When I first arrived in New York City in 1998 and began work there, the neighborhood of DUMBO (short for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn was at the beginning of its growth into a community for creativity and the arts. A few years later this same spirit of creativity began to grow a few neighborhoods over in Williamsburg Brooklyn – a place that became known for the arts and “indie bands”. By the time I left New York to marry my wife in 2007 both neighborhoods were well into being known as places for artists and imaginative minds to grow.
A few years back after moving here to Rock Hill, SC I began meeting with a small community of poets to “workshop” my poems and the poems of my fellow Sourwood Writers, which is what we began to call ourselves. Now, I can’t say I am a particularly gifted poet, but I can say my poetry has improved in the time I have met with my fellow poets. When a community of creative minds – artists – gather and live in community sharing the inspirations of their imaginations peculiar things begin to happen.
Author Madeleine L’Engle once wrote, “We do not create alone” which became an early favored quote of the first Friday Arts Project artists at Winthrop University. It’s a powerful statement of which we can see the point even as we can’t quite grasp all of its mystery.
This is why being an “arts collective” is important to us. Get enough imaginative minds together and you‘ll begin to see magic. But Friday Arts Project’s “magic” is not random, nor roughshod. We have things we want to discuss. We believe there are issues within the Art World that have caused it to grow twisted and dark even as it continues to generate light. And those issues, like greed and self-centeredness are why we want to “curate conversation”. Don’t get us wrong – we’re willing to talk about anything – but given the chance we want to talk about the issues that we see are undermining the true mysterious purpose of art.
But we would merely be critics if we were only around to talk and write about the matters of the art world. This could open us up to hypocrisy. So to counter that possible path we also exist to “foster craft.” We want to make things, make art, even as we wrestle with the mountains and valleys of the art world. We do not CREATE alone.
Next time more about the second part of our mission, “…to call forth a fully human community.”
Peace,
Kirk
