Sunday, February 6, 2011
Class Minutes - 02/02/11
• Shared a communal meal at the Sustainability House
• Kurt and Kremena will be in NYC next week
• Workshop with Bianca: Writing What You Know
◦ List 5 things you can remember seeing today
◦ Circle the most memorable and free write about it; Why did it stand out in your mind?
◦ Voluntarily shared what we wrote
◦ Draw a tree with your eyes closed and the hand you don't normally write with—this is the tree you carry in your heart
◦ Write a descrpition of the tree you just attempted to draw
◦ Adopt a community tree and write about it; email to Bianca and she'll send you thoughts back
◦ Empty out your purse, wallet, etc. and close your eyes. Pick out 3 things and write about them
◦ Pick one last item—write and ode to it, incorporating at least one of the other three
◦ Point of exercise was to celebrate the little things in life
◦ Things like these exercises can spark ideas, feelings, etc. that you forgot were there that can lead to a complex This I Believe Essay
◦ Community prompt: List 10 wrods at top of sheet that you associate with fear. Cross the first one out and free-write about it. Passed 5 times
◦ Point was to show collaboration: Working with a community you're going to be wading through lots of people's fears—Bianca hopes that we realize we have universial experiences even if we are leading very individual lives
• Clay read his This I Believe essay
Monday, January 24, 2011
Class Minutes - 01/19/11
• Sarah Milligan as guest speaker
• Paul Brown gives brief comments on his experience as an alum of CETA, stressing “working with,” not “for”.
• Sarah Milligan, folklorist, involved with the KY Folklife Program and the KY Oral History Commission (the only state funded commission of its kind).
• Folklore-identifying, documenting, and preserving tradition (while they change over time) through oral tradition, giving a sense of community and identity.
• Recorded through oral history, photography, observations and other methods.
• Briefly discussed assimilation of other cultures into communities: 2nd and 3rd generations of immigrant families forming their identities as not Italian or American, but as Italian American.
• Mention of PlaceMatters site and the general study of “sense of place” (a study of the physical and cultural influences that determine how we see our environment; “what you notice without noticing”).
• Brings up the question of how one is to determine “people’s [cultural and community] attachments”.
• Brings up the question of how to document a community in transformation.
• Patrick brings up distinction between cultural idiosyncrasy and community.
• Sarah clarifies that community can translate into any group of people with an element of cohesion.
• Kurt and Kremena assign Folklore Project.
• Kathleen shares her experiences as a CETA alum (Spalding’s Bakery and Mr. Needham).
• Collective setting of neighborhood boundaries: Race to Broadway, Loudon to 3rd.
• Sarah makes suggestion to ask questions around neighborhood in order to find important voices.
• Paul makes suggestion to speak with old real estate agents.
• Patrick suggests a contact list legacy, and to call people repeatedly if necessary.
• Griffin mentions Guy Huguelett.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Class Minutes 1-12-11
Community Engagement through the Arts
January 12, 2011
Hop-Hop
Steve
- Degree at UK with a strong emphasis on community development
- Bring together development, arts, anthropology,
- Glad everyone involved in CETA is not an “artist” and urges us to deconstruct that word
- We should ask What is community? What is arts?
- Personal background:
◦ Kaleidescope
▪ using hip-hop in youth development
▪ took community needs (i.e. fair housing) and advocated for social change
◦ working with refugees currently
▪ telling the stories of students
▪ arts work to subvert media in regards to SB 6
▪ mural and stenciling
- 3 themes for good, sustainable community development and arts
1. Do work with or by community, not for
2. Importance of local knowledge, the story
◦ Importance of building trust and listening
3. Arts activism- bring it back to first point: who are you doing this with?
Empower people to tell their story
- Ad Busters—culture jamming
Danny, editor of North of Center
- moved to Lexington in 2000 for graduate work at UK
- works at BCTC—soured on some of the larger missions of formalized education
- Ph. D. work was on new journalism
- writing for paper helps him to relate and humanize relationship with students
- teaches a community that isn't as discussed in Lexington
- this paper tries to give people voices who normally don't get a chance
Marty, President of the North Limestone Neighborhood Association
- around 250 neighborhood associations in Lexington, about 15 are active
- Neighborhood associations typically form around negative thing—challenge is to continue and be proactive after the problem is resolved
- founded North Limestone NA about 9 years ago
- North Limestone NA Vision and Values
1. Diversity
2. Green Space
3. Community Art
4. Safety
5. Pedestrian/Bike Friendly
- Make sure you work based on values & vision of the community you work in
- N. Limestone has really benefited from Transy trying to create community awareness & positive image
- community leaders: Millers, Archie, Griffin
Nick, Local Artist
- Drive By Press: print-making press in back of truck and travel to schools/programs to educate about print-making
◦ traveled all around country
◦ print-making demonstration: democratic art, able to give away
- How can art make a commentary to the community?
- Difference: reflect on whether or not this is our community
- History of Street Art
◦ Begins with cave art
◦ Greek/Rome
◦ Wheat paste advertisements—influence continues on street art
◦ Hobos-symbols for information
◦ Hip-Hop & street art connection
▪ 80's was a street art boom (Keith Herrington)
▪ beginning of imagery instead of just names
▪ Banksy—using the language of street art & stencils
◦ Gallery culture and street art
◦ Is what our class is doing street art?
◦ Brad Stanely—visit by the Secret Service
◦ Swoon-big woodcuts
◦ Small-hummingbirds- run in w/ police
◦ Shepard Fairey—move from street art to sanctioned art
▪ Is sanctioned street art still street art?
◦ Philadelphia wheat paste project at bar
Other guests present: Archie, Becky, Griffin, Stephen