Work with What You Got
Bike Tree by Woody Jones and Wabash Escape Mural by Zach Jones. Malvern, Iowa.
Today I’m continuing on with the second trend that I’ve found pop up time and again in communities that are actively using art for community development. (As a recap, you can read about the first theme in last week’s post. )
Work with What You’ve Got.
What does that mean? It means you wanna focus on your existing community assets and and not try to be like every other place out there.
When I first started working for Iowa State Extension and Outreach, I learned to focus on the assets a town has and not on their deficits. I’ve found this to be so helpful and so effective. I grew up in Mississippi and I’ve lived in Iowa for the last 15 years. In both states, I spend a lot of time driving around and listening the stories. It’s the best part of my job. In each new community I visit, I inevitably meet hear about someone doing some really creative thing to make their community better. These folks are scrappy – pulling together local resources and assets and talents together that’s grassroots, creative, and locally impactful.
Bluebird Rooftop Mural by Dana Harrison, Jefferson, Iowa. Photo courtesy of Deb McGinn.
So what might that look like?
It might look like asking a retired welder to create some metal trees for a small downtown after all the real trees were cut down.
It might look like creating art on the roofs of downtown buildings that folks can see from the top of a local bell tower.
It might look like partnering local artisans with a conservation board to create folk art classes at a local park.
“Legacy Learning Boone River Valley is providing a service to an audience within a 4-hour radius of Webster City by offering scheduled opportunities to participate in hands-on activities in classes taught in a relaxed setting. The classes foster appreciation of natural resources through art and nature studies and are taught by artists, natural resource professionals, and skilled craftspeople that love to share their skills by teaching others.” Learn more about LLBRV here.
To celebrate these stories I was hearing, I started The What’s Good Project. I ask folks about what’s good where they live and I create paintings based on these conversations. In fact, this weekly-ish blog on all things art + community strives to capture the genius from other community members and from artists who are actively working in communities.
PS - Recently, the University of Kentucky launched the Rural America Placemaking Toolkit, a one-stop shop for all your rural placemaking needs, including the many definitions of what placemaking IS, WHY it matters, and HOW to get started.
PPS - I’ve been on a kick sending postcards that share stories of individuals making their towns better places to live. Want one?