Outline of thoughts on NPA Empathy Project and other Ideas
Greetings All,
I wanted to outline some more thoughts on the
Richmond Neighborhood Public Art (NPA) empathy project.
We talked
about the project with our empathy group on Saturday. Our group has been working
intensely on the topic of empathy since last November.
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/Meetings.htm
Some thoughts;
Empathy is a very 'hot' value/topic at the
moment because Obama ran on the theme
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/Obama/ObamaOnEmpathy.htm
and especially because President Obama just said he would choose a Supreme
Court Judge that has empathy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaIbZ36m25c
I daily monitor the articles written about
empathy through a Google news alert. There has been a 10 fold increase in
articles on empathy since Obama's supreme court press conference! The
theme of empathy should be even more in the news as the confirmation process
begins later in the year.
Any NPA project that sheds some light into the
nature of empathy will be a step in the right direction. It will be a
contribution to the national debate on empathy and has the potential of giving
the Richmond arts visibility. I think it is a question of how big of a step we
will take and how much visibility Richmond can gain.
While a mural on empathy will be a step in the
right direction, there are other options that could have even greater
impact. Here is an outline of thoughts;
Concerns with Mural Vision
Not Comfortable with Empathy Theme
As mentioned, there was some concern about Judy Baca not being comfortable with
the word empathy.
See
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/Projects/NPA/2009-05-03-NPA-Baca-Empathy.htm
By not being comfortable with empathy, it will be difficult to lead the
exploration.
Limited time and accessibility.
There is concern about the amount of time and accessibility that Judy would
have for the project since she has to come from LA.
Community Organizing
This project could be a good opportunity to do community arts based organizing and
development of a thematic values based community inquiry process. The East Bay
already has many great organizers. See
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/Projects/NPA/2009-04-29-NPA-Organizing.htm
Learning the Art Process
There was some talk about learning the Mural process. East Bay has so many artists and art processes
that could be tapped into. It would be good to support these local art groups.
Financially Support Local Artists
In these difficult economic times it seems important to financially support
local artists, processes, organizers as much as possible.
Documenting the Process
Video documentation of the process is not included. There's no component to
document the process and tell the story of participants discovery of
empathy.
Obama Empathy Centric Vision
The theme of empathy is in the news because Obama has tapped into the mood
of the country and championed empathy in his campaign. It is a call for a
culture of empathy, of 'standing in each others shoes', 'looking through each
others eyes', and a realization that 'we are all in it together'. It's a
different vision than the past years that created the 'empathy deficit' of
'everyone for themselves' and the notion that 'selfishness and greed will make
us all rich', etc. That vision has collapsed in an economic disaster and a new
empathy based vision is now taking shape and the arts can help in that process.
Our Empathy Group is developing an art based program and process based on the Obama style
of community organizing. Since the empathy project is based on President
Obama's call to fill the 'empathy deficit' we don't need to recreate the wheel
but are building on the empathy based organizing techniques used in the Obama
campaign. These revolve around getting people together to discuss and share
their personal stories. Out of this process participant become inspired to work
together on projects that move the goal forward. In this case, finding ways to
explore, articulate, express, and exhibit insights and stories into the nature
of empathy.
I previously outlined the process we are
developing here.
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/Projects/NPA/2009-04-21-NPA-Project-ideas.htm
The program consists of:
A series of Art Based Discussion Cafes
Each Art Cafe is a different story that could interest the media. It would be
lead by Cafe facilitators and artists. This would raise visibility for the
participating organizations.
For example, the non partisan Political Cafe
will invite members from the different political parties and social
movements to discuss empathy. We will invite, Greens, Republicans, Democrats,
and Libertarians, Conservatives, Progressives, Liberals, and the media. We will
pull together a team of videographers to video tape the process, discussions,
art and create a video piece about it. There is a huge amount of
discussion in media between the different political persuasions about the nature
of empathy and we will help lead this discussion through the arts.
There would be other Art Cafes with different
types of participants that would interest the media. Each Art Cafe will have
it's own headline and be a separate news and video story.
- Young and Old discuss Empathy
- Different Ethnic groups discuss Empathy
- Rich and Poor discuss Empathy
- Artists
discuss Empathy
- etc.
This is an open framework and reproducible
process that allows many local organizations to get involved. It asks the
community to discuss the nature of empathy, tell their personal stories, create
art and offer ideas on what sort of art projects they would like to see.
Participants can offer their suggestion and ideas for empathy based art
projects. It creates a foundation for future collaborative projects. This
builds community involvement, participation and support.
Empathy Art Exhibit
While other empathy based art project ideas would be generated, there would be a
final art exhibit on empathy. The art created in the Art Cafes would be
exhibited. Also a call for art would involve many more local and
diverse artists. There could be a process that would financially support local
artists as well. This would bring in the maximum participants and
creativity into the process and be the foundation for other projects.
Video Taping and Documenting the
Story
All
stages of the process will be video taped and documented and a series of video
stories will be created for maximum exposure and publicity.
This is just a basic framework and it can easily
be expanded on.
With the selection of the new 'empathetic'
supreme court judge, I believe we can raise a great deal of media attention and
visibility for the organizations that participate by being a source of news
about a community art based inquiry into the nature of empathy. The media
is hungry for these types of stories.
Part of an empathy based approach is that
everyone has an opportunity to share their thought's and feelings. I wanted to
be sure to put these thoughts out into the discussion and am interested in
listening to everyone else's feelings as well. Joan reminds me all the
time that I'm not the most empathetic person, so this is a personal growth and
learning process for me as well. We look forward to helping move this
national exploration and discussion of empathy forward.
 |
|
President Obama on Selecting
a Supreme Court Justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaIbZ36m25c
I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract
legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws
affect the daily realities of people's lives -- whether they can make a
living and care for their families; whether they feel safe in their homes
and welcome in their own nation.
I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with
people's hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving at just
decisions and outcomes. |
best
Edwin
East Bay Stories of Empathy
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/StoriesGrant/
http://progressivespirit.com/Empathy/