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Fritzie Reisner

Educator/Researcher/Writer,

TEDCRED 100+
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What role should arts institutions have in urban areas?

Urban areas often contain galleries, museums, colleges and universities, arts schools, studios, art centers, and other forms of ensembles of practioners of the arts. These institutions vary in how, and how much, they interact with and engage in the communities within which they are set.
As we envision within City 2.0, the TEDPrize winner, or in our view of what we want our cities to be like in, say, fifty years, what novel roles can these institutions play? Do these new or expanded roles require changes in how these institutions plan their programming, either as individual institutions or in hybrid forms or collaborations?

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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Apr 4 2012: I am particularly interested in ideas for how art institutions can sustain engagement of populations that tend to be marginalized. Often I believe institutions work through one time outreach efforts that expose people to things but don't promote sustained involvement. My interest is less in engaging people in art per se than in the potential for using art as a vehicle and language for bringing people and their ideas more connection to the community as a diverse crossroads.I am less interested in one time statements than in an avenue for continuous exchange.

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      Apr 4 2012: Fritzie,

      Attempting to teach Science was a difficult challenge due to the complete disconnect between my students lives and the content. A student told me, "we don't do this kind of stuff Mr. P" .

      So...

      I attempted to integrate students, their community, their culture, and what they knew into my curriculum. It led to greatly increased and sustained engagement.

      Bringing me to my point...

      How much art was contributed from these marginalized cultures? Their history? Their present? If you cannot see and feel why something is important to you, why bother with it?
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        Bernd Fesel 30+

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        Apr 4 2012: During the European Capital of Culture in 2010 in the Ruhr Metropolis (5,5 Mio. people, 25 by 55 kilometers) we had a separate department for migration culture - however it was not about doing events for migrants. The aim was to start production process for culture - visual art, theater, dance asf - which include the migrants as a creative culture producers; then it is no problem to mobilize visitors, but more important: longer lasting engagement and continuous exchange.... (from consumer to producers: this principle seems to apply here also?)

        You could also say Involve the kids in football, then the parents will come - and meet parents from other parts of town which they would not meet otherwise.

        One concrete idea: Reframe a Sunday as an "my-museum-day". every visitors is allowed to choose a picture from the depot which he loves - and which he wants to show others. These pictures are then presented within four weeks in a new exhibition arrangement in the museum.

        The visitors turns to be a part-time-curator - and of course he will mobilize all kinds of friends and this quarter to come and see..... how he has influence where he is usually a no name....
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        Fritzie Reisner 100+

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        Apr 4 2012: There has been a lot of artistic creation, I think, in marginalized cultures and in the ancestry of most people.

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