Solving cultural problems or solving problems culturally?

Thoughts in this post is all my own and is not necessarily shared by my blog partner, Alessandro.

A week after the conference, “Creativity and Innovation in European Towns/ Cultural Alternatives, New Social Solidarity,” organized by Banlieues d’Europe in Liege, Belgium, I now find a bit of time to reflect on one of the points I gathered from the event.

I came to the conference from the perspective of a development professional, hoping to learn from the European experience innovative uses of culture for social development. Not being an artist (though I must say it is a frustration…), I am not thinking along the lines of “arts for arts sake” but more of culture as a means to other social goals. I had to make this distinction now because it seems that there is a sense of disdain among some artists for the social responsibility that “their art” has seem to take on.

One of the presenters, a director of a theater group, shared through images some of their intervention in neighborhoods in their towns, and they were pretty amazing and sagacious. And I must say I am very impressed. However, he kept reiterating that they were not “social workers.” Another artist I met in the conference also expressed his dissatisfaction of the social role they artists have to play in the society, saying that they had to be the “doctors or medicine of society’s maladies.

As I see it, there needs to be no conflict between the two. Culture, specifically art, can, and already plays an important role in social development. This we saw in the experiences of the organizations that gave their presentations. At the same time, art can be created without any end goal of social impact attached to it but focusing mainly on the act of creation on the side of the artist. The issue is that while there is a lot of support for cultural development for social and economic development, there is a lack in support for activities of purely creation and dissemination of art. Some artists feel that they have to carry out social projects in order to support their purely creative activities. And this has become the source of conflict for many artists. Coming from this standpoint, I can understand their angst.

But then again, speaking from the development perspective, I think it is good to appreciate this power that artists and cultural workers have in making a better society because more than anything, this is what we need now. I would think that the people behind Banlieues d’Europe have recognized this power and have accepted the responsibility or they wouldn’t have started the organization. Basing from the name of the organization, Banlieues d’Europe, one can already gather that there is a social focus to the organization — to bring culture to where it is inaccessible or to animate the culture that is within the place and usually to further other social needs such as inclusion and social cohesion. Even the focus on cultural development is in itself a social action as access to culture is a human right and so in the end, there is still an act of contribution to social development.

Another issue is that artistic or cultural social intervention sometimes becomes a platform for the personal need of creation or expression of the artists. And this becomes another source of contention. However, simply enough, one speaker clarified this point saying that in any project, the important thing is to be clear about the objectives.

And so, is our goal to solve cultural problems or to solve problems culturally? I think both. The main point is that each is given a venue — a venue to create for their own satisfaction and a venue to create for society’s evolution.