At a public art workshop sponsored by the New England Foundation for the Arts, Catherine D’Ignazio, Assistant Professor, Emerson College, suggested that in addition to crafting the art or art experience, the audience must also be designed. Whether performance or art objects, the environment and context matters to the art consumers. And careful thought can […]
Do you? If so, add it to #900StoriesOfHope, a gallery-in-process of #IHaveHope stories from all corners of the world. This campaign, hosted by Project Have Hope, exists to remind us all of hope‘s universal power to affect individual and collective change. As an example of this kind of hope, Jean Appolon Summer Dance Institute, happening […]
I keep watch for what cities are doing with arts and culture, especially when there is traction and notable outcomes. Lowell comes to mind as a city that is re-purposing it’s industrial history in creative ways. As a home to many many artists, musicians, and cultural organizations, how the city leverages its many assets is […]
I did it. I had to. The needs were obvious, the energy bursting. I live in Malden, a city of 60,000 or so. We have great diversity in our city, more than any other city in Massachusetts. Such diversity can be a great tool if harnessed. Diversity of thought can encourage innovation. But that is […]
I stumbled upon the Craft Emergency Relief Fund today. What a treasure. They help equip artists to thrive, supporting artists when they have trouble. And their inspiration and mission is as follows… Our Inspiration If art is America’s common wealth, artists are its most precious asset. Artists reflect our deepest emotions through their creative expressions. […]
Today, searching the Internet for “tributes” I found the sweet story of a “Letter from Fred”, the account of one 96-year-old man who submitted a song to an online contest, and by the response of the studio, touched the world. The Green Shoe Studio, driven by a mission to change the world one song at […]
These case studies of arts and culture incorporated in the planning process were captured at a recent meeting of the North Suburban Planning Council (NSPC) and Metropolitan Area Planning Council forum. The City of Fargo is currently working on a pilot project to transform a neighborhood drainage basin into a community commons that will reflect […]
Imagine getting a free ice pop from a Cheerfully red truck whose driver is an artist and a representative of the city. She is driving around to various neighborhoods, wanting to know what people think and hope for their community. That’s one of many examples of using arts and culture in community planning shared at […]
IBM has embraced design thinking as a product-to-market way. It capitalizes on empathy, multidisciplinary teaming, and reflection. Design thinking, a way to operate and approach opportunity does more than enable creative outcomes. It actually shifts management style and perspectives and integrates teams. It capitalizes on a productive practice not only for products but for society. […]
MASSCreative emailed me today to remind me that today is #artsmatters day. Truly #artsmattersevery day but it is kind of fun to reflect for a moment why arts do matter to ME. Something so integral to life’s sustenance is hard to articulate. How do you describe air? But a brief response to last night’s performance […]
Artist Lisa Sears said she thought maybe the adult in the room would dis her idea to collect poems and invite artists to paint in between the lines. It sounds like she thinks adults might crush creative inclinations. Or maybe there is that critic we think is adult-like that in fact is a child dressing […]
Back Pocket Dancers is an inter-generational dance group that capitalizes on varying physical facility. Not every dancer can jump or offer an arabesque of 180 degrees. No need, it is not a company that makes money with acrobatics or corps de ballet. Rather it offers delightful displays of interactive movements and juxtaposing positions. Why so […]
Far into the lush green of a meadow and tree-laden country road, I found the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum a welcome break from a hot summers day in Boston. That interruption helped me understand a people who live only an hour away but centuries from consciousness. At the crest of a rounded drive adjacent to […]
A recent paper by five mathematical computer scientists at Indiana University (published in EMBO Reports, a forum for short papers in molecular biology) proposes a clever new model for science funding… (Interesting… Source: theconversation.com What do you think? Could this work for arts funding? Image from: http://vertigo.hypotheses.org/1601
A yellow house with a lush green entrance and rooms full of color, design, and care, the Children’s Room stands as a beacon of hope to all who visit. Perched on a hill overlooking Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington Heights, this oasis was born of hope in loss. Its evolution hangs in a quilt of individual […]
On a warm day in June I visited a stretch of Massachusetts Ave filled with vendors of franks, Indian food, and of course ice cream. Dancers swarmed the streets as if let out from the nooks and crannies of Harvard Square. They were recognizable by slender posture, leggings, hair up, made-up faces, and that “get […]
“to IGNITE the DESIRE to CREATE and the CONFIDENCE TO SUCCEED in underserved youth” is the mission of RAW Artworks, an organization in Lynn giving 7 to 17-year-olds a chance to paint, film, draw, and be empowered. Its impact is clear by the testimonies not a few graduates offer. Like these three young adults making […]
Are you looking to change the world? Are you an artist or a creative professional? Consider Impact Hub Boston. It’s a hip alternative to working solo. Impact Hub Boston is more than a shared workspace. An offshoot and modified version of CIC, it is an “innovative and globally connected space that inspires individuals to become […]
NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA did not always have an art program. Thanks to one administrator, an art program was launched in 1962 to help “tell the agency’s story of adventure.” With varied points of view, emotion, and styles ranging from abstract to realistic, artists render their perspective of space launches. Its […]
We all know about Aghanistan: where it is, what has happened since 911, about the Taliban, about suicide bombings, about the loss of life. Do we know how Art is helping to shape Afghanistan’s future? How we can plug in, enjoy, buy, and celebrate? Its worth some investigation I think. So what is happening […]
It is May 19th – and a grassroots arts movement in Malden becomes official as over 40 people gathered at the Malden YMCA to celebrate the first annual meeting of Malden Arts. Malden Arts did not always have a formal board, bylaws, and a Federal ID number. It started as a loosely held group of […]
Rain on the outside, color inside is an apt description of a weekend that gathered 42 artists and samplings of their work for the annual Melrose Arts Festival. In one Friday afternoon, Memorial Hall is transformed. From a big blank space emerges displays of blown glass in every color imaginable, collages that combine bone, photography, […]
The deCordova Scupture Park and Museum in Lincoln is worlds away from city cement and traffic. Its a 35 minute drive for me but a mental hurdle to climb out of the daily obligations and email. Wood clapboard houses, larger lots, and trees note a different terrain. This and a gleeful absence of many cars. […]
Today marks an anniversary in Boston. Everyone knows. Last year the Boston Marathon exploded with horror and proceeded with kindness and now remembrance. The extreme coverage and focus strikes people in different ways. Some say “enough”. Move on. What of the untold stories of trauma and violence wracking inner cities. What of other lives, limbs, […]
