Bronx neighborhoods of Hunts Point and Longwood.

Getting SMART

February 4, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

About four years ago I attended an extraordinary meeting in Philadelphia. Susan Nelson, principal of Technical Development Corporation (TDC), was presenting the draft of Getting Beyond Breakeven to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and many other stakeholders associated with the work.

Fuzzy Concepts, Proxy Data

February 3, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

Creative placemaking is electrifying communities large and small around the country. Mayors, public agencies, and arts organizations are finding each other and committing to new initiatives. That’s a wonderful thing, whether or not their proposals are funded by national initiatives such as the National Endowment for the Arts’ Our Town program or ArtPlace.

February 3, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

The following is an expanded version of my essay “Creative Placemaking and the Politics of Belonging and Dis-belonging,” first published on the Arts in a Changing America website. I’ve been asked to prepare it for the GIA Reader audience and to reflect further on the topic of belonging as it relates to my work as a public funder.

February 3, 2013 by giarts-ts-admin

In May 2012 I was invited to speak at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts’ Cultural Summit 2012, which took place at the school in September. The school is on Deer Isle, part of the coastal archipelago that stitches Maine to the Atlantic Ocean, and that also includes Vinalhaven Island, my family’s home. This article is adapted from my speech.

Download:

“Only Connect the Prose and the Passion” (12 Mb)