GIA Conference proceedings

Immigrants and refugees entering the U.S. encounter a bewildering array of artistic and cultural influences. In some cases, they are greeted with well-established cultural institutions (religious congregations, family associations, cultural centers, or arts organizations) that provide continuity with the forms of expression practiced in their native countries. In most instances, however, immigrants and refugees begin life in the U.S.

In intellectual and artistic circles, much of the twentieth century was a prolonged festival of specialization. In research and artistic expression, human enterprise underwent a remarkably extensive process of categorization and separation into specialties and genres. One aspect of this celebration of narrowness was the creation of the two separate categories of "nature writing" and "ethnic literature." The unhappy consequence of that division was that the people known as "nature writers" were overwhelmingly drawn from white, middle class backgrounds.

The arts are one of the most important community building enterprises in America today. Most of the discussion on the subject focuses on how the arts build community by strengthening education, addressing social challenges and revitalizing both downtown and rural areas. Perhaps it is time for the arts to come out of the closet and acknowledge that their greatest community building potential is artistic product itself. Hear how Charlotte discovered that the most powerful community building role for the arts is artistic content and its shared experience.

Lily Yeh is the founder and executive director of Village of the Arts and Humanities.

The story of the last ten years of school reform efforts in Oklahoma, a unique collaboration among educators, city officials, and business leaders, united around the importance of the arts in education. This case study presents what has happened, a discussion of why it has happened, and a look at where this community-wide effort is going. The keynote address will consist of dialogue between William Weitzel, CEO and superintendent of the Oklahoma City Public Schools, and Ron Bogle, who previously served on the Oklahoma City School Board.

Linda Frye Burnham is a writer and consultant with special emphasis on artists working in community, education, and activism. In this paper, Burnham writes: "This paper is about artists who were called 'the new vangaurd' in Art in America in 1982 and are now the mainstream: artists who have been building community in the places where they live for fifteen to thirty-five years.

Kenneth Prewitt was recently appointed Dean of the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science at the New School for Social Research in New York City, following a highly publicized stint as the director of the United States Census Bureau for the 2000 Census.

William Fulton and Morris Newman, commentators on urban planning, metropoliton growth, and economic development, reveal some of the intersections between smart growth and the arts through stories and examples such as the Village Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia and the revitalization of the downtown area of Jamestown through the efforts of the Arts council of Chautauqua County, New York. The authors considered why arts funders should care about smart growth and why funders concerned about smart growth should care about the arts.

In light of current events of 9/11, the Monday plenary was expanded following the keynote, to include a moderated discussion about the changes in the larger social and economic landscape, which have already had an impact on reshaping the needs of the arts and culture community and its funding.

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   After September 11 (288Kb)

The press announcement of Pepón Osorio's selection as a 1999 MacArthur Fellow described him as “an installation artist [who] creates thematically charged work, rich in allegorical references, that combines Latino popular culture and traditional aesthetic sensibilities to explore culture and community dynamics.” His work is typically embellished with common objects (chucherias) which contribute to a vision that both celebrates and transcends popular culture.