Through a university course, HOME, New Orleans? pursues its mission to educate a new generation about best practices for building communities using the arts and associated skills by collapsing the boundary between theory and practice of community-based art.
“Building Community through the Arts” is an inter-university course, taught by professors from Dillard, Tulane and Xavier Universities in the spring semester, and offered to students from multiple departments within those institutions. The course is offered this semester (spring 2010) by Dillard, Tulane and Xavier, and co-taught by John Barnes (Art Department, Dillard), Barbara Hayley (Dance Department, Tulane) and Ron Bechet (Art Department, Xavier).
The students convene once each week during the spring semester in a classroom setting to discuss readings on the histories and case studies of community arts, and to take workshops from visiting community-based artists. The course extends beyond the classroom, as the students engage in weekly field work with one of HNO?’s four neighborhood-based programs. These students, hailing from frequently isolated universities, collaborate with each other, with the HNO? artists and with local community members.
HOME, New Orleans? continues to employ its learning toward improving the integration of university students into the ongoing projects, in the interest of collapsing the boundary between theory and practice and providing the students with a substantial experience. This year, the steering committee provided the professors with each neighborhood’s specific needs and desires for students’ involvement, and collaboratively revamped the questionnaire that students complete in the process of finding a best student-project fit. Specific point persons at each neighborhood site were designated to oversee students’ activities on site. Last week, the professors led the students on a tour to each of the four HNO? neighborhood sites and to Colton School. Furthermore, the Project Manager has been attending the class and visiting neighborhood sites during the students’ field work in order to help facilitate the university-project integration. Finally, the professors have included in this semester’s curriculum several workshops by local and visiting community-based artists, including
• “Best Practices for Creating a Fun, Safe