Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 8, 2008

This week we had two arts consultants here to present several workshops for our staff, for artists and for the community about "Animating Democracy." I know, I asked the same question . . . what is that?? Well it is basically using the arts in a way to engage the community in a dialog about a social or civic issue. For example, the AIDS issue was pretty much a taboo subject in the 1980s. No one would talk about it, people who succumbed to the disease were shunned from society and couldn't even be buried in the cemeteries with their families. So the Quilt Project was created. It was an artistic way to ease a discussion about the topic and allowed friends and families to grieve for their losses. This is only one example. The consultants provided MANY examples. I snapped these photos of the artists having discussions at ArtServe -- an incubator for artists and arts organizations. I really liked the concentration on their faces and their passion for whatever the topic was that they were talking about.