WindyJMusic.com
  • Blog
  • Biography
    • Online Curriculum Vitae
  • Bookings
  • Contact
  • Research

The Arts: Consciously Creating Community

2/9/2016

0 Comments

 
For those involved in the many disciplines of the Arts, we all love the arts in its various forms; visual, theatrical, literary, dance and musical arts.  We form a community that exists with a hope for mutual support.  And why wouldn’t we, we all see the importance of the arts.  We all know that the ability to perceive the arts as more than simply objects is innately human.  There are neurological and philosophical studies that have proven this beyond a doubt, and even UNESCO has articulated that the Arts are an expression of cultural freedom, which is a universal human right, so we even have both science and politics on our side when we say “the Arts are essential to our humanness”.

Nonetheless, the importance of the Arts in Community is often understated.  I’ve heard on a number of occasions the argument that “the Arts create community, and community develops because of the Arts”, and this argument does us a disservice.  It places an unrealistic expectation on the Arts to magically create a community simply by existing.  Society is not an accident of the Arts.  If we were to put a mural up on the side of the Royal Bank depicting a Nazi internment camp, we are not going develop into a community of oppressors of human rights.  As a friend of mine said in his article about what the Arts are, the success of a society of a bygone era is usually judged by the diversity of their Arts, but that is because every society is consciously created.  They are planned, and the Arts are an integral part of that plan.

James Graves, in his book "Cultural Democracy", explains to us exactly what Community is.  “Any group of individuals who share something, anything, in common, and consider themselves to have some allegiance to each other as a result, forms a community.”  The Arts are a Community in High River, as you no doubt agree.  What about High River on the whole?  What does every person who lives in High River have in common, and consider ourselves to have some allegiance to each other as a result?

The flood is no longer an appropriate answer, although it is still our best answer.  “We are a community of flood survivors”.  But not everyone in High River is.  As people move in, move out, have kids, grow up, die, visit and depart, what will be their lasting impression of High River?  After a while, it won’t be the flood nor will it be our resilient recovery, and then what will our community be?
I said earlier that the Arts are part of a plan to building a community.  That’s because the Arts in a societal view serves a public purpose, and is the only discipline/industry that consistently does so.  The Arts build social capital, the “stuff” of culture.  Allow me to explain with musicking, because that is my chosen artistic discipline.

At one point in time we had an elitist view of what music was.  It was an object, an artifact of historical or musical import.  It was something to be enjoyed upon its own merits.  It was even used as a tempering tool for society; one person in Saskatchewan explained that the purpose of boys bugle bands a century ago was to cure the boys of “slovenliness of speech”.  To a certain extent, some of those views purvey.  But music as an object doesn’t build social capital.

How we music builds social capital.  Music is in fact an action, be it the creation of that artifact, the listening to it, the dancing to it, or the understanding of some intended message.  Even more, some people music by distributing it, selling tickets at the door, or designing posters for events.  What that actually means is that music is a verb, not a noun.  It is not an object, but an action.  We don’t make music.  We music.

You can say the same of art.  We don’t make art.  We paint.  We sculpt.  We display.  We art.  You can say the same of theatre and dance.  We don’t produce plays.  We act.  We design.  We show.  We move.  We theate.  We dance.

In each of these artistic verbs, we commune.  We interact with one another as artists, with audiences, with the larger community.  We share.  We message.  We politic and we express.  We don’t always do it the same as one another, and that is good because it allows for communication between differing thoughts.  It is through this communion with one another that culture lives, breathes, develops and thrives.  This growth occurs through the Arts, so an area that has consistent support for artistic diversity can build social capital and become not just a place where people live, but become a community.

Consider that economically speaking, diversity and competition is good for a community.  Consider that a community is also strong with people of different talents contributing to it.  A community with the capacity for accumulating financial capital and human resources will be strong both in economy and talent.  So too it is for social capital.  As Graves says, “a society with a low capacity for accumulating social capital, one that stresses zero-sum games offering some members advantages at the expense of others, will be unstable and probably dangerous. Dynamic, progressive societies develop mechanisms to enhance the web of social capital.”

Communities are planned.  The Arts are an integral part of that plan.  If we are to consciously create communities, it must be about developing those mechanisms to enhance the web of social capital in High River.  It cannot be simply about planning events.  It must be about creating or enhancing systems and mechanisms that increase our capacity for accumulating social capital.  It’s going to take more than artists to do that; business leaders, politicians, educators and other community leaders need to be in the conversation.  They need to engage the entire community in it.  That’s what the Our High River Community Café is going to be about on February 10, 2016.

If you want to be a part of it, come join us at the Wise Owl Café for Our High River’s Arts in Community event.  Drop in sometime between 5 and 8 PM.  Let’s find the sum of our specialties and come up with not just ideas, but solutions that we didn’t have before we walked in.

