What is an artist?
We spent the morning defining the role of artists and creative people in our community. In small groups, we explored the nature of the artist. We explored questions such as: How does an artist influence their community? What power does an artist have? What does it mean to be creative? Who is creative? Each group was asked to prepare a short presentation defining the role of creative people in community transformation. The thoughts presented were brilliant and inspiring. Here are a few:
“Artists have the capacity to do things very well. Their capacity to create beauty in an excellent way is transformative. They create art that the community is proud of.”
“Creative people have the capacity to touch and see aspects of the world that are abstract. They can create and work within metaphor.”
“Through technique and practice, creators make objects that represent and influence culture. These creations come from the imagination.”
“Artists can create symbols and visions for the future of a place that help to keep the community inspired to work harder.”
“Creative people can reinvigorate and transform their communities.”
“Artist can combine the concrete and abstract to reflect the world and what is happening in the world. In turn the world becomes the reflection of the artists in it.”
“As messengers and translators, artists have the capacity to create a model for healthy communities.”
The class was able to identify the various roles that creative people can play in raising awareness, catalyzing change, celebrating success, and moving towards renewed communities! They were also able to identify the roles that the currently play and that they will play in the future in community transformation.
This conversation will be very helpful as we move towards conceptualizing community projects to address needs via the arts.
