Conference review - Community Art Matters

“Community Art Matters” was a one-day forum on June 10th, preceded by an evening of entertainment on June 9. Organized by Community Arts Ontario and co-hosted by the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre and the Immigrant Culture and Arts Association, the event took place in Hamilton’s historic Customs Building on 51 Stuart Street.

“Community Art Matters” was billed as an encounter that would “explore the complex and vital relationship between the artist, community and the general public.”
Attendees included representatives of community arts organizations and artists, teachers, activists and funding officers.

The forum programme booklet stated the following goals for the one-day event:
-provide networking opportunities for community artists and their organizations
-consult the community on their service and advocacy needs (CAO provides)
-provide opportunities for dialogue on issues confronting marginalized community artists
-address educational issues identified after Conference 2005
-model community arts practice

As with many one-day gatherings, there was not enough time to achieve or even touch on all the above goals. The reception on Friday evening included a wonderful array of Hamilton-based musical performances ranging from the Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra to classical guitarist Gary Santucci. The Hamilton Gallery Crawl duly impressed out-of town delegates with a tour of the contemporary visual arts scene on James Street North and beyond, and, for fans of the supernatural, the Customs building that houses the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, was definitely on the must see list – for details see http://www.ghostwalks.com/. The musical highlight finale on Saturday, before CAO’s annual general meeting, was a performance by Neeraj Prem. Prem is a virtuoso sitarist and leader in contemporary interpretations of classical Indian music, who brought his audience to their feet for a standing ovation.

The keynote speech on Saturday morning by Robin Pacific touched on a number of historical art issues, activism, cultural diversity and other factors that inform community art practice in Ontario today. Pacific suggested that “community art matters” because it holds the balance between collective and individual creativity. Reaching beyond the elitism of high art, the sterility of politics and corporate global alienation, Pacific found the common thread that celebrates difference, and “returns us to our right and our need to create, to dream, to express and to resist.” At the end of her presentation, she posed a series of questions to the delegates, creating a mini mapping and needs assessment session.

Robin’s first question, inspired by Jane Marsland, was, “How does what I do make a difference? And what are the barriers that I encounter on the way? Question # 2, also two-fold was, “What are your specific organizational needs and how can Community Arts Ontario support you in reaching them? And the 3rd question was “How can we begin to build stronger networks?”

The break-out sessions addressed a number of issues that affect both individual artists and arts organizations. Following the animated discussions in response to Robin’s questions, two sessions – networking and internal barriers – were added to the programme. The needs for collaboration, networking, anti-racism activism, advocacy, professional development, access to voice and funds were familiar concerns to those involved in the field. However, Laurie McGauly from Myths and Mirrors in Sudbury added a request that has arisen more recently, and comes as a result of an increase in activity and maturing of the practice in this province – McGauly expressed a concern over the dearth of theory. There is indeed very little existing scholarship to connect regional activities to larger cultural discourse. Although Community Art is now taught at both OCAD and York University, most of our readings stem from the U.K. the U.S. or Australia, and many celebrated “models” come from Mexico, Central America, or Latino barrios in U.S. cities.
Other needs that continue to come up are:
- a serious conference such as the decisive “Vital Links” that took place in Toronto almost a decade ago,
- continuing opportunities for professional development – a short-lived initiative of the Laidlaw Foundation brought together a number of artists, animators and organizations between 1999 and 2001, and
- the maintenance of an on-line database listing resources such as papers, sample projects, and most importantly, a roster of artists, animators and practitioners – similar to the OAC’s list of Artists in Education.

Break-out session report-backs ranged from a performance – Dianne Roberts’ community building exercise in three colours; to advocacy – Bryce Kanbara’s session on the idea of a living wage for artists as a means of tackling poverty (see the Hill Strategies report on the status of the artist); and included discussions on the traps of fame – hip hop artists as role models; and concluded with the ongoing demand for better networking tools, electronic and otherwise.

Following the reports, CAO ED Zainab Amadahy brought the discussion back to the organization’s role in facilitating skill development, advocacy, evaluation strategies, education, providing resources.

In summary, the delegates reiterated the need that CAO provide both Programmes and Advocacy for its members in order to assure the growth of and increase recognition for community arts practice in Ontario.

Posted on behalf of Ingrid Mayrhofer mayrhof@univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca

SOCIAL RELEVANCE + MUSEUMS -- PEER LEARNING CIRCLE EXPANDS

HAM-ED & interested others
Want to participate? You are welcome. Please share invite with interested others. Let's get rolling ...
(1)Collect articles - Forward any and all citations for articles that address the first group of questions - How do we develop a common understanding of social relevance? How do we know whether we should incorporate social relevance into our organizations? Who outside our own field can offer direction?
George Wale and Chandra Erlendson have volunteered to compile the reading list. They note that the only criterion is that the article/info has to be reasonably accessible/available to the rest of us so we can read it too (if we wish). Send your citations and links to George at george.wale@BurlingtonArtCentre.on.ca
(2) Volunteer to lead a small "reading circle" in your area - see below for details - to volunteer please contact Chris chris@mccastle.com .
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Background info:
A small group of people calling ourselves the HAM-ED Peer Learning Circle met a couple of weeks ago to consider how we could learn more about the topic of social relevance + museums. (Contact Chris chris@mccastle.com if you'd like a copy of the meeting notes, etc.)
Our goal as a group is to answer our own questions through self-directed research, reading, reflection, and then sharing what we find with others. Our output may include a collection of useful articles and a day-long series of seminars on the topic.
We propose forming small "reading circles," (6-8 people?) based on geographic proximity but may use e-mail/blog/webconferencing. Each reading circle will review the articles in one section of the reading list and choose which articles best answer the questions for them. Select "best" articles for inclusion in a social relevance package. Each small group prepare short seminar (1 to 1 ½ hours) on the topic for others in Peer Learning Circle – could decide on facilitated discussion, activity, invited speaker, etc..
No money is available beyond what each of us can provide. We will look for a donated meeting space.
GROUP ONE – Wherefore and why of social relevance + museums (Possibly forming a session in November 2006)
§ Develop a common understanding of social relevance?
§ Consider whether we should incorporate social relevance into our organizations?
§ Look outside our field?
GROUP TWO – How to of social relevance + museums (Possibly forming a session in February or early April 2007)
§ Identify effective practices in social relevance?
§ Put social relevance into action?