Introducing: #ArtGives
We sat down together as a team and answered some common questions about who we are as an organization, and the work of community arts more generally.
AND, we’re excited to announce the launch of our #ArtGives campaign, detailed below, with MUCH more to follow.
Thanks so much for being here.
An interview with Art Not Shame’s Executive Director, Michelle Peek:
What do you mean by “community” when you say community-engaged arts?
From our perspective, the community piece in community-engaged arts is earned, and built. It’s not given. We very much operate from the perspective that there is no neutral space and that when we arrive in spaces we carry histories of privilege and oppression, and we also carry the ways in which those histories and identities are read by others. When we come together to create community through art, we do so out of deep respect for what everyone brings, and also for the context in which we live. And so, I think community-engaged arts are really unique in that way because they are, to us, so contextualized and embedded in the world(s) that we live in, while at the same trying to imagine and create the conditions for the more just worlds that we envision.
What is the role of imagination in these times?
I think imagination gives us access to what is not yet born in this world, at the same time that it is an expression of what already exists within us… like that creative spark and that spirit and that wisdom that we all have ALREADY IS, it just is, and so imagination is a bridge between what we are all born worthy of possessing and this world that we want to create. And to be able to imagine in this time is so necessary and maybe even essential if we do not want to replicate the same ways of relating and being, the same worlds, the same systems of oppression that we currently inhabit.
And at the same time that art give us access to imagination it cannot do so, at least not honestly, without also giving us permission to feel and to hurt and to rage and to struggle and to agitate and to fuck it up without requiring that we buy into the script that to feel or to struggle is to be broken. And when done in community, it also allows us to do that together, because some wounds shouldn’t have to be carried alone.
What does art-making and community have to do with well-being?
For me, art gives me access to myself, and to something greater than myself. The birthright that we all carry with us to create, to express, to use our voice is, to me, an essential part of who we are and why we do what we do. And I think it’s just so crucial to our sense of well-being to feel like we have a purpose and a voice, and to know that the creativity inside of us can serve something so much greater than us; it gives context and content to who and why we are in this world.
How has Covid-19 impacted Art Not Shame and other community-engaged arts organizations?
Well, I can’t speak for others but I suspect we are fighting a similar fight. But the arts, and especially community-engaged arts, are hurting right now because we were already hurting before Covid. And we know that Covid has exposed and exacerbated any existing inequities in the system. And for arts organizations like ours that means chronic underfunding and lack of access to sustainable, long-term funding. For us, it also means a tiny (and mighty!) team working around the clock with frequent and unpredictable interruptions to work due to caregiving responsibilities, and a huge increase in workload without the capacity or funding to support it.
Why did you come up with the Art Gives campaign? And what is your hope for it?
We came up with the Art Gives campaign because we live it! We live it on a daily basis, we live into this idea that art gives us so much, and we also see how artists working in this field and other organizations working in the field of community-engaged arts are struggling, big time, right now. And so, we want to hear from a wide range of people about what art gives to them and do our tiny little piece to lift up the voices of this sector right now. Because there is no shortage of need for opportunities to connect across isolation and that’s exactly what community-engaged arts are designed to do.
To follow our #ArtGives campaign, be sure to follow us on Instagram @artnotshame! Let's show the arts world some love!
Check out the #ArtGives campaign on Instagram at @artnotshame and:
follow, engage with, and send messages of love and support to the artists and arts organizations featured in the #ArtGives campaign
donate to local artists and arts organizations
share what art gives to you on your social platforms, tagging @artnotshame and using the hashtag #ArtGives
