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art Archives - Page 3 of 3 - ChangingMedia

Oct 18
0

We Need Art Because We Need Ideas!

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete | One Comment

Photo:Random Acts: Baltimore 2010

I recently filled out an application for a leadership program in Baltimore. The application asked for our observations – specifically, “What do you feel are the three most pressing problems facing the Baltimore Region today?” I would like to share my answer with you. It does not overtly suggest art; that is likely too risqué for the audience. However, if you read between the lines and understand what art is, you can appreciate how it fits into my answer. We need more art because we need more ideas!

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Oct 04
0

If Public Art Can’t Reduce Crime, What Good Is It to Society?

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete, Social Media | No Comments

Recently the Social Enterprise Alliance hosted a summit on metrics and impact. The day-long event featured speakers contemplating how to measure change. More specifically the event asked how we determine if an organization is creating the change that it purports to be making.

The event got me thinking about art organizations. Many creative organizations are designated as 501(c)3 non-profit entities. The status is given to a business based on it working for the benefit of the public not an individual. (Check out IRS language for specifics) I know that art is good for society but how does a non-profit arts organization demonstrate that the work that it is doing is good for society? What are metrics that we can use to demonstrate our impact?

Fortunately, the Baltimore Love Project, a city-wide street art project, has gone through many trials. One of my “fondest” memories made during the project was sitting in a prolific Baltimore foundation’s offices. It was one of my first pitches to a significant investor. He had the means to pay for the entire project. Trial by fire was an understatement. Despite our passion, we were not prepared to articulate a change that was of interest to him. He pretty much asked us how many kids would graduate from high school and go to college as a result of our work. We not only didn’t know the answer, we had no response. We learned that day that we need something tangible for people to see the value of our work. We needed metrics. We walked away with no money but an important lesson.

Since that conversation we have figured out what we are doing besides painting beautiful images on the sides of buildings. We have come to define our social value in three ways. First we are aesthetically changing the face of 20 communities. Second, we are putting Baltimore on the map as a destination to visit. Third, we are changing the philosophy of individuals.

The first change is obvious but important to note. We are physically changing the way our city looks. It is simple to measure. We can point to the mural on a wall or show photographs of the work. What is harder, and just as important, is to show that the change is positive. We have achieved that with thousands of people through social media and elsewhere espousing love for the murals. The second change is also important. We want people inside and out to see that Baltimore is more than HBO’s The Wire. Our metric for this comes in the form of content created. How many stories are being told about the Love project and where? We have a list of over 45 platforms that have shared our work. On top of that, we also have a catalog of responses from folks that are impressed with the city simply because something like the love project is happening here.

The final change is probably the most powerful. Art is meaningful because it can change philosophy. To measure this we are tracking two things in particular. The first is our presence at events in the community. We have explored philosophy on over 75 occasions in the past two years with over 3,000 people directly and 125,000 indirectly. The events range from large scale street festivals, to intimate three-hour conversations with a college class. You may be thinking that talking is not necessarily a sign of a changed mind. We agree. We are also tracking action that has happened as a result of the project. We have dozens of examples of individuals DOING SOMETHING as a result of the work. It is as simple as individuals empowered to tour Baltimore with murals as their beacons, or as intense as a couple reconsidering how they fight.

Over time we have learned how to describe our value. Our metrics are likely not complete nor perfect but have become very important to us. They help us understand the value of our project but more importantly they help others understand why a future where every wall is a canvas and every street corner is a gallery is a future worth pursuing.

Aug 23
0

Why Art?

By | Art & Social Change, Of Love and Concrete, Social Media | No Comments

A typical conversation:

“What do you do?”
“I promote art in Baltimore.”
“That’s interesting. Did you go to MICA?”
“No I went to Johns Hopkins.”
“Did you study Art History?”
“No, I studied engineering?”
“Why would you promote art?.”

Sometimes I am surprised by my transition, but I know that this is where I was destined to be.

My junior year of college I was living with several roommates in a typical Baltimore row house. One evening my housemate exclaimed that his sister had just won a prestigious poetry prize. Having no interest in poetry, I asked to read the work only reluctantly, out of politeness. I was appalled. It had no logic and made no sense. I proceeded to voice my opinion and thus begun a furious debate about the merits of art. I on the side of “what value is gibberish?” and he on the side of expression and new analogy. That was my engineering perception of the world. If it could not be explained scientifically what value did something have?

