What Can Free Buy?
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Who doesn’t love free outdoor cultural activities, especially ones that provide value far beyond entertainment? It is no secret that free public programs makes the arts and their environment backdrop more accessible to residents and visitors. If exhibits and displays can help build a stronger community, why then are more free events not taking place in the underserved communities that might most benefit from them?
Local parks districts often do a great job evenly distributing their diverse free arts programming (movies, concerts, and dance in parks) through out various neighborhoods; however, that does not mean it appropriately serves every neighborhood. Underserved neighborhoods often have language and financial barriers that inhibit them from feeling a sense of connection to the greater community. The universality of the arts can bridge those barriers. For example, although opera is typically associated with high-income, when a former colleague of mine delivered free opera programs to low- to mid-income communities in Sacramento, she told me that her audience, many of whom spoke Spanish as their first language, more easily understood and related to the Italian opera than their English speaking neighbors. It just exhibits how this free program and others can remove language and financial barriers to create a sense of connectivity.
That sense of connectivity can serve as a catalyst of positive change for communities. For instance, when Chicago low- to mid-income neighborhood West Humboldt Park hosts events, which range from Chicago SummerDance in the Parks (let’s Bomba on 7/21/10) to Movies in the Park (let’s see Yo Soy Boricua, Pa’que to lo Sepas on 7/24/10) to En Movimiento (a program that combines salsa dancing, tai chi, basketball, bike riding, steel drum music, and muévete), it finds it reaps the following community benefits (1):
- A bridge over time where you can see and/or speak with people who you only see at that specific event every month or year.
- A community connection that allows people to run into neighborhoods and catch up on news and info.
- A safe environment created by crowds where many types of people can mix and get to know each other. And the more you know, the more you grow!
Plus, these programs have the capability to be effective tools for economic development. The more people that attend from outside the community, the greater the opportunity to generate new revenues from the money spent by visitors at local attractions and businesses. Programs also fosters civic pride in the area and respect for the neighborhood that makes it more likely to be where people will want to go to live and work. (2) And it just takes arts!
So amidst a period of declining resources, how can we help support more free cultural events in underserved communities?
- Support arts organizations that develop cultural programs for underserved communities.
- Enlist unemployed or part-time artist friends to volunteer their performance and teaching talents.
- Volunteer or donate your own talents and resources.
- Create artist housing in the most underserved communities.
- Write blogs or letters to the editor on arts advocacy in underserved neighborhoods.
- Recommend cultural event sponsorships to your employer.
- Check out a free event in one of these communities and to tell your friends.
You might be pleasantly surprised, delightfully entertained, and easily building a community, all without it costing you a dime. Who doesn’t love that?
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(1) http://communitybeat.blogspot.com/2008/09/value-of-community-events.html
(2) http://www.railstotrails.org/resources/documents/resource_docs/tgc_economic.pdf
