Art in Other Places: Artists at Work in America's Community and Social Institutions

(Hardback)

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Description

During the past 15 years, artists have established a remarkable record of innovation and success in institutional settings. Their work with hospital patients, prisoners, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, and others has shown that the arts can have a significant positive impact on the lives of these people. This book recounts the histories of 22 institutional and community arts programmes across the country pioneering this approach through activities such as creative writing and the performing and visual arts. Consisting largely of first-hand accounts, the book demonstrates how the creative processes have been used to address and solve some of society's most pressing problems. Included are case studies, research, and descriptions of the wide variety of artistic, educational, and therapeutic approaches utilized by each of the 22 programmes. Also described are many of the financial and political strategies used to build and sustain support for these unlikely endeavours. This work may provide valuable insights for artists, educators, social service providers, and community leaders.

Reviews

Art in Other Places grew out of a 1986 meeting held at the University of California at Los Angeles among artists and community activists from around the United States. At that point, some of them had been working for twenty or more years as artists in social institutions - senior centers, hospitals, prisons, mental health facilities, youth centers - or in low-income communities. Author William Cleveland writes of that gathering's importance to him (then director of the ArtReach Program in Sacramento, California) in building a ..".small network of like-minded artists, whose work has had a major impact on cultural policy and practice in this country." Some of the book's entries are based on the artists and activists' presentations at the UCLA gathering, and some on interviews conducted later. Several of the artists - like choreographer Liz Lerman and muralist Judith Baca - have become famous for this work.

--Frances Phillips, Walter and Elise Haas Fund "Grantmakers in the Arts Reader: Volume 11, No. 2, Fall 2000 "

Bill Cleveland has crafted a work of art in this book--not an object that you hang on a wall or place on a shelf, but a piece of process art that you can take into the streets and use to change the way people live their lives. He makes me feel again my own sense of purpose, a sense I felt myself, working in these same settings. Art in Other Places reminds me of why I am in the arts.

--Robert Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts

Art in Other Places is an important addition to the expanding body of work on community arts...Cleveland has collected some heartwarming stories from the deeply committed people who should be our role models. This book is about people who have found the strength to change their lives through the arts that have escaped the white walls into those others places where we all live.

--Lucy R. Lippard, Writer, Critic

Bill Cleveland made it possible for me to produce Prisoners, a documentary about the lives of men and women behind bars in California. This book and his work in other places show, not only concern for the human condition, but how we can improve it. He is one of our unsung heroes.

--Jonathan Borofsky, Artist

Bill Cleveland's passion for this pursuit, his understanding of this brave territory, and his respect for its heroes frame and direct these inspirational narratives.

--Jessica Davis, Harvard Project Zero

When I was Chairman of the California Arts Council, we entreated artists to contribute their creativity and imaginations to the broadest spectrum of public life. Art in Other Places tells the story of these artists. Bill Cleveland tells it well and truthfully.

--Peter Coyote, Actor, Director

Art in Other Places grew out of a 1986 meeting held at the University of California at Los Angeles among artists and community activists from around the United States. At that point, some of them had been working for twenty or more years as artists in social institutions senior centers, hospitals, prisons, mental health facilities, youth centers or in low-income communities. Author William Cleveland writes of that gathering's importance to him (then director of the ArtReach Program in Sacramento, California) in building a " small network of like-minded artists, whose work has had a major impact on cultural policy and practice in this country." Some of the book's entries are based on the artists and activists' presentations at the UCLA gathering, and some on interviews conducted later. Several of the artists like choreographer Liz Lerman and muralist Judith Baca have become famous for this work.--Frances Phillips, Walter and Elise Haas Fund "Grantmakers in the Arts Reader: Volume 11, No. 2, Fall 2000 ""

Bill Cleveland has crafted a work of art in this book not an object that you hang on a wall or place on a shelf, but a piece of process art that you can take into the streets and use to change the way people live their lives. He makes me feel again my own sense of purpose, a sense I felt myself, working in these same settings. Art in Other Places reminds me of why I am in the arts.--Robert Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts"

Art in Other Places is an important addition to the expanding body of work on community arts...Cleveland has collected some heartwarming stories from the deeply committed people who should be our role models. This book is about people who have found the strength to change their lives through the arts that have escaped the white walls into those others places where we all live.--Lucy R. Lippard, Writer, Critic

Bill Cleveland made it possible for me to produce Prisoners, a documentary about the lives of men and women behind bars in California. This book and his work in other places show, not only concern for the human condition, but how we can improve it. He is one of our unsung heroes.--Jonathan Borofsky, Artist

Bill Cleveland's passion for this pursuit, his understanding of this brave territory, and his respect for its heroes frame and direct these inspirational narratives.--Jessica Davis, Harvard Project Zero

When I was Chairman of the California Arts Council, we entreated artists to contribute their creativity and imaginations to the broadest spectrum of public life. Art in Other Places tells the story of these artists. Bill Cleveland tells it well and truthfully.--Peter Coyote, Actor, Director

Author Bio

WILLIAM CLEVELAND is director of the Center for the Study of Art and Community near Sacramento. Prior to that he headed the California State Summer School for the Arts located at the California Institute for the Arts and Mills College. From 1981 to 1989, as director of California's Arts-in-Corrections program, he developed one of the largest and most successful multi-disciplinary residency arts programs in the country. During the late 1970s, Mr. Cleveland coordinated the much acclaimed Artsreach Community Artist Program for the city of Sacramento.