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| Josh Mahan- Filmmaker |
For this project, we will travel cross-country for 3 months interviewing artists and creative individuals and try to map the influence of the creative class on our nation's economy, well-being, culture, community, and inter-connectivity. We would like to explore a more visual way of documenting the importance and impact of the arts in America. Creative energies exist in certain places. When that energy is supported by its community, it can increase the quality of life in that area exponentially. It will be our job to search out, interview and photograph artists, musicians, inventors, entrepreneurs, dreamers, masterminds, and forward-thinkers. The interview will be a loose list of questions that will determine if their community supports their work, why they chose to live here, how much the economy has been positively affected by them, and why they think their town is a special place because of the arts. Our intention is to visit cities around the United States that have a similar population to Greensboro, NC, since that is the city with which we are most familiar and can draw most comparisons. Cities with a population of 100,000-400,000 will be the target.
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| Thomas Meyer - Poet and Publisher |
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| Peg Gignoux - Fiber Artist |
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| Toshiko Takaezu - Clay Artist |
The trip will take place from early June to mid-September 2011. After which, we will come back and begin editing and selecting the photographs. Information will then be supplemented by researching the visited cities and using known statistical indicators such as the Creative Vitality Index (CVI) as well as findings from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, IFACCA and others. Next to the portraits, selected quotes and statistics will give the viewer more insight into the importance of the arts and allow them to connect to a much broader range of creative people outside of Greensboro. This will form an exhibition of 20-30 prints that will go on exhibition in 2012.
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| Kara Ikenberry - Metalsmith |
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| Richard Kern - Photographer |
Finding the right individuals will take some time. Through word of mouth, diligent scouting, and promising leads, we will seek out the “connectors” of communities to point us in the right direction. In every community, there is always the one person that everyone knows and whom, in turn knows everyone. We will mingle with locals, visit museums and cultural hubs, attend concerts, and even chat with kids on the street to find the best people for this project. Furthermore, we will be interviewing many more individuals than those that will be shown in the exhibition. This way, we can carefully select the portraits shown to convey our message most clearly.
Our goal is to explore a more visual way of documenting the impact of the arts in America through the people that make it possible. We hope that you will share the excitement we have for the arts and its people.
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| Marcus Durham - Graphic Designer |
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| Donovan McKnight - Co-founder of Spare room & Face to Face, Greensboro |
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| Derek Toomes - Painter, Graffiti and Installation Artist |
