Conference Proceedings: Commissioned Essay

December 1, 2009 by Steve

In intellectual and artistic circles, much of the twentieth century was a prolonged festival of specialization. In research and artistic expression, human enterprise underwent a remarkably extensive process of categorization and separation into specialties and genres. One aspect of this celebration of narrowness was the creation of the two separate categories of "nature writing" and "ethnic literature." The unhappy consequence of that division was that the people known as "nature writers" were overwhelmingly drawn from white, middle class backgrounds.

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December 1, 2009 by Steve

The arts are one of the most important community building enterprises in America today. Most of the discussion on the subject focuses on how the arts build community by strengthening education, addressing social challenges and revitalizing both downtown and rural areas. Perhaps it is time for the arts to come out of the closet and acknowledge that their greatest community building potential is artistic product itself. Hear how Charlotte discovered that the most powerful community building role for the arts is artistic content and its shared experience.

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December 1, 2009 by Steve

Lily Yeh is the founder and executive director of Village of the Arts and Humanities.

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December 1, 2009 by Steve

The story of the last ten years of school reform efforts in Oklahoma, a unique collaboration among educators, city officials, and business leaders, united around the importance of the arts in education. This case study presents what has happened, a discussion of why it has happened, and a look at where this community-wide effort is going. The keynote address will consist of dialogue between William Weitzel, CEO and superintendent of the Oklahoma City Public Schools, and Ron Bogle, who previously served on the Oklahoma City School Board.

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December 1, 2009 by Steve

Linda Frye Burnham is a writer and consultant with special emphasis on artists working in community, education, and activism. In this paper, Burnham writes: "This paper is about artists who were called 'the new vangaurd' in Art in America in 1982 and are now the mainstream: artists who have been building community in the places where they live for fifteen to thirty-five years.

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December 1, 2009 by Steve

William Fulton and Morris Newman, commentators on urban planning, metropoliton growth, and economic development, reveal some of the intersections between smart growth and the arts through stories and examples such as the Village Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia and the revitalization of the downtown area of Jamestown through the efforts of the Arts council of Chautauqua County, New York. The authors considered why arts funders should care about smart growth and why funders concerned about smart growth should care about the arts.

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