EEEKCreating Community with Art
On Sunday, February 22, approximately 100 community members responded to an invitation from WE Arts to come to the West End Community Centre and be part of creating a West End Art Plan. WEArts invited people to be part of the conversation to make our community even better. We walked into the West End Community Centre not knowing what to expect and left feeling part of a community.
Over the afternoon Judith Marcuse and her team of facilitators used art to create community. Judith invited everyone to express themselves by participating in one of three creative activities; creating a picture map of existing art opportunities in the West End and imagining new opportunities that could be possible; creating soundscapes from the West End; and performing short skits that expressed art.
Judith brought art into the community. Everyone came together to do art rather than talk about it. No one held back, everyone got into it and felt part of something, part of a community. It was an experience that contributed to our imagination of the kind of community we could create.
“The afternoon was a demonstration of how we can bring down walls between people,” noted John Hewson of WE Arts. “Judith was animated and made it easy. It was a playful, interactive creative experience. We explored what our neighbourhood could look like with more arts and culture. I left feeling excited about the potential to engage with an even wider audience”.
WE Arts is hosting more opportunities to “create community with art” in the coming months. Everyone is welcome to come and be part of the experience.
—Janet Leduc, Kinexus Consulting, Community Journalist and West End Resident
Photos by: Lea Chambers
