Artists Can Be Great Because Artists Can Serve

This Monday, January 17, marks the 25^th Anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. Many were probably not aware that MLK Day was a national day of service until President Obama took office. Now that you know, you’re probably wondering how artists and arts organizations can contribute.

As artists, arts administrators, and arts advocates, we already know that participation in the arts and arts processes results can positively impact communities. Joining MLK Day of Service is a great way to demonstrate this to your community, public officials, and the media.

Here are 5 ways the arts can join the national service movement:

1. Murals PLUS: Why plus? Because murals alone don’t change communities. If you want to address a specific issue, make sure you include the community you’re working with. What issues do they find most important? How can they participate? A mural may stand a long time – make sure it represents something your community believes in.
2. Increase Youth Literacy Skills. Are you a writer? A lover of literature? Many libraries across the country not only participate in MLK Day but they often serve as a central gathering place for volunteers. Ask your library or local writing center about the projects they’re already working on or volunteer to coordinate free writing workshops for students.
3. Dance for Fitness. Childhood obesity is a big issue right now. First Lady Michelle Obama significantly raised awareness about this epidemic through the Let’s Move campaign. But let’s face it; childhood obesity is a problem because many adults developed bad eating habits. If you’re a dancer, ask if you can offer dance classes at your place of worship. Do you teach P.E. but are lacking the funds to hire a guest artist? Provide leadership opportunities to your students and invite them to teach fun and effective dance moves to their classmates.
4. Serve Others, Serve Yourself. While volunteering can benefit communities, it’s also a great way to increase your skills and experience. Are you a graphic design student in high school or college? Suggest that your class adopt a charity. Help that organization raise awareness about their programs while also building your resume. Along the way you’ll also gain great insight into the work that organization is doing.
5. Donations Are Great Too! Yes, artists need to make a living and can’t always contribute their artistic talents. Use your organizational skills to host an arts drive in your community. Does your school need instruments? Create a campaign to collect those unused clarinets that have been sitting in everyone’s attic since high school and then donate them to local schools and organizations.

You might not be an artist or arts organization, but you may be using arts processes in your service to community. If you’re collecting oral histories, demonstrating your community work through a documentary, hosting a fundraiser, or including creative writing in your service-learning reflection activities, consider how you can support artists in your community by hiring them to help you meet your mission.

To learn more about MLK Day of Service or to find or submit service projects online, visit www.MLKDay.org.

Demonic and Divine

Many bloggers, artists, and journalists have commented on the National Portrait Gallery’s censorship of the “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” exhibition. The removed artwork at the center of this controversy is a video by David Wojnarowicz titled “A Fire in My Belly,” which includes an ant-covered crucifix.

I certainly don’t have the visual arts background to offer any insightful artistic analysis, nor am I close to the epicenter of this controversy to offer anything new about the activities of those involved. However I love literature and I am surprised that no one has referenced Chaim Potok’s wonderful novel My Name is Asher Lev. The story details the coming-of-age of Asher Lev, an artist and Orthodox Jew who forges a path into the art world against his father’s wishes. The novel climaxes with Asher painting his mother, torn apart by the conflict between him and his father, in a crucifixion. Narrating this moment, Asher laments:

For all the pain you suffered, my mama. For all the torment of your past and future years, my mama. For all the anguish this picture of pain will cause you. For the unspeakable mystery that brings good fathers and sons into the world and lets a mother watch them tear at each other’s throats. …for all these things I created this painting – an observant Jew, working on a crucifixion because there was no aesthetic mold in his own religious tradition into which he could pour a painting of ultimate anguish and torment.

Christianity has influenced art for centuries, from Milton’s Paradise Lost and Handel’s Messiah to the Narnia books and Star Wars Trilogy. The tale/history of suffering and redemption is part of the fabric of western culture, whether believer or nonbeliever. Few images are as universal as the crucifixion. It can represent the conflict and pain inside a Jewish household and the suffering and condemnation felt by those at the epicenter of the AIDS crisis.

Potok's real life painting of Brooklyn Crucifixion.

To read more about the artwork and the censorship controversy, read Philip Kennicott’s December 10 Washington Post story.

 

It’s About the Journey…

In a recent interview in the Washington Post, Quincy Jones tells the story about finding himself in a room with a piano and knowing immediately that that instrument would be with him for the rest of his life. Many of us involved in the arts have had similar experiences. Music, specifically the singing, captured me in second grade. I loved music as an art form, sure, but I also valued the camaraderie, the teamwork, the challenge of learning new works, and the buzz I got after performing.

I know that not all arts experiences are quite so magical. Even as I advocate for arts opportunities for all, I understand that not everyone will feel the passion that I feel. Yet I also believe that arts processes can have a transformative effect on communities and participants.

Therapeutic Theater

 

 

Last weekend I rented A Christmas Carol, the Disney animated feature with Jim Carrey. It seems as if each year I would watch some version of the movie, whether it was Mickey’s Christmas Carol, the version with George C. Scott, or even Scrooged with Bill Murray. But prior to last weekend’s viewing, I can’t even remember the last time I watched any of those movies.

But my memories of the story are very fond. In fifth grade, I had an opportunity to play young Ebeneezer Scrooge in a community theater production. I was not used to coming home late and going to bed at the same time as my parents. In fact that fall I was having a particularly hard time falling asleep at my normal bedtime. In October I had experienced my very first sizable earthquake, the Whittier quake. Each night that I went to bed, the echoing rumblings from a far away train echoed through Mount Washington. I wondered whether this rumbling was the beginning of another earthquake.

To get my mind off of the noise, I started reciting the the play’s dialogue. I don’t remember how I memorized each and every line, but that must be the magic of how children’s brains work. I would literally begin with the opening narration, “Marley was dead to begin with…” and continue through the entire first act. Without fail I would fall asleep somewhere around the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Why do I tell this story? While I wasn’t raised in a wealthy home, I was also not lacking in necessities. However during those post-earthquake months, when I first experienced going to bed and not hearing my parents watch television in the living room, participation in the arts served as therapy. The arts simultaneously allowed me to sweep my fears under the rug and create an imaginary world.

How have the arts impact your life? How have they saved you or opened the doors for personal growth? How can we offer to these same experiences to everyone?

I look forward to hearing from you.