Globalization and Me

 

Can Art Change Communities?

 

            The revitalization through art in communities is a topic that I have been interested in as I watch my own community of Jacksonville, Florida evolve in this pursuit. My recent Executive Summary was about One Spark the up and coming street festival that will use crowdfunding for entrepreneurs in the categories of Art, Education, Health & Science, Music, and Social Good & Technology to benefit local business ventures. However this is only one “event” that the community sponsors though albeit it is one of the largest. It was the Ted Talk with Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change that I saw the potential in a multitude of venues that can cause communities to change, revitalizing areas that have gone into decline. That art can create sociocultural change I find fascinating. Delacruz (2000) says that a civil society is one that works “for the common public good” (p. 13) and Jacksonville, Florida is working to do just that. Perhaps it is unique to have a football team, concert venues, Cummer Art Museum, and Museum of Contemporary Arts (MOCA) plus the yearly jazz festival which all of these contribute to its potential to remain relevant not only for local people but as a destination community to visit for outsiders. The arts are flourishing here and are used in the community to enhance almost every corner of the city from the Airport & Zoo, to store fronts, in essence the streets of Jacksonville. The downtown area struggles in its revitalization. The central location is “The Landings”, a riverfront shopping and restaurant area, used as a focal point for local community events. Recent sponsorship towards adding an aquarium, AquaJax, to the downtown area is the most recent undertaking within the community.

 

Community Involvement

            What is known as stated by The Kresge Foundation which uses private and public agencies along with the National Endowment for the Arts is that by revitalizing communities using an “investment model that puts arts at the center for economic development” (Kresge, 2011, para 1) is much more successful in creating growth than just the addition of new businesses. Crane (2011) also supports this in her article in Partners for Livable Communities. In researching One Spark I learned there is a committee that works on the street festival year around. Crane (2011) also points out that to develop these community spaces requires “community development corporations or coalitions of civic and arts partners” (para 10). The benefits for a community from beautifying spaces to providing art opportunities for residents, to economic boosts, not to mention civic pride, only increases a community’s self-worth. The challenges to these programs are the support infrastructure and where the revitalization is to take place. If afterwards the community develops into desirable real estate instead of sustaining the artists that revitalized the spaces than it is a failure. This is where it is important that the community, for they are the ones impacted, are investing in their future when planning civic ventures. After all, this is affecting the potential future of a community and its growth potential as well as economic implications.

 

Communities Reinvented

            This particular topic is important to me because the small town I grew up in lost its industry and has been in decline ever since. It is my personal witness to the decline and the fact that my family has lived there since 1853 that it shakes the very roots of my family tree. I am not alone. Many communities have felt the brunt of economic decline and thereby the migration of young adults. This is due that those young adults that would normally return to support their communities no longer could find the jobs opportunities to sustain themselves.

 

            Why should this be important in a global context? It is important because valuable history and community connections are lost with the erasure of communities. I have seen the blossoming of communities through the initiatives that I have mentioned. Bringing the arts into communities through sociocultural means can stimulate it not only economically but bring about a community pride and cohesiveness previously lacking.

 

            Initially the artist JR and his ability to engage communities piqued my interest by the use of simple portraits of local people to give voice to a specific cause that related to their community. That the action of an enlarged photo, wheat paste, and a location of choice, could gain the attention of the not only the community but also that of the world, I found it riveting! This was furthered by my own participation in a mixed media art group and the many

e-mails that I was receiving for calls for artwork to benefit some community cause. It was then that I really noticed what was going on around me. Art in community and the benefits it was reaping! I participated in The Angels for Allison fundraiser by painting an angel to be auctioned for northeast families who have lost a child needing help for burial and funeral costs. While this is a small participation, the ramifications of how art can impact communities can be felt. When multiplied a thousand times more the potential is even greater.

 

Summary

            Perhaps in no other time in our art education history has it been more imperative to teach our future students the importance of civic involvement in their communities. It is Marshall (2009) that observes that “artists as role models for our students as beings in the world with the sensitivities, wisdom, knowledge and vantage points that can lead to global consciousness” (p. 96). There has been no other time in history where visual presentation can affect people on a world level influencing society. I feel art education must be a part of this through investigative practices, being globally aware, and local, coining a new word glocal. Thus our communities only benefit by the endeavors that we take to improve it. By revitalizing the communities in which we live in by using the arts, we spur not only economic growth but also cultural growth. As teachers it is about connecting art education to that of a “global civil society” (Delacruz, 2009, p. 13). The very existence for some communities may be depending upon it!

 

 

References

 

Crane, L. (2011). Artists as revitalizing agents. Partners for Livable Communties. Retrieved from

            http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/c&b/2011/summer/Lyz_Crane_artists_revitalization.pdf

 

Delacruz, E. M. (2009). Art education aims in the age of new media: Moving toward global civil society. Art Education, 62(5), 13-18.

 

JR. (2015). JR (artist). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JR_(artist)

 

Marshall, J. (2009). Globalization and contemporary art. In E. M. Delacruz,  A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education                 (pp. 88-96). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

 

Pilloton, E. (2010, July). Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for change [Video file]. Retrieved from

              http://www.ted.com/talks/emily_pilloton_teaching_design_for_change

 

The Kresge Foundation. (2011). Public-Private collaboration puts arts at center of community revitalization. Retrieved from http://kresge.org/news/public-               private-collaboration-puts-arts-center-community-revitalization

 

In Addition

 

Angel for Allison Entry

http://www.angelsforallison.org/2014-angel-artist-series-angel-collection/2014/10/2/flora

 

Jacksonville, Florida’s community events logos – all events featured on my scoop it link

http://www.scoop.it/t/art-education-by-julia-fanney