Untitled - Narodowe Centrum Kultury

tytuł artykułu 21
It’s just another community – with children, young people, and
women. Some people will want to come, no doubt. But then no one
turns up, because nobody has come to the village since 1995 except
for the veteran pop singer Beata Kozidrak, who played a concert
to mark a commune anniversary. The local government has now
changed, the funds have run out and there have been no events with
“cultural” pretensions.
Therefore, the animator must get to know local residents
– starting from researching their historical background, shared experiences
and ethnographic context, and concluding with recognising
the area’s potential. Where do the locals spend their time How do the
women live What do the young people do with their time Each group
has to be separately defined and then the animator must identify their
needs and willingness to participate. There is no single, impersonal
local community. There are groups of people who share a history,
problems, common roots and economic situation. If you know nothing
about local residents and don’t ask their opinion, you won’t be able to
guess what they want.
Unfortunately, the animator has to lay some solid groundwork
before she starts her actual task. Will she need to do it every single
time Of course not. But then she will be in for many surprises and will
have to deal with unfriendliness and mistrust. For the animator’s efforts
to be efficient, she must get to know the people, open up to their
needs, listen to them and observe their relationships.
relationships within the community
One definition holds that the potential of the local community includes
its resources – the skills of the residents, the networks of relationships,
the leadership and the external considerations that can
encourage or discourage involvement of local community members
in joint efforts. 1
It is worthwhile to focus on the relationships between members
of the community. Leadership does not necessarily reside in an appointed
leader. Depending on the type of territory, there are important
human “links” such as active residents-turned-leaders, influential
priests, respected police officers or chairpersons of housing cooperatives
– people who have the final say in issuing permissions and giving
approvals for planned animation efforts.
By entering a community or starting a different type of work,
initiators of local initiatives will sooner or later recognise these relationships.
When preparing their work, they ask people they trust
about who is important for the community, what interrelations there
are, which political party has an edge, who really wields power, and
who is held in high esteem despite having no formal role. It is worthwhile
to get to know the community members and learn about their
attitude.
Sometimes, however, another problem rears its ugly head: the
community is stricken by apathy, communication between its members
is disrupted, and each potential community link works for its own
benefit. Is it a community at all How to reconstruct bonds that do not
exist or an identity that is lacking
How to overcome the burden of history weighing on the community
The answer is obvious: through community arts, a mixture of
arts and social activities. “It [community arts] does not rely on permanent,
live relationships, but shows how to work in ‘crisis areas’ where
there is no integrated community, and local relationships are feeble.
The aim of community arts is to create, strengthen or recreate these
relationships, remind everyone they have the right to participate in
their own culture.” 2
Overlooking some community members on the assumption that
they are bound not to get involved can lead to an irretrievable loss.
The past 10 years of culture animation show that social hubs emerge
naturally, and residents who look for places where they can feel good
and establish basic relationships do not choose community or art centres,
which they often find unavailable.
Local residents develop close relationships with the likes of library
staff and local businessmen. Years into such relationships, local
libraries begin to exhibit community members’ work, hold public
meetings, and send those who have personal and financial problems
to organisations that can help them. Customers begin to confide in
the staff and owners of local shops, and they start tackling problems
together.
This is what happened in the Warsaw district of Mokotów.
A shop owner, exasperated by the fact that the building where he
works is always daubed with bad-quality expletive-laden graffiti, encouraged
his neighbours to team up and repaint the building. This is
how he started a series of neighbourhood meetings called Scrawl-free
1
Robert J. Chaskin, Prudence Brown, Sudhir Venkatesh, Avis Vidal, Budowanie potencjału lokalnej społeczności, in: Tomasz Kazimierczak, Zmiana w społeczności
lokalnej, szkice o kapitale społecznym w praktyce społecznej i nie tylko, ISP, Warsaw 2007, p. 37.
2
Małgorzata Litwinowicz, Z ducha kultury czynnej, in: Iwona Kurz (ed.), Lokalnie: Animacja kultury/ community arts, Instytut Kultury Polskiej UW, Warsaw 2008.