Mali Intersection, Urbana Crossroads
Isn’t this cool? What a way to mark an intersection! Here’s what artist Janet Goldner writes about it:
The Association Segou-Laben, a group of artists in Segou [Mali] including bogolan artist Boubacar Doumbia and sculptor Amahiguere Dolo, invited me to collaborate with them to create a steel sculpture for a traffic circle on the major highway that leads from Bamako to the north of the country. The work is based on Bamana history, symbolism and mythology. The sculpture plays an important role in of the renewal of Segou.
I just came from an Urbana City Council meeting where it was voted to table the public arts commission again, although the council seems to be moving toward consensus. But some of what is lacking for me in these meetings is the kind of imagery and creative energy evident in this collaborative Malian work. The talkiness of meetings, the sterility of the room, the formality of Robert’s Rules of Order don’t come close to sparking imaginations or galvanizing people around some wonderful visual marker on a major intersection. Instead our crossroads are marked by another humdrum three-story panel-brick building that will have more shops, places to spend money if you have it. I know, these commercial properties generate taxes, and maybe some jobs, not a small thing. But I’d rather have a crazy, large-scale piece of art.
The Elusive Urbana Public Arts Commission, Part Two
This morning I wrote another letter to the members of the Urbana City Council. They are to discuss the proposal to create a Public Arts Commission on Monday night, after tabling it two weeks ago. Money is the sticking point. I am always concerned that I sound like an academic (which, of course, I am) so I tried to keep it short:
Toby Miller in his most recent book _Cultural Citizenship_ (2008) states that we are in a “crisis of belonging.” He uses the phrase “cultural citizenship” to discuss the “seemingly indirect processes [including arts policies] by which members of society” are engaged with their governments and local civic organizations. Other authors like anthropologist Renato Rosaldo have used the phrase to describe how communities use culture to come together—-in neighborhoods, workplaces, churches, and activist groups. To distill these authors’ arguments rather crudely: pluralistic groups need cultural endeavors to bring them together and begin or continue the difficult job of thriving together. This urgent need to work toward common civic goals is the main reason why I support the public arts commission. The arts provide ways to build relationships across diverse groups that build trust, bring joy, and sometimes provide “neutral” ground for dialogues around challenging and divisive issues.
Miller’s recent book focuses on television, expanding on material he discussed in his book, Technologies of Truth: Cultural Citizenship and the Popular Media (Minnesota, 1998). Renato Rosaldo has published a lot I am sure, being as he is a full professor at Stanford, NYU, and other similar institutions. But the article that I mentioned above is over ten years old: (1994)”Cultural Citizenship and Educational Democracy,” Cultural Anthropology, 9(3): 402-411.
Wireless Cities: Paths Away from Bad Times
An article in The New York Times yesterday (3/22/08), “Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out” focuses on Philadelphia’s efforts to set up a municipal Wi-Fi grid in order to provide free or cheap wireless access to all residents. EarthLink has decided that “municipal Wi-Fi assets were no longer consistent with the company’s strategic direction,” or, in other words, making a profit. C-U’s own Sascha Meinrath, now at New America Foundation in DC, got it right when he said that municipal networks are truly sustainable when they are owned by the municipalities. “They can take into account benefits that help cities beyond private profit, including property value increases, education benefits and quality-of-life improvements that come with offering residents free wireless access.” As for those in Philadelphia who now find their Internet access jeopardized, one resident noted sadly, “For us and a lot of people in this neighborhood, the Internet is like a path out of here.” EarthLink’s corporate motto is, “We revolve around you.” It seems that prior to Earthlink CEO Garry Betty’s death from cancer at age 49 in 2007, Earthlink revolved around more people. Betty was a big promoter of municipal WiFi.
The Elusive Urbana Public Arts Commission
On Monday March 10 the Urbana (IL) City Council tabled consideration of creating a public arts commission. This was somewhat discouraging for the public arts task force. At least the Council didn’t vote it down. For what it is worth, here’s what I wrote to the Council about the importance of supporting the arts in Urbana (and the world.) I have added some images and I was fortunate enough tonight to see the play by Ruth Nicole Brown, “Endangered Black Girls.” (It was a really packed house.)
The public arts task force has worked for the past year on crafting an arts commission structure and mission that I believe will put Urbana on the map for its leadership in supporting the arts and for its recognition that the arts are integral to a healthy, vibrant community, economically and otherwise.
As an arts educator, I have had the opportunity to work in art-related fields for over twenty years. I use the term “art” broadly and would like to share three examples of how the arts
-not only offer students new ways to communicate and thrive,
-not only offer people compelling reasons to move here and remain in town, and
-not only offer visitors reasons to return to Urbana,
BUT ALSO how the arts contribute significantly to addressing issues of common concern. The arts are not an “extra” except in the sense that they are often extraordinary in their ability to draw people into conversation, into action, into new understandings.
Current local artistic activities include powerful expressions, but they occur because of the dedicated commitment on the part of a few. Forty North is an important partner in some of these activities, but that organization, too, would benefit from municipal recognition of their efforts. Often, local artists produce one-time events by cobbling together support from existing groups, but there is no continuity, no public rehearsal space, and few affordable outlets for youngsters to learn music, dance and visual art, for example.
EXAMPLE #1: This week the Inner Voices Social Issues Theatre (sponsored by UIUC Counseling Center, McKinley Heath Center, and the Department of Theatre) is performing the work of a local playwright, Ruth Nicole Brown, called “Endangered Black Girls,” based on the lives of local young women, at the Armory Free Theatre. While it is fantastic that this play is being produced, we need more of 
this sort of contribution. The time to understand what Dr. Brown’s work has to communicate is now as WILL’s Youth Media Workshop has made abundantly clear. Young people in our town do not see the community as offering any resources to help them achieve their goals. Angela Evans, who almost single-handedly coordinates “Black Stars” for girls has told me that she is desperate for accessible rehearsal space, for instance. Making space for these activities is supporting the arts in ways that are not happening now.
EXAMPLE #2: Cecilia Vicuña, a Chilean artist, has been collecting seeds from native plants since 1973. This 35-year project is part science, part art, part politics, in that after her exile from Chile in 1973, she moved to England and continued to collaborate with scientists there to promote plantings that would stop the denuding and erosion of the central areas in Chile with which she was most familiar. She has continued to promote her work through the publication of her poems, through public speaking, and through her sculptures and performances. She now regularly returns to Chile from California. This too is art and this too fosters change for the better, I believe.
EXAMPLE #3: California-based artist Suzanne Lacy worked for ten years in Oakland, California, on a series of workshops and performances that involved local youth. One of the key areas of concern in that diverse city was the tension between young people and police. Lacy creatively mixed parades, video interviews, basketball games, and face-to-face conversations between young people and police officers (1991-2001) to create awareness of different viewpoints, funding for youth activities, and roles for young people in creating policies that affected and supported them. This too is art.
With these examples, I hope I have shown how diverse artistic activities may be, how they can appeal to a wide range of people, how they promote new attitudes that increase human potential. Urbana needs a public art commission for all these reasons. Thank you.
