opening space for the arts

Sat Dec 31 13:04:13 PST 2005

Thanks for sharing this note from Bill, Harrison.  Hi Bill you rock the universe.  I have had the privilege of working at the Arts Institute he referred to in Minnesota.  Bill is an awesome holder of space.  He too as been known to take a few naps during the AEI week.  I feel transformed every time I have the good fortune to be present at this event.  The institute brings artists, educators, arts administrators, non-profit organization and community members together to address questions about arts education and the trans formative power of the arts.  The institute has been funded by the Perpich Center for Arts Education.  This is a state agency created by legislation.  There is a state wide arts high school that includes boarding facilities and research and professional development component for the development of arts education.  Minnesota is the only state with an agency dedicated to  arts development.   The formation of the question in my experience has always been a state wide endeavor. Diane Aldis the coordinator of the institute works with people throughout the state to develop the inviting question.  She gets input from all those who work to make the institute happen and some people have been working this event since the first one 10 years ago.  She uses a list serve to get input from anyone who has participated in the institute over its 10 year history as well has meeting with out state groups to develop the question.  The questions are deep and address complicated societal issues through art making and talk.  

A couple of years ago the question asked how the arts could be used to examine perceptions and forge community.  That year the arts created a whole community of structures out of felted wool and construction debris from dumpsters that included a sculpture park.  The sculptures from that park are disbursed from Bemidji to Minneapolis.  In the midst of this art making the issues that plague the Bemidji community, polarization and racism surfaced within the institute.  A provocateur showed up to trigger participants race and gender issues.  It was heated and raw and Bill just held the space believing the process would bring resolution and it did.  It was watching Bill handle that time that really dispersed any reservations about the process.  I knew that the process had the capacity to handle anything creation could throw at it.  How did Bill handle it?  He just kept saying to the tears and wounds presented to him that he believed in the process and it would work it out without intervention on his part.  And it did. We not only had provocateurs challenge us but a courageous young hoop dancer from Red Lake Nation who was at the college for a different program ditch that program and joined us in the creation of the village, the sharing of stories and hoop dancing.  It is in the art making that much of the talking occurs and what has been invisible is revealed.  

It has been my experiences at the institute, just 4 years, that gave me my first experience with OST and lead me instantly to the Practice of Peace.  I get Bill's association between the 2 because the art happens outside our normal language armoring.  I think it puts people on the fast track for revelation and resolution because you never know where the art is going to take you.  Assumptions are revealed as AHahas and ohhh.  

Unfortunately for the participants who go to the institute every year for rejuvenation and community, it will not happen due to budget cuts.  But what has happened over this 10 year period.  A state agency, at least in part, does not operate as a typical bureaucracy.  That state agency has infected another, the State Arts Board with open space and they are changing, the Minneapolis arts non-profits have been infected and they are changing.  OST has infected the classrooms through teachers and artists who are changed by open space.  I start all my school residencies with a short 2-4 hour open space.  The Perpich is pretty good about documenting events and change, they may be a rich research for OST experiences of long periods of time.  I feel lucky to be a part of the OST scene here and can see it working its magic, transforming even state bureaucracies.
pat black
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Date:    Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:46:44 -0500
From:    Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
Subject: Opening Space for the Arts

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The following note floated into my inbox as an early New Year's Gift. I
thought you all would enjoy.

=20

Harrison

=20

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!

hhowen at verizon.net

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

Open Space Training  <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> =
www.openspaceworld.com

Open Space Institute  <http://www.openspaceworld.org> =
www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website  <http://www.ho-image.com> www.ho-image.com=20

OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the =
archives
Visit:  <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

=20

Harrison:

=20

My name is Bill Cleveland. I have been using OST as a part of my work at =
the
Center for the Study of Art and Community.  Much of this involves cross
sector program design, planning, and network building among artists, =
arts
organizations and other community sectors such as human services, public
safety, education, and community development.  The major focus of this =
work
has been to address the question. =20

=20

How can those involved in the arts and community development work =
together
to create caring and capable communities? =20

=20

As you can imagine this has been fertile ground for OST. I do 10-15 OST
events a year.   One interesting aspect has been the increasing space =
that
has emerged within the OST process for the use of the arts themselves as
tools for communication and making meaning. =20

=20

One event that I have facilitated for the past eight years is a =
gathering of
150-200 artists and educators called the Minnesota Artist/Educator
Institute.  This gathering has a rotating cast of returnees and =
newcomers
who come prepared not only to discuss and debate the best practices in =
arts
education, but also to MAKE ART using OST.   We hold this event, which =
has
been dubbed the "Woodstock of Arts Education", at Bemidji State =
University
about 160 miles north of Minneapolis.  We take over all the arts =
facilities
on campus.  Theaters, dance studios, print making studios, welding =
studios,
clay studios, computer graphics suites .... for FIVE DAYS of 24 hour, =
OST
driven creative insanity.=20

=20

Another interesting creative OST application has resulted in the =
creation of
three theater works produced by Pangea World Theater this past year.  =
This
OST-based theater making process (called the Bridges Project) began with =
a
two day design retreat was convened to produce the creative concepts and
preliminary designs for three Bridges productions. The threshold =
question
that framed the weekend's efforts was.

=20

What stories can we tell together that will provoke new ways of telling?

=20

To accelerate the sharing and growth of these emerging artistic ideas, =
we
employed a slightly modified OST format.  For Bridges, the path from
concepts to production design unfolded in three distinct phases, each of
which was "bridged" by presentations by teams of artists summarizing the
evolution and outcome of their cumulative work in the sessions.=20

=20

Each of the three phases began with a standard OST agenda setting =
exercise.
Through this process each artist was given an opportunity to convene a
discussion on a creative idea, issue or opportunity related to the =
framing
question. For Phase one, seven such discussions were convened on the =
first
morning of the retreat.  This was followed by short reports from each
session to the whole group.  After lunch, five more idea sessions were =
held.
But because the retreat's overall goal was to narrow many creative =
concepts
to three, these sessions necessarily precipitated the =
cross-fertilization
and eventual merging of a number of ideas. Following a second round of
summary reports the full group identified what they felt were the three =
most
promising ideas. It is interesting to note that the emerging concepts
emphasized both new approaches to creative collaboration and artistic
content or storyline. After committing to one of the three, the artists =
then
devoted their final sessions to continued conceptual development and
production specifics such as roles, responsibilities, budget and =
schedule.=20

=20

All three theater have now been produced to critical acclaim in =
Minneapolis
and St. Paul. =20

=20

So, the process you shared a decade ago has taken some interesting =
twists
and turns.  Thanks for the inspiration. =20

=20

I am thinking that these arts-infused OST practices might be an =
interesting
addition to your evolving peace program.  Give it a thought and let me =
know.

=20

Bill

=20

=20

Center for the Study=20
 of Art & Community

=20

4566 Tangleberry Lane N.E.
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

=20

E: bill at artandcommunity.com
P: 206-855-0977
F: 206-855-1895

=20

www.ArtandCommunity.com=20

*
*
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