After graduating with two engineering degrees from Hopkins, and spending two years studying lung cancer, I put on an entrepreneurial hat. I began painting living rooms and bedrooms for upper- middle-class Baltimore. A painter with a degree from Hopkins became a hot commodity. The list of clients grew and I started hiring. Did you know that the most flexible, and surprisingly dependable, work force is artists? My crew had two writers, two visual artists, a musician, and an aspiring architect. Needless to say, our days were spent talking philosophy. Our clients frequently joined the banter much to their own surprise. My crew exposed me to a new type of intelligence. They didn’t know an integral from a derivative, but they knew the classics and understood the world in a different light. They started to shift my sense of value.

The painting business was going great but I had recently married and the future was becoming a reality. As only a spouse can, Jenn expressed that my talents and my personality were not being used to their full potential in my painting business. Shortly after our wedding an employee was injured on the job. The experience shook not only my business but my own outlook. I needed to move on, but to what? I had been reading a book on hope. One of the chapters focused on art. It suggested that art is one of the few places we can honestly explore the reality of the world and, more importantly, that art is a place to express the hope of the world. Could art have value beyond meaningful conversations?

A former employee had been working for a summer to launch a “small” public art project. He could not find traction. He needed a skill set beyond his own. Now, as friends, he expressed his needs and asked if I might use my entrepreneurial skills to do the business side of his art. Looking for a change, and with my growing understanding of art, I agreed to take on the role. Besides, my not-entirely-reconstructed-engineer’s-mind thought, I was now planning to attend business school, so this would also look great on my resume. We began creating a plan to paint 20 walls with the word ‘love.’ I was now commissioned to express the value of art.

Four years later, we have completed 14 Love Project murals. I have got my business education without a degree (or the debt), and I can tell you art is the most valuable thing in the world. It changes people.

I recently visited my college roommate. We certainly touched on art. This time it was I showing him this “amazing” installation that challenges the notion of place, and he wondering if I was crazy! If art can change me, I can only imagine what it can do for the world! In this space, I look forward to exploring that extraordinary power.

Aug 23
0

Why Art?

By | Art & Social Change, Social Media | No Comments

A typical conversation:

“What do you do?”
“I promote art in Baltimore.”
“That’s interesting. Did you go to MICA?”
“No I went to Johns Hopkins.”
“Did you study Art History?”
“No, I studied engineering?”
“Why would you promote art?.”

Sometimes I am surprised by my transition, but I know that this is where I was destined to be.

My junior year of college I was living with several roommates in a typical Baltimore row house. One evening my housemate exclaimed that his sister had just won a prestigious poetry prize. Having no interest in poetry, I asked to read the work only reluctantly, out of politeness. I was appalled. It had no logic and made no sense. I proceeded to voice my opinion and thus begun a furious debate about the merits of art. I on the side of “what value is gibberish?” and he on the side of expression and new analogy. That was my engineering perception of the world. If it could not be explained scientifically what value did something have?

After graduating with two engineering degrees from Hopkins, and spending two years studying lung cancer, I put on an entrepreneurial hat. I began painting living rooms and bedrooms for upper- middle-class Baltimore. A painter with a degree from Hopkins became a hot commodity. The list of clients grew and I started hiring. Did you know that the most flexible, and surprisingly dependable, work force is artists? My crew had two writers, two visual artists, a musician, and an aspiring architect. Needless to say, our days were spent talking philosophy. Our clients frequently joined the banter much to their own surprise. My crew exposed me to a new type of intelligence. They didn’t know an integral from a derivative, but they knew the classics and understood the world in a different light. They started to shift my sense of value.

The painting business was going great but I had recently married and the future was becoming a reality. As only a spouse can, Jenn expressed that my talents and my personality were not being used to their full potential in my painting business. Shortly after our wedding an employee was injured on the job. The experience shook not only my business but my own outlook. I needed to move on, but to what? I had been reading a book on hope. One of the chapters focused on art. It suggested that art is one of the few places we can honestly explore the reality of the world and, more importantly, that art is a place to express the hope of the world. Could art have value beyond meaningful conversations?

A former employee had been working for a summer to launch a “small” public art project. He could not find traction. He needed a skill set beyond his own. Now, as friends, he expressed his needs and asked if I might use my entrepreneurial skills to do the business side of his art. Looking for a change, and with my growing understanding of art, I agreed to take on the role. Besides, my not-entirely-reconstructed-engineer’s-mind thought, I was now planning to attend business school, so this would also look great on my resume. We began creating a plan to paint 20 walls with the word ‘love.’ I was now commissioned to express the value of art.

Four years later, we have completed 14 Love Project murals. I have got my business education without a degree (or the debt), and I can tell you art is the most valuable thing in the world. It changes people.

I recently visited my college roommate. We certainly touched on art. This time it was I showing him this “amazing” installation that challenges the notion of place, and he wondering if I was crazy! If art can change me, I can only imagine what it can do for the world! In this space, I look forward to exploring that extraordinary power.