Arts energize communities
By Beth Ann Hendrickson
Published: January 9, 2012
Greater Kansas City LISC believes in a multidimensional approach to creating sustainable communities. One way it does this is by investing in projects that revitalize neighborhoods through the arts.
But when a vision for a Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) community and a passion for art are juxtaposed with a repurposed barbeque joint, garage doors, a retaining wall and eager young artists, it becomes apparent that arts endeavors in this community are anything but typical.
A Renaissance Man: Steven Curtis, Community Organizer at CHWC, pauses by an alleyway mural in the St. Peter/Waterway neighborhood. Curtis leads cooperative arts programs in Kansas City, Kansas that help build stronger communities, like the Community Alley Renovation project.
At the forefront of arts initiatives in KCK is Steven Curtis of Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC). LISC has fostered a longstanding alliance with CHWC, which was selected as the lead agency for the St. Peter/Waterway area in the Neighborhoods- NOW program.
Greater Kansas City LISC is pleased to partner with Curtis and the organization to help transform a vision for the community enlivened by art into a tangible reality with impacting results.
With funding from LISC, Curtis joined the CHWC team as Community Organizer in summer 2010 with a running start, implementing summer art classes that led to after-school fall programming.
'Okay to break the rules'
The need was clear: “There was nothing for these kids to do,” Curtis remembers hearing from area residents. Thanks to technology equipment and art supplies purchased with LISC funds, students were able to take digital and photo-editing art courses, along with more traditional classes, like painting, drawing and even creative writing.
As a former art teacher, Curtis knows the educational value of these classes.
“Creating, participating in, and talking about art creates an educational attitude shift,” Curtis notes. Subjects like math and English “all have rules,” but, “with art, anything is open. It’s okay to break the rules.”
Art forces kids to participate in an experiment of trial and error, and failure and success, which prepares them to adapt to the realities of a rapidly changing world.
“These educational programs provide an essential foundation for ending cycles of poverty as young people in the community learn to understand that they can have a part in changing and improving current life conditions,” Curtis says.
This summer, Steve challenged four young people to create an art project. They came up with a plan called “Community Alley Renovation” to help curb crime and safety issues, goals of the neighborhood’s quality-of-life plan, and also to add artistic assets to the alleyway leading to St. Peter’s new community garden.
The young artists painted murals on four garage doors that back up to the alleyway, murals ranged from an underwater scene to an American flag painted on the garage of a Purple Heart Vietnam War veteran.
Now kids on their bikes whiz down the alley as it gets dark to see the murals, setting off the solar-powered, motion-censored lights that illuminate the path for safety while showcasing the art. The increased biking and walking traffic deters vandalism and graffiti. Curtis hopes to expand the project to more alleys.
'Makes your neighborhood different"
“Is it art like you see in a gallery? Probably not,” he says, “but it is an element that makes your neighborhood different.”
Residents now have pride in the alleyway and strive to maintain it. After seeing the murals go up, one couple joined in and had a friend paint a mural on their garage.
Arts programs also provide a much needed gathering place for residents of all ages. Curtis adds, “Neighborhoods are healthier when residents have some place to gather.”
Clean Start: The EPIC Center space was previously a barbeque restaurant. Years of smoke and grease were scraped from the walls and buckets of thick gelatinous material were scooped from drains by 20 University of Kansas medical students who then gave the space a fresh coat of paint.
For example, Greater Kansas City LISC recently provided a grant to cover the cost of utilities for a new EPIC (Every Person Invested Culture) Center, a barbeque restaurant turned arts center, that provides inclusive arts programs for youth and adults, as well as classes that encourage parents to attend with their children. Through projects like EPIC, which brings in local artists to teach and demonstrate ceramics techniques, individuals become vested in tangible projects and an intangible sense of community pride is created.
'Neighborhoods are like puzzles'
At the same time in the area, an increasingly diverse immigrant population is creating a demand for programs that bring neighbors together in a climate in which cultural misunderstanding is often a reality.
Creative Teamwork: Micah Moore and son Salvador Barr get creative at the “Monsters and Mythology” ceramics class at the EPIC Center. “This is a fun way to express our interests together,” says Moore. “We look forward to other classes offered.”
An example is a mural on a retaining wall that kids walk by each day to and from school. Curtis worked with the school to invite youth from a variety of cultural backgrounds to submit an image from their own culture to become part of the mural.
The result is a colorful display of creativity that reminds the students of their involvement in creating this community asset as they pass it each day.
“Neighborhoods are like puzzles," Curtis says. "They need all different elements and they’re not all the same.”
People come together to learn about, create and experience art, and this breeds an interactive, healthy community. When people have a stake in their community, art becomes an expression of both cultural diversity and community solidarity, and a mark of sustainable, healthy neighborhoods.
LISC is committed to investing in the growth of Kansas City neighborhoods through arts programs that capitalize on existing community assets while materially improving the quality of residents’ lives.
A version of this story originally posted on the Greater Kansas City LISC website on December 9, 2011
Beth Ann Hendrickson is a communications intern with Greater Kansas City LISC.
Posted in Notes from the Field