| Community & Public Art |
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With the coalition government’s move to measure ‘wellbeing’ alongside the traditional economic indicators perhaps it is time that the true value that the creative arts bring to society is fully acknowledged. |
| David Cameron’s statement that there is, ‘more to life than money’ could be seen as a positive indication of the need for society to bring about a realignment in our focus; from purely economic advancement, to paying attention to the development of the human spirit. This ought to make active participation in the arts, by the general public, as important a goal, as dealing with the national deficit and growing the economy. Perhaps we as individuals and communities need to be self-responsible and, alongside government-led initiatives make this shift of focus a reality. |
| I have written about the benefits that involvement in the creative arts brings in About Creativity and Benefits. With this in mind it needs to be recognised that community artists bring a level of experience and professionalism to the participatory arts in a similar way tradesmen (electritican, plumbers, roofers, etc) bring a high level of professionalism to the DIY industry. Just as the DIY industry grew to enable more people to take control of those DIY jobs that lie within their abilities, so too do communities need to take on the role of offering more voluntary-based participatory arts workshops for themselves. |
| However to continue the analogy of the DIY industry - the white-man-van traders provide crucial skills for those people who are not naturally able to do DIY for themselves, find their self-confidence exceeds their actual abilties or boldly acknowledge they need to bring in the professionals right from the start. The trades keep the fabric (buildings, gardens, etc) of our society in good condition and the professional tradesperson quarentees high quality work. In a similar way the Community Artist needs to be hard at work keeping the spirit and soul of our society in good condition, delivering workshops that are undestood to be of equal neccessity and of equally high quality. |
| Perhaps if we can manage this change of focus and actively embrace the Community Artist alongside the array of tradepeople we value throughout the year, we, as society, will be able to realise the shift in focus that needs to take place to meaningfully include the care of our wellbeing within the measure of our GDP. |
| Community Arts is usually understood to encompass projects that work with various community groups dealing with issues that have a particular relevance to them. Public Art is usually understood to emcompass those outdoor projects (or projects within the public realm) that have a similar intention as community art projects, but have a wider focus by looking to communicate and affect a much larger audience from across a whole community, city, or visitors from outside the locality. |
| Our understanding of 'community' has evolved over the years moving from 'community of a specific place' to a conceptual understanding that now encompasses many different definitions. Broadly speaking the concept of 'community' is increasingly blurred and fluid referring to a complex network of interconnected communities that make up all of our lives, with everyone trying to straddle many different 'communities' in a complex, fractous and dynamic world. |
| Leaf Arts sees no boundary between Community & Public art projects and believe that participation is the key to success. |
| We work closely with Arts & Regeneration Officers, Housing Associations, Charities and Community Groups where most of the projects we deliver broadly seek to engage with people who may not have had the oportunities to engage with the creative arts before, or are looking to learn new skills or develop existing skills to new levels and achieve high quality work under the direction of a professional artist. |
