October 27, 2009 - 9:15am to October 28, 2009 - 5:00pm
On October 27 and 28, Arlene Goldbard gave a series of formal and informal presentations in Chicago as a guest of the Cultural Policy Center. Ms. Goldbard is a writer, lecturer, and arts consultant whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics, and community. She has frequently addressed academic, professional, practitioner and community audiences on topics ranging from the ethics of community arts practice to the need for a paradigm shift in cultural policy.
In New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development (2006), she describes the theory and practices of community cultural development as “the work of artist-organizers and other community members collaborating to express identity, concerns and aspirations through the arts and communications media.” Her contributions to the field of cultural policy include books, essays, journal articles, foundation reports, and a widely-referenced blog. On her blog is "An Open Letter to President Obama: Repairing Democracy" and a discussion of cultural recovery, based on the “White House Briefing on Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery” that brought a group of artists and activists to Washington, D.C., last May.
ART, POLITICS AND COMMUNITY: OPEN TO QUESTION
On October 27, Ms. Goldbard gave a Social Justice brown bag lunch with students, co-sponsored by the Universtiy Community Service Center and the Cultural Policy Center.
A NEW WPA: WHY A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE DEMANDS CULTURAL RECOVERY
On October 27, Ms. Goldbard gave a public lecture at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies. Read a transcript of the talk (PDF).
COMMUNITY DISCUSSION ON "THE STATE OF THE SOUTH SIDE ARTS COMMUNITY"
On October 28, Ms. Goldbard engaged in a conversation about the importance of the arts for fostering dynamic communities and cultural democracy, presented by the Southside Arts & Humanities Network of the Civic Knowledge Project, in collaboration with the Cultural Policy Center. Issues addressed included how the economy has impacted the south side arts community, what that means for small and emerging arts and humanities organizations locally and nationally, and where to go from here.