Arts impact: arts and culture in the community

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Autumn, 2002 by Jenifer Milner

"THE ARTS AT THEIR BEST IN OUR SOCIETY COMPLEMENT AND MUTUALLY CELEBRATE COMMUNITY AND CONNECTEDNESS." -- WALTER PITMAN, LEARNING THE ARTS, 1999

In its simplest sense, the word community implies people with something in common. At the start of the 21st century, we use this word to describe cyberpals, economic allies, even the global population. But no matter how broad or narrow the definition, community originates with people.

The interweaving of lives that creates towns, cities and regions is under pressure in many places. Consider the impact of these seismic shifts in society: mobility and immigration, free trade, nontraditional families, workplace transition, new technologies; to name just a few. When change radically affects people's lives individually and collectively, it transforms communities, too. As traditional anchors of life lose their stability, people want more opportunities to connect and to experience community. Arts and cultural activities provide these opportunities.

The human exchange

Through cultural events and experiences, people connect with the community of humanity. Creators, interpreters and producers of arts and culture share their personal visions with the aim of stimulating a response. These works also provide people with a sense of connection to the past and to the unchanging nature of humanity. Artists through the ages have formed questions, comments and concerns about the human condition. And modern artists continue perplexing, enriching and influencing people through their work. Why? Because the essence of art is in its communication with people, as Phillip Kotler and Joanne Scheff write in their book Standing Room Only: Strategies for Marketing the Performing Arts.

Community through art

Arts and culture also provide what the Canadian Conference of the Arts calls a "connective tissue...in our everyday lives." Some artists and arts organizations, such as community arts councils, focus on developing that connective tissue through community-based art. In an address to the Assembly of British Columbia Arts Councils' 1996 Conference on Community Cultural Development, speaker Peter Sellars described it this way: "What does it mean to make art and to make conversation, not to people, not about people, but with people? Which is our task in this century--inclusion, collaboration, working together...."

B.C.'s community-based organizations have provided many arts opportunities for citizens, including the Artists and Communities 19971999 pilot program managed by the Assembly. Artists and Communities exemplified the inclusive approach. During a two-year period, this program supported five community-based collaborations around BC, including a community play featuring more than 800 participants from the town of Enderby.

Hungry to participate

Cultural offerings and collaborative arts projects fill voids in communities. But Ann Mortifee, artist and former chair of the British Columbia Arts Council, points to an emerging model for arts and culture in communities: a wholesale "revitalization paradigm." Mortifee says "There is a hunger for community, a hunger for creative gatherings, a hunger to perform.... The result is a grassroots spiritual resurgence not unlike the ecological movement."

Involved citizens

How do communities benefit when people establish a sense of connectedness and community through arts and culture? By having engaged and involved citizens. "Arts and culture create the potential for generating a sense of belonging and a commitment to working together to build a better future" (Creative Connections: Arts and Culture in British Columbia Communities, Union of British Columbia Municipalities, 1997).

While many people become engaged and involved in their communities through arts and culture, some have life changing--even life saving--encounters with the arts. Artistic practice provides an avenue for people to identify and express their feelings, fears, and experiences, as well as their hopes, dreams, and beliefs.

Traumatized children at a crisis centre draw what they cannot speak. People with developmental disabilities create visual art about their lives in institutions. And in workshops called The ICE Project, 250 teens voiced their feelings about life and the world in which they live through theatre games and techniques.

Youth longing to be heard

Judith Marcuse, artistic director of DanceArts Vancouver, worked with Headlines Theatre's David Diamond, playwright John Lazarus and director Jane Heyman on The ICE Project, the first of four projects about youth issues.

"Many [teens] revealed their longing to fit into a community, to feel connected," says Marcuse. "For many others, the only goal was survival." She adds that "Simply sharing this information, and learning they were not alone, was a transforming experience for many of them as well as us. Their hunger to communicate and to be heard was heart-rending."

Marcuse, her colleagues and a cast of young, professional actors turned the material into a 1997 production called ICE: beyond cool. The show proved a big hit, especially with young audiences. Experiencing their truths represented on stage had a powerful impact on these youth: