Our Cities Need Artists Now More than Ever. Here's Why.
Image Credit: Unsplash. Muralist: Kevin Ledo
As we’ve spent the past couple of months sheltered-in-place, we’ve been thinking about our neighborhoods and the people we share them with—many of whom are being adversely impacted by the current state of things. One group that keeps coming to mind is local artists. Artists are, in real time, responding to the moment, generating content that speaks to current events, compelling us to see and listen from their particular point of view. Even now, in the midst of a global pandemic, their work grounds us, captures and distills complicated ideas, and connects us to one another.
And yet, this is a difficult moment for many of our creative neighbors, especially with venues closed, gathering sizes limited, and paid work sparse. As citizens, we have a responsibility to support, empower, and celebrate these important local placemakers as much as we can, especially throughout this strange, difficult moment.
While the local contributions of artists can seem subtle on the surface, we are in desperate need of the benefits they bring. Here are three ways that artists impact the well-being of our localities:
1. Artists create meaningful experiences that help shape the distinct character of our places
It’s hard to imagine life in our cities without the creative animation artists make possible. From public murals and art galleries to music clubs and placemaking projects, artists create local, contextual flavors that are distinct to our places. Local artists are uniquely positioned to create art that reflects and speaks to their city because they are present to the people, the stories, and the longings that exist all around them. In this sense, the artist shapes—and is shaped by—the city they inhabit.
Take, for example, our friend, James Kingsley. He’s what we would call a “place-based artist” because much of his art is informed by the contextual realities of life in his city—London, Ontario. While place-based art can take many forms—including locally inspired t-shirts, paintings, and photographs—Kingsley is a local designer who tries to have his finger on the pulse of London. One of his more popular pieces, Keep London Boring, became a slogan that spoke to a number of Londoners because, in many ways, it represented common perceptions of the city. For some, especially those on the outside looking in, London can seem uninspiring and undesirable. That said, from the ground-level of everyday life in the city, it’s a place that has much to celebrate. For Kingsley, this doesn’t let London off the hook for being behind in a variety of spheres that make a city livable, interesting, and welcoming of all people; in fact, the logo can be taken as a subversive critique of the many ways the city fails to be all that it could be. Place-based art, like Kingsley’s logo, has the power to begin conversations around what needs to change in our cities while also celebrating the unique, distance qualities that make our places endearing.
Image Credit: James Kingsley
While not always seen as artists, architects and planners practice a form of place-based art because, in both functional and aesthetic ways, they impact how we experience our cities. From imagining built environments that inspire awe and wonder, to designing places that move neighbors into closer, relational proximity with one another—architects and planners contribute to the connection we feel with our places and the people around us. Ultimately, the decisions these groups of people make have the power to impact the belovedness of our places.
Artists help us to articulate the distinctiveness of our cities. They name tensions, celebrate the good that is occurring, and invite us to take notice of the creative toiling that is being inspired on a local level. They help us, as citizens, to experience a sense of place that grounds us in a particular location. We can take pride in local art, in part, because it has been shaped and inspired by something we share in common: our place.
2. Artists tend to be comfortable with complexity and nuance—two things we need to wade into if we are interested in forming diverse, robust, and resilient communities
Artists can create experiences that, in subtle ways, subvert our assumptions, challenge our thinking, and cause us to ponder our way of life. They appeal to our imaginations, pointing out issues of injustice and helping us to see the humanity we share with our neighbors. When the plainly spoken word is not enough to express our internal longings and external realities, artists, in holistic ways, are able to communicate the deep, important truths that need to be proclaimed in public.
Even within this pandemic moment, artists are animating our surroundings in ways that express our deepest longings for hope, justice, and renewal. A great example of this can be found in the emergence of public murals, on boarded-up storefronts, in Seattle and many other cities. Through these new canvases, local artists are bringing life and vibrancy to our communities—changing the aesthetic landscape of our places while communicating, in subtle, expressive ways, the yearning for better days.
