YATF Day 3: A focus on community
The first session on Day 3 of the YATF Informal Meeting was one of my favorites. The topic was "Art Spaces as Civic Spaces and Community Development" and featured two panelists: William Wells from the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo and Vicky Holt Takamine from the Pa'i Foundation in Honolulu. The discussant was Joy Mboya from the Go Down Art Center in Nairobi who helped us to wake up with some dynamic Kenyan chanting.
William spoke about how the Townhouse Gallery has built close ties to the neighborhood in which it is housed, a neighborhood of machinists, immigrants, children, shoe shiners and more. They did this be engaging local residents in the very first stages of restoring the building that would become the gallery and developing programs that were inclusive to these diverse communities. Today, the space of the Townhouse Gallery is used by diverse stakeholders, not limited to the "art world"--immigrants find peace and resources in the library, local children stop by to participate in weekly workshops, machinists from the workshops housed in the same building join for a meal and collaborate with artists in residence. Listening to William speak about the diverse activities housed in the Townhouse, I saw how this art space had become completely integrated into the urban fabric of its community while dynamically responding to its needs. It made me think of some of the comments left during the recent fD dialogue on Art Spaces Hosting Activism and Strengthening Communities.
Vicky had an equally inspiring story to tell. She created her foundation in response to the historical suppression of native culture that continues to occur at cultural and political levels in Hawai'i today. As a hula instructor with a university post and her own dance school, Vicky mobilized her community against legislation that would limit the collection of cultural resources from the the natural environment. The governor reversed the policy after Vicky and other indigenous cultural practitioners drummed and chanted and danced outside the state house for 24 hours. Today, the Pa'i Foundation is protecting and diffusing indigenous culture. It has worked at the legislative level to protect indigenous cultural rights, helped establish an indigenous cultural festival, and continued to offer opportunities for youth to learn about and express their indigenous Hawaiian culture. Vicky is currently working to create a cultural center for Pa'i Foundation's activities.
Vicky and William provided two clear examples of how creative practice and creative spaces become platforms for civic engagement and social justice. Sometimes I struggle with convincing people of the role of arts and cultural practice and spaces in civil society--now I have two new stories to illustrate my case.
Following the panel, we had an opportunity to build community within the Informal Meeting context with a networking exercise. Half of us stood formed an interior ring with the other half on the outside. As the outer ring rotated, we got 3 minutes to have quick conversations with the person standing before us. Though the exercise was quite rushed, it got me speaking to some folks I otherwise might not have met. I met representatives from Irisson, a multimedia art center in Casablanca, from Ashkal Alwan, the Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, the Cinemateque de Tanger, and the Amman International Dance Festival, to name just a few.
William spoke about how the Townhouse Gallery has built close ties to the neighborhood in which it is housed, a neighborhood of machinists, immigrants, children, shoe shiners and more. They did this be engaging local residents in the very first stages of restoring the building that would become the gallery and developing programs that were inclusive to these diverse communities. Today, the space of the Townhouse Gallery is used by diverse stakeholders, not limited to the "art world"--immigrants find peace and resources in the library, local children stop by to participate in weekly workshops, machinists from the workshops housed in the same building join for a meal and collaborate with artists in residence. Listening to William speak about the diverse activities housed in the Townhouse, I saw how this art space had become completely integrated into the urban fabric of its community while dynamically responding to its needs. It made me think of some of the comments left during the recent fD dialogue on Art Spaces Hosting Activism and Strengthening Communities.
Vicky had an equally inspiring story to tell. She created her foundation in response to the historical suppression of native culture that continues to occur at cultural and political levels in Hawai'i today. As a hula instructor with a university post and her own dance school, Vicky mobilized her community against legislation that would limit the collection of cultural resources from the the natural environment. The governor reversed the policy after Vicky and other indigenous cultural practitioners drummed and chanted and danced outside the state house for 24 hours. Today, the Pa'i Foundation is protecting and diffusing indigenous culture. It has worked at the legislative level to protect indigenous cultural rights, helped establish an indigenous cultural festival, and continued to offer opportunities for youth to learn about and express their indigenous Hawaiian culture. Vicky is currently working to create a cultural center for Pa'i Foundation's activities.
Vicky and William provided two clear examples of how creative practice and creative spaces become platforms for civic engagement and social justice. Sometimes I struggle with convincing people of the role of arts and cultural practice and spaces in civil society--now I have two new stories to illustrate my case.
Following the panel, we had an opportunity to build community within the Informal Meeting context with a networking exercise. Half of us stood formed an interior ring with the other half on the outside. As the outer ring rotated, we got 3 minutes to have quick conversations with the person standing before us. Though the exercise was quite rushed, it got me speaking to some folks I otherwise might not have met. I met representatives from Irisson, a multimedia art center in Casablanca, from Ashkal Alwan, the Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, the Cinemateque de Tanger, and the Amman International Dance Festival, to name just a few.
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