art/vision/voice - Maryland Institute College of Art

Commentary, Analysis, Response
Response from an Art Educator: A Study in the Challanges
of Community Arts Programming
Karen Lee Carroll, EdD
In the mica cap partnership with Banner
Neighborhoods, the community had identified
its own needs for “safe, adult-supervised activities
for youth.” A community artist who had worked
successfully with an earlier project in that
neighborhood and later became a cap staff
member appears to have provided a link
between the two groups. Planning commenced,
and additional funding was successfully
attained to help establish the Banner Art Club
for youth between the ages of 11 and 14.
Project staff included both undergraduate and
graduate students from mica under the
leadership of the cap community artist.
Initially, the large and uninviting space
assigned to the club was perceived to be a
problem. Yet it appears that its challenges
were overcome or were minimal in the greater
scheme of things.
Certain challenges arose in working out
leadership roles among participating mica
students, and in matching each individual’s
availability to program needs. The first solution
was to form a leadership triad, so that two of
the three student leaders would always be
present. Given limitations, this arrangement
initially addressed the need for two leaders at
each session. But new problems later emerged
in the form of leadership conflicts and lack of
continuity in staff presence.
commentary, analysis, response 113
Another challenge involved the recruitment
of neighborhood participants—typically the
responsibility of a local organizer familiar with
the community. Feedback suggests that the
name “Art Club” presented its own challenge,
as youth participants revealed fears about not
being able to draw. This kind of response can
be understood developmentally, as pre-adolescents
and adolescents who have not had continuous
art education lose confidence in their ability
to draw. Further, they are likely to assume that
their inability to draw is due to lack of talent.
The notion that drawing can be taught and
learned is foreign to them and to most adults.
Perhaps giving attention to how the club was
characterized might have made a difference.
What might have “sold better” is the
opportunity to “make things,” to work with
different art media, and to learn new art skills.
Nevertheless, 15 participants were successfully
recruited. The community youth brought their
own interpersonal issues. Some were not
comfortable with kids from outside their own
block. Others brought preconceived notions
about participants they did not know. This, of
course, speaks to the need for activities that
would bring the group together in a more
trusting and open community. As the project
unfolded, this need moved to the center and
solutions for it were developed. More will be
said about this later.