Giving Compass' Take:

• Community-based artist and organizer shares her insight and best practices on being accountable when working on artistic community healing projects. 

• Why is accountability extremely important in any type of community-based work?  

• Read more on how community art can be a part of a bigger healing process. 

As a community-based artist, organizer, and occasional urban farmer, my creative practice is rooted in exploring and expanding methodologies that utilize art as a vehicle for dialogue, social change, and community healing. For several years, however, what I did not do: interrogate and explore the moral and ethical implications of working in a community. Beyond a trendy catch-phrase, what did I mean when I said community healing?

I put myself at the center of the discussion instead of seeing myself as a part of difficult dialogues in which the community and I were interdependent. I did not create space for people to come together and interact with the art, with each other, with me even. I arrived as the “sage on the stage” with all the creative answers. Subconsciously, I operated as if I could show up, exhibit beautiful and thought-provoking work, and voila, people would “see the light.” Wrong.

My own artistic gifts and talents, while vital, are not the skills needed to effectively engage people. I needed to learn what it meant to work in community. So, I set out on a journey to incorporate new skills about community building into my creative practice. Over time, I began to develop guiding principles to navigate community-based work:

  • Reciprocity and flexibility
  • People-Centered Asset Based Community Development
  • Trauma Informed Community Building
    Collective Impact
  • Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding
  • Agapic Energy Campaign

What I came to understand over time is that it is not about whether one approach to art making is right or wrong, but about one’s responsibility and accountability.

 

Read the full article about accountability in artistry by LaShawnda Crowe Storm at ARTS Blog