Avondale program shows how the arts contribute to creating more equitable places

Local arts leader Margy Waller has published a report about her painting project in Avondale on Americans for the Arts’ ArtsBlog. It’s her fifth blog post in 2016 related to her involvement with the organization’s New Community Visions Initiative, a two-year effort to explore the role of community-based arts enabling organizations, funders, cultural institutions and artists in shaping the future of local arts in the U.S.

Waller’s new blog post asks how the arts can contribute to creating more equitable places and offers her Avondale experience as an example of success.

“Leaders at two of the area hospitals seem to recognize the damage done to the neighborhood (by large institutions replacing homes with office buildings and parking lots) and are looking for ways to connect with residents, bridging and bonding with the community, creating a stronger place for all,” she writes. “These leaders called for a partner to create an experience, having in mind something like the ArtWalks — community inspired and co-created crosswalk murals — we’ve created in other neighborhoods.”

The resulting painting project at Gabriel’s Place, Waller says, “might seem a small thing. But, no. Co-creating the art is a major happiness element, enhancing quality of life and connecting the neighborhood residents to people working at the encroaching institutions. Recognizing the damage done, the racist and privileged actions over decades, is large.”

Read Margy Waller’s full blog post here.