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About ARTOGRAPHYARTOGRAPHY: ARTS IN A CHANGING AMERICA Leveraging Investments in Creativity announces the second cycle of ARTOGRAPHY: Arts in a Changing America, funded by the Ford Foundation.
The arts, as a site of creative impulse and response, project the complexity, nuance, and possibility of how we see the world. This program seeks out exemplary art that captures that new vision. Launched in 2004 to capture evolving arts practice in the United States and re-vision this practice through the lens of demographic change, ARTOGRAPHY: Arts in a Changing America supports exemplary arts organizations that are leading a deeper understanding of the impact that changing populations, cultures, and aesthetics in the United States are having on the future of art making. America is changing. According to data released by the Census Bureau in August 2008, the United States is experiencing the most intensive changes of the country's racial and ethnic make-up in history. Groups that are historically labeled “minorities” will form the greater part of the country's population by 2042, nearly a decade earlier than previous projections had anticipated. In many areas, including major cities, this shift has already occurred, changing the relevance and accuracy of accepted terms such as “underrepresented,” “minority,” “ethnically specific,” “mainstream,” etc. Changes in race and ethnicity in turn manifest broader transformations across age, income, and education levels. More importantly, these changes set in motion questions about the country’s self-understanding of its identity, culture, and role in the world. “America,” as a national imaginary, is in the process of being re-envisioned. The broader idea of “Our America,” as expressed by the poet José Martí more than 100 years ago, a long-term proposal that is inclusive of the United States but not limited to it, is rapidly emerging to expand the sense of what may be possible in the 21st century. As America changes, so are its arts. The arts are a visible expression of creative energy; they simultaneously reflect and create the aspirations, sentiments, and social structures of their times. As a vibrant element of civil society, the arts speak to the strength of concepts such as “community,” “public value,” and “pluralism.” The arts’ importance as a common good is largely a function of their unique ability to link the private and public realms of our lives—what is intimately felt with what is commonly held. At the same time, the arts are also a barometer of dislocations, adjustments, and challenges in the public sphere. Artography asks questions about the meaning of these changes. Beyond a celebration of “diversity,” ARTOGRAPHY values innovative artistic practices, while asking questions that further our understanding of their larger impact: What does it mean to create art at the intersection of shifting and sometimes unsettling demographics? Does art reflect these changes or provoke them? What new conceptual frameworks and common language are needed to describe and respond to our evolving cultural realities? How are population shifts and changing artistic approaches impacting flows within and across communities in strategic locations, neighborhoods, regions, or national boundaries? How are historic communities (such as Native American, rural American, and long-established European, African American, or Asian ethnic communities) impacted by rapidly expanding populations of new immigrants? How are the media, popular, or youth culture impacting aesthetics and art making? How does using oral transmission or improvisation create a different way of learning and creating art than exclusively written forms? What are the intrinsic ties of community to art making? How are aesthetic and organizational models transforming and how can we best capture and share learning about these practices? This grantmaking and field learning program seeks to achieve its goals by:
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