JAVA.June.2018

Photo: Jasmine Safaeian
“We can say we want to reach families with arts backgrounds that have searched
for keywords in sustainability and upcycling – or whatever the case may be. But
those pockets already exist, and they’re just looking for a place to land. We can go
directly to them, versus printing out mailers, distributing flyers and having no data
in terms of what’s working and what’s not working,” Jameson said.
The generation that helped build Soleri’s vision from the ground up is growing
older, trying to find its place in the 21st century and transition to younger members
taking charge, while holding true to Arcosanti’s original aims. While the master
plan is far from being completed, events like FORM are helping to bridge the gap.
“I think that’s the role of FORM and that’s the role of the arts here,” Jameson said,
“to make use of people that are here as the cogs that make this machine work – to
continuously question how big we can dream and what’s possible. So I commend
FORM in really opening that door much bigger than we had dreamed before.”
Turbulent Times and #MeToo
In November of last year, Arcosanti was forced to reconcile its place in the modern
era on a more sobering level as part of the #MeToo movement.
Daniela Soleri, daughter of the famous architect, went public with allegations
of repeated sexual abuse from her father throughout her childhood. Her story
included claims of inaction on the Cosanti Foundation’s part and its attempts to
keep the story quiet after she originally approached them.
After leaving the foundation six years ago, Daniela says she was inspired by the
#MeToo movement to finally go public with her story.
In the aftermath, the foundation did make changes, such as including an antiharassment
policy with steps for reporting unwanted conduct and mandating that
employees take an anti-harassment course.
While these changes were made internally, there is a sense that the foundation’s
response did little to communicate with the public.
Photo: Andrew Boyle
“I think Arcosanti could have done a better job making statements publicly about
it. They didn’t really say anything to the public. A lot happened internally, but not
beyond that, so people don’t know what is going on,” Shea explains.
The correct response to such allegations is rarely, if ever clear. An official
statement from the foundation claiming support for Daniela was released, as well
as an open letter to Phoenix New Times’ editorial board in response to an article
published in March critical of the foundation’s handling of the allegations.
Maintaining the Mission
There is an admitted reverence for Paolo Soleri that permeates Arcosanti,
exposing a strange dichotomy that is difficult to understand from the outside.
The daily activities are unromantic and practical, bent on maintaining a
sustainable village in the middle of the high Arizona desert – but its idealism
asserts itself unexpectedly at times. Each seemingly mundane task completed in
the name of a mission creates an effect much greater than the sum of its parts.
For nearly 50 years, Arcosanti has encapsulated this idealism, and Soleri’s name
has grown synonymous, inseparable from the vision that countless others have
worked toward.
Now a new generation will carry it forward.
JAVA 33
MAGAZINE