RESEARCH REPORT TO THE CHICAGO CENTER FOR ARTS POLICY AT COLUMBIA COLLEGE INFORMAL ARTS: FINDING COHESION, CAPACITY AND OTHER CULTURAL BENEFITS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES Alaka Wali, Ph.D., Principal Investigator Rebecca Severson, M.A., Ethnographer Mario Longoni, MA., Ethnographer June 2002 600 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605 Tel: 312.344.7985 Webpage: artspolicy.colum.edu PROJECT TEAM Elena Marcheschi, JD Project Director Alaka Wali, PhD Principal Investigator Rebecca Severson, MA Lead Ethnographer Mario Longoni, MA Database Manager/Ethnographer Raymond Codrington, PhD Ethnographer Sarah Feinstein, MA Ethnographer Kevin Karpiak, PhD candidate Statistician Graduate Assistants: Maria Quintana Diaz Josh Hanes Maria Izabel Leme-Harris Interns: Allison McGarry Jennifer Malloy Jennifer Moore Jennifer Mueller Jennifer Welch And of course, the artists and all others who took part in the study. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface……………………………………………………………………………….……….. iv Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………….. vi Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………. vii Chapter I: Context and Method of the Study…………………………………….……….. 1 Chapter II: Making the Invisible Visible: A Profile of the Informal Arts in Chicago…. 23 Chapter III: Crossing Boundaries for the Sake of Art…………………………………… 40 Chapter IV: A Latent Potential: Acquiring Skills and Inclinations for Civic Life……... 124 Chapter V: Formal/Informal: Moving Back and Forth on the Continuum ……………. 175 Chapter VI: Conclusion and Policy Considerations……………………………………… 232 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Appendix I – Data sets available from arts organizations………………………... 2 Appendix II – Community background and arts opportunities………………….. 19 Appendix III – Survey Questionnaire……………………………………………… 72 Appendix IV – Participants’ Terms for Artists……………………………………. 91 iii PREFACE In the spring of 1999, I received a visit at my office from five members of the Chicago Center for Arts Policy (CCAP) Executive Committee: Fred Fine, Senior Consultant to CCAP; J. Dennis Rich, Chair of the Committee; Norman Alexandroff, CCAP Executive Coordinator; and members Woodie White and Elena Marcheschi. They shared their ideas with me about undertaking a major study in Chicago on the “informal arts”. We had a lively discussion about the arts and about doing qualitative research. Subsequent meetings ensued and I was drawn into what eventually became the research study on the Social Impact of the Informal Arts. For me, the past three years have been a wonderful journey into a world I barely knew existed right in my own backyard. Long discussions with Elena Marcheschi, who did much of the early work to conceptualize the study, led me to understand that the arts policy community were only just beginning to grapple with the implications of the existence of the informal arts and that little was understood about the phenomena, the processes through which people engaged in art making and the implications of these activities. As we created the research design for the study, we realized that a standard “community” or neighborhood approach would not allow us to investigate the cross-cutting ways in which arts practice was occurring throughout the city. As a result, we decided to use case studies that reflected the range of arts practice and locations. Instrumental in constructing the research design were the wise counsel of the CCAP advisory council members and a series of focus groups with key individuals active in Chicago’s arts communities. We were fortunate that Rebecca Severson agreed to join as lead ethnographer for the study. With solid ethnographic experience already under her belt, Rebecca brought to the study an unexpected enthusiasm and delight at being involved as an artist in informal activities. She was the ethnographer for six of the twelve case studies. Also joining us was Mario Longoni, who had just finished his Masters’ in Anthropology, and had a talent for both data management and ethnography. He quickly mastered the ATLAS-ti qualitative database management program. He also did the ethnography on two of the case studies. When we ran into funding difficulties and could not bring the anticipated third ethnographer on board, I decided to do two case studies myself. We were also fortunate to obtain the volunteer services of Sarah Feinstein, then a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute, who was looking for a dissertation project, as well as Dr. Raymond Codrington, who had just joined the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change at the Field Museum as a Boyd Post-Doctoral Fellow. Sarah did the work for the case study of the writers’ group, and Raymond undertook the hip-hop case study. Finally, toward the end of the project, we recruited