Let’s consciously create community through, with, and in the Arts.
0 Comments
    Tweet
    Picture
    Tweets by @WindyJMusic

    Archives

    April 2019
    March 2019
    October 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    2013 Flood
    Abuse
    Accountable
    Advocate
    AEMA
    Agriculture
    AHRA
    Airplanes
    Aisi
    Alberta
    Alberta Human Rights
    Alberta Initiative For School Improvement
    Alberta NDP
    Alberta Party
    Alberta School Boards Association
    Alberta Teachers Association
    Alison Redford
    Art
    Arts
    Arts Education
    Asba
    Ata
    ATASC
    AUMA
    Band
    Barack Obama
    Bargaining
    Berm
    Big Listen
    Black Diamond
    Bragg Creek
    Bridge
    Bruce Masterman
    Bruce Mcallister
    Budget
    Bully
    Byelection
    Calgary
    Calgary Centre
    Calgary-Elbow
    Calgary Foothills
    Calgary Sun
    Canada
    Canadian
    Cathy Couey
    Choir
    Christian
    Chuck Shifflett
    Class Of 2014
    Community
    Competency
    Composition
    Concert Bands
    Conduct
    Conservative
    Corporate
    Corporations
    Council
    Councillor
    Craig Snodgrass
    Culture
    Curriculum
    Danielle Larivee
    Danielle Smith
    David Eggen
    David Staples
    Deron Bilous
    Diana Mcqueen
    Didsbury
    Dike
    Dirty Thirties
    Discipline
    Diversification
    Donations
    Don Moore
    Doug Griffiths
    Doug Horner
    Downtown
    Dragan Brankovich
    Drama
    Drp
    DRP Advocacy Committee
    Education
    Elbow
    Election
    Electoral Reform
    Emile Blokland
    Energy
    Environment
    Esrd
    Evan Berger
    Exshaw
    Federal
    Festival
    Fine Arts
    Flood
    Floodplain
    Floodway
    Foothills
    Forced Entry
    Fort Macleod
    Fort Mcmurray
    Fred Horne
    Gay-Straight Alliance
    Golf Course
    Gordon Dirks
    Government
    Grads
    Graduation
    Grassroots
    Green
    Greg Clark
    Greg Weadick
    GSA
    Guitar
    Gun
    Guns
    Hamptons
    High River
    Highway 63
    Highwood
    Homeless
    Honourable
    Hope
    Hotels
    Ian Donovan
    Jamie Kinghorn
    Jazz
    Jeff Johnson
    Jennifer Burgess
    Jim Morgan
    Jim Prentice
    Joe Ceci
    Joel Windsor
    John Barlow
    Justin Trudeau
    Kathy Macdonald
    Ken Hughes
    Kent Hehr
    Kerry Towle
    Keystone XL
    Lake
    Laurie Blakeman
    Legislature
    Liberal
    Liberalberta
    Liberals
    Lions
    Local
    London
    Macleod
    Mayor
    Medicine Hat
    Melissa Mathieson
    Mentally Ill
    Michelle Glavin
    Mitigation
    Mla
    Modulars
    Mount Royal
    Mru
    Municipal
    Municipalities
    Music
    Musical Theatre
    Ndp
    New Year
    NFA
    No Zero
    Nra
    OECD
    Oil
    Okotoks
    Olympics
    Parents
    Parking
    Pc
    Peter Loran
    Philosophy
    Phil Rowland
    Piano
    Pipeline
    PISA
    Police
    Political
    Politics
    Polly Knowlton Cockett
    Portables
    Practice Review
    Premier
    Privacy
    Professional
    Progressive Conservative
    Protest
    Provincial
    Question Period
    Rachel Notley
    Raj Sherman
    Rally
    Rcmp
    Reality Check
    Richard Murray
    Rick Fraser
    Ric McIver
    Rob Anderson
    Robert Prcic
    Sandy Hook
    School
    School Boards
    Scott Wagner
    Self Regulation
    Self-regulation
    Service
    Shane Schreiber
    Siksika
    Socialist
    Speaker
    Stephen Mandel
    Stompin' Tom Connors
    Strings
    Students
    Sustainable Resource Development
    Teach
    Teacher
    Theatre
    Thomas Lukaszuk
    Todd Van Vliet
    Tran-Davies
    TransCanada
    Tripartite
    Trustee
    Twin
    United States
    Urban
    Vocal
    Water
    Water For Life
    Wayne Anderson
    Wedderburn
    Western Wheel
    Wildrose
    William Munsey
    WREM

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    RSS Feed

In my world, we don't accept "I can't." When you enter my world, you enter the realm of "I can't yet." It acknowledges a challenge, opens doors, and calls for action. Then, in my world, we act, and we always find success.

Social Media

Photo used under Creative Commons from Sam Howzit
  • Blog
  • Biography
    • Online Curriculum Vitae
  • Bookings
  • Contact
  • Research