Or take another example that comes by way of Alex Chiu, a public artist in Portland, Oregon, whose murals confront the city’s racist history by painting people of color reading, eating, playing—living together. Though much of Chiu’s work, like his massive mural at the TriMet 82nd Avenue Station, is through the lens of his young daughter, Chiu spends time listening and engaging with Portland’s diverse communities of color. He wants the stories of the people he is painting to come out through the work itself. Through representation, Alex is subversive while offering an invitation to the outside world: all are welcome here.
Alex Chiu painting the mural at Portland’s 8snd Avenue TriMet station. Image Credit: TriMet on Flickr
Their aesthetic orientation, paired with their natural intuition, make artists uniquely equipped to help us experience beauty, explore discomfort, and become more curious. Whether it be through a song, a story, a poem, or a painting, artists name things that we struggle to name, inviting us to explore ourselves and our surroundings in more thoughtful, intentional ways.
3. Artists help us foster place-attachment.
A Knight Foundation report, which surveyed over 11,000 Americans across different metro areas and demographic groups, has revealed that access to arts and cultural activities increased the satisfaction, rootedness, and local investment of participants.
Whether it be hosting a neighborhood porch concert, facilitating a gallery opening, or lining the blank walls of a local coffee shop with their art, artists turn spaces into places—helping us to experience a deeper connection to our localities. This attachment helps neighborhoods to retain people, impacting local economies and the long-term growth of places. Local artists make our cities more livable, providing us with experiences where we can encounter our neighbors, where we can take in something meaningful, and where we can foster a more robust attachment to our places—which, over time, keeps us from dreaming of being somewhere else.
Image Credit: Unsplash. Muralists: Derrick Dent and Michael Roy
How to Support Artists in Your City
If you are convinced of the important role artists play in our cities, you might be wondering how best to support them. There is the obvious: financially invest by purchasing their work or by contributing regularly to fund their ability to create. But there are non-monetary ways to support, empower, and celebrate as well. Many local artists are on social media; you can highlight and re-post their work—and do it more than once. You can refer creatives to organizations or individuals that might be interested in purchasing or showcasing their work, and you can advocate for them when municipal budgets are being set. You can also discover and use the intersections artists embody to create new partnerships and to forge new networks. As our friend, Dr. Leroy Barber, says, “Innovation happens at the intersection of difference.” What new pathways and ideas might emerge if local artists are invited into conversations around city-planning, community building, and neighborhood development?
The well-being of our neighborhoods and cities are intrinsically connected to local artists. In the words of Grace Lee Boggs—a social activist, feminist, and philosopher who cared deeply for her city, Detroit—“[we] need artists to create new images that will liberate us from our preoccupation with constantly expanding production and consumption, and open up space in our hearts and minds to imagine and create.” Our creative neighbors invite us to see our places in new ways, nudging us to consider the need for change and moving us to become more attached to our localities—all the while welcoming us to make something meaningful of the places we call home. Because of this, we ought to do our part to find tangible ways to celebrate and support local artists, especially in this difficult moment. Not just because they are our neighbors—which is reason enough—but because they are impacting the flourishing of our cities.
Cover image via Unsplash.
About the Authors
Sunia Gibbs is an artist and faith leader in pursuit of creative innovation that promotes connectivity and belonging. As an abstract painter and musician, she creates from conversations and experiences anchored to people and place.
A founding pastor with The Groves at Sunnyside UMC in Portland, Oregon, she is currently reimagining and developing old church facilities as creative arts and inclusive neighborhood spaces.
Instagram: @suniagibbsart Website: suniagibbsart.com
When Steve MacDouell is not teaching history and professional communication at Fanshawe College, he's instigating place-based projects, hosting workshops, and inviting everyday citizens to leverage their time, their ideas, and their creativity for the sake of their neighbourhoods. He's the co-founder of Good City Co., a civic organization that creates projects, platforms, and activations to help citizens take greater ownership over the places that they call home.
He lives, dreams, and conspires in Woodfield—a neighbourhood in Central London, Ontario.
Twitter: @stevemacdouell , Website: stevemacdouell.com
Sara Joy Proppe is the founder and director of Proximity Project, a consultancy that helps churches discover how they can use placemaking to connect with the local community.