Last year ArtsMemphis invited me to speak and do a little consulting work. In the process I learned about their Community Engagement Fellows program and that program’s focus on the Orange Mound neighborhood in Memphis. (According to Wikipedia–former academic colleagues, forgive me–Orange Mound was the first African-American neighborhood in the United States to be built by African-Americans, dating back to the 1890’s.) I was deeply impressed both by the Fellows program and its work in Orange Mound. (At one point an older resident of the neighborhood said in a Q&A session that they had been so impressed by the work of the Fellows that they asked the Fellows to help put together a celebration of Orange Mound’s 125th anniversary.)
Last month Memphis’ Rhodes College sponsored a conference called Memphis Art and Place to consider the role of culture in local placemaking. The Orange Mound work was featured as one of the key examples and I thought it would be valuable to highlight this interesting work.
ArtsMemphis’s Community Engagement Fellows are aspiring and early career arts managers with a passion for connecting the arts and communities. Here is the overview of the program, taken from the ArtsMemphis website:
We launched this program in 2014 in order to train emerging leaders in the nascent field of arts-driven social change. Each Fellowship award comes with a stipend to participate in a six-month, hands-on curriculum under scholar-practitioner Linda Steele. So far, we’ve trained 30 Fellows from a host of different nonprofits throughout Memphis.
Three projects featured on their website are:
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A Cross-Generational Storytelling Project bringing youth and senior citizens together to share stories. From this emerged a play about Orange Mound’s past and future;
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A Family Resource Center at Dunbar Elementary School, a community center which offers dance classes and arts-based learning opportunities for strengthening families; and
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“O-MUSIC” After-School Music-Instruction Program which connected Orange Mound Outreach Ministries (that had musical instruments but no instructors) with music instructors. One result is peer-based instruction in which older youth teach younger ones.
There are many other exciting projects including a community center/library/cafe with which the Fellows partner. The most significant aspect of the work to me is the way they go about developing projects. “They worked hand-in-hand with Orange Mound residents to design arts-based projects to address the neighborhood’s self-identified needs.” [Emphasis mine.]
To close, I’d like to give a personal shout-out to Linda Steele, ArtsMemphis’s Chief Engagement Officer, who has done extraordinary work in developing and managing these programs.
Engage!
Doug
Dear Doug, Thank you for the focus on the Fellows program in Orange Mound in Memphis, TN. ArtsMemphis has engaged Community Arts Education organizations in the work and we are fortunate to continue our work in Orange Mound, begun in 2009, our Creative Youth Development work with the children of Orange Mound is now funded by the National Endowment for the Arts ArtWorks grant. The Family Resource Center (recently named by parents as the “Panda Resource Center” is funded by Arts Memphis. Here are some photos of the center in action: https://drive.google.com/a/newballet.org/folderview?id=0B9Z6xOtnEA3-VGEtaTJmQnNuR0k&usp=sharing#
The support allowed us to grow from a program that served only youth into a two generation approach to build community within the school. As a result, multiple generations are flowing into the school to learn together and to celebrate, This is the hopeful outcome that we and Dr. Anniece Gentry, Principal, longed for in a community so tyrannized by the conditions of poverty that simply coming to school for a math or literacy night is a burden. We make the room available to parents every day. It’s the new “office” for many, with coffee, resource materials, computers and access to free tickets for arts performances. Parents have open access to Adult Education services, health and wellness and domestic violence assistance from our social service partners, Neighborhood Christian Center, Deneuville Adult Learning Academy, SEEDCO and financial literacy from private partner, Regions Bank. Some parents are learning to read, others learn how to help their children with homework. For many, it’s a place to find a sympathetic ear through Community Ambassador, Joyce Coleman, a lifelong Orange Mound resident.
Blues City Cultural Center facilitated the 125th celebration with a play put on by Seniors that told the history of this historic community. Completely performed and produced by the participants at the Senior Center, this was a touching and healing theatrical event. As a result of BCCC Levi Frazier’s listening and writing, we left knowing these characters, sympathizing with them and understanding their loyalty and commitment to their community. Theater Memphis worked with the teens involved to bridge the generational gap that community members have pointed to as an ongoing challenge . . . spoken word meets 1920!
PRIZM and Visible Music College are bringing music lessons and instruments into the community with OMOM, filling afterschool hours with melody and harmony.
Grateful to be a part of art facilitating community in Orange Mound and grateful to you for highlighting the program led by Linda Steele.
Katie Smythe, CEO, New Ballet Ensemble and School
a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education