Creative Communities

The other night I attended another great event at New Urban Arts titled Who Made Us Creative? People, Place & Power. The fishbowl conversation consisted of panelists representing many of the key arts organizations around Providence, including AS220, the Steel Yard, New Urban Arts, and Community Music Works. The discussion categories included origins of the orgs, space and place, resources, relationship to powerful institutions, and visions or life cycles.

There are a number of things I took away from the conversation. The most notable, however, directly have to do with education. I sat next to a woman I attended a Brown event with several weeks ago about documentation. She explained that she was a senior at RISD, and gave me several things to think about. First, and much less to do with this event in particular, she told me that RISD doesn't really connect their students with these types of events in the city. I found that to be really disheartening, and I wish with such a rich, diverse, inclusive and place-based city like Providence more classrooms would take down their walls to involve these types of things in their curriculum. Which leads me to my second thought that came out of this convergence.

The panel was asked how to involve even more of the student population in Providence. A long discussion around this topic ensued, and ended with a comment that really struck me; "...It doesn't mean we should mentor every student." If memory serves, more of an emphasis was placed on the word "should," indicating more of a statement about the nature of mentorship and imposition. However, taking that statement out of context a bit and coupling it with statements revolved around not enough space to reach students with art, I began to wonder about how we are reaching students. After hearing a student speak last week about her experience at NUA, I began to recognize what is often held as an "us vs. them" mentality when it comes to arts organizations and formal schools. What I wonder is if this idea of space-based organizations and community investment exists within the cracks in the pavement of our cities, and this strain of "not enough space," and this concept of NUA vs. Classical High, plus this program I learned about last week that teaches history and math through art, AND the struggle in educational institutions of retention and retainment, can all these issues be solved simply by partnering schools in Providence with local art organizations? It seems too simple, and my articulation is obviously in another state at the moment, but if (for example) Classical High School partnered with NUA right across the street to collaborate on curriculum, students would be happier, more involved, and as a result experience more learning. I am not saying NUA should run programs at the school, but that mentors should be brought in to help design curriculum as a consultant or to run a few classes out of the semester.

Arts organizations in Providence including those represented on this panel and others continue to collaborate to strengthen the community in spite of schools. What would happen if they all were invited and decided to strengthen youth community in schools? Would we experience a jump in school attendance, participation, retainment, and excitement? Or would that partnership only corrupt the nature of the organizations and turn students away from both? I don't know, but I will give this idea much more thought and deliberation. I'll get back to you soon...