Kevin Karpiak, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, to do the statistical analysis of the survey data. This report contains the bulk of the data collected during the course of the study. In addition to the data reported on here are voluminous files of published literature, flyers, graphics and so on, collected at the various study sites and throughout the City. These are now stored at the Chicago Center for Arts Policy. We hope that all of this material will prove useful to others who wish to continue to investigate the informal arts. iv Throughout, we have changed the names of the groups and the study participants in order to preserve their anonymity and respect their confidences. We followed the ethical guidelines of the American Anthropological Association in conducting the study and obtained informed consent in all cases. Finally, because this study relied on ethnographic methods, it incorporates the passionate and joyful voices of the many artists who make Chicago a vibrant place to live. Their commitment to art testifies to its lasting power to provide us with the means of expressing our creativity—that which makes us human. Alaka Wali June 24, 2002 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The study authors would like to express their deep gratitude to all of the study participants who gave generously of their time and shared their many rich experiences of engagement in the arts. We would also like to thank Elena Marcheschi, who was the project director and was invaluable to the smooth operation of the project. She also provided keen insights and commentary based on her decades of work in the arts arena. Nick Rabkin, even before he assumed executive directorship of the Chicago Center for Arts Policy, was a supportive and reflective voice. Others who offered thoughtful commentary included Fred Fine, Victoria Malone, J. Dennis Rich, Woodie T. White and Norman Alexandroff, as well as other members of CCAP’s Exececutive Committee and Advisory Council. We benefited as well from insights provided by Maria-Rosario Jackson of the Urban Institute and Caron Atlas. We’re also grateful to the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Chicago Park District and the Illinois Arts Council, who facilitated access to administrative data. The research was immensely enriched by the work of two ethnographers who contributed their time freely: Raymond Codrington, Ph.D. currently Boyd Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Field Museum and Sarah Feinstein, M.A. in Arts Management. Additional research assistance was provided by Kevin Karpiak, M.A. in Anthropology (who did the statistical analysis of the survey results), and Jennifer Malloy, M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning (who analyzed newspaper clippings and other administrative data). Graduate assistants included Maria Quintana Diaz, Josh Hanes, and Maria Izabel Leme-Harris. Interns who worked on the project were Allison McGarry, Jennifer Moore and Jennifer Welch. Staff at the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change at the Field Museum provided wonderful logistical and moral support. We want to especially acknowledge the work of CCUC’s administrative assistants, Austin J. Moore (2000-2001) and Meganne Lube (2001-2002) for making maps, charts, and for editing and formatting the report. The graphic design of the moebius strip was made by Rosa Cabrera, Public Involvement Manager at CCUC. All errors of interpretation or fact are those solely of the authors. The opinions expressed in the report are also those of the authors and not those of the Chicago Center for Arts Policy. Partial funding for this study was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, the Richard H. Dreihaus Foundation, the Urban Institute/Arts and Culture Indicators in Community Building Project (ACIP), and Columbia College Chicago. vi THE INFORMAL ARTS: FINDING COHESION, CAPACITY AND OTHER CULTURAL BENEFITS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF FINAL REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE CHICAGO CENTER FOR ARTS POLICY AT COLUMBIA COLLEGE MAY 2002 Alaka Wali, Ph.D., anthropology Rebecca Severson, M.A., anthropology Mario Longoni, M.A., anthropology 600 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605 Tel: 312.344.7985 Webpage: artspolicy.colum.edu vii INTRODUCTION Over the last two years, a team of ethnographers from the Chicago Center for Arts Policy at Columbia College (CCAP) conducted a research study in the Chicago metropolitan region, investigating adult participation in the “informal arts” (sometimes called “unincorporated arts”). The informal arts encompass such diverse experiences as acting in community theater, singing in a church choir, writing poetry at the local library, or painting portraits in a home studio. These popular creative activities