View Full Version : Art-in-Community & Audience Development
I've read some comments that seem to be equating community art with folk art, or work by untrained artists. I wanted to share a program I have been involved with for the past three years. The name of the program is ShedSpace. We go out into different Atlanta communities and get a volunteer in four different neighborhoods to donate the use of his/her backyard shed for one week. We then curate four different local working artists and match them up with a "shed donor," who cleans out their his/her and hosts the event. The artists have seven days. The first artist begins installing on Wednesday. Saturday is the one day opening/community gathering for this person's work. The shed donor provides refreshments, and we set up an information table with video documentation of the process. The artist then has the next three days to de-install and move out of the shed. The next week it begins again in another Atlanta neighborhood with the next artist and goes this way throughout the month of August.
It has been a wonderful way to bring Atlanta's communities in touch with the arts in a non-threatening way. The core mission of the program is to develop relationships between Atlanta residents and local artists and to generally increase support for the arts in our communities.
Did I forget to mention it's really fun?!
If you are interested, you can see some of our info at www.shedspace.org
Steven Durland
10-03-2002, 02:52 AM
Joey - sounds great. What's your outreach quotient? Is the "non-artist" local community showing up for the wine and cheese? And interesting "community-development" stories?
Steven - Our turnout now in our third year is anywhere from 120 to 180. I would say just about half of our crowd is not related to the art scene here in Atlanta. Not quite half, but close.
The following is an unsolicited response from one of this year's non-art connected "shed donors."
"It was an absolute blast to host, and it was such a great opportunity for many of my neighbors to meet for the first time. Many people commented throughout the evening about what a great opportunity for the non art crowd to be able to learn and experience the work of a local artist...If you ever allow repeats for hosts, please contact me in the future."
This volunteer also commented that he and most of his friends had never heard of "installation art" before, that visual art could be an environment instead of a painting or sculpture.
We typically run these exhibits in transitional neighborhoods so that we get a real cross-section of culture, education, and economics.
Steven Durland
10-05-2002, 02:12 AM
That's some nice feedback. Have you gone back and repeated a host yet?
No, I haven't. I felt it was more important to impact new people each season.
Steven Durland
10-07-2002, 10:12 PM
I wonder if there's some workable strategy whereby you'd be able to empower/inspire the host to take on the task of ongoing programming. It'd be really cool if you were leaving all these functioning mini-community-art spaces in your wake!
Well, except that the spaces are actually sheds...and the "shed donors" intentionally don't really know anything about arts programming to start with. That's often the criteria.
I guess the hope is that the host has a vested interest in the arts after the event (he/she has hosted an Atlanta arts event and knows an artists work personally). The original impetus was that if the people who live in the city don't feel connected to the arts or have an appreciation for the arts, the arts won't ever be truly supported. It's the "go out there and spend time with people one at a time" approach. There's enough happening here that once the door's been opened a bit, it's easier to push it a little further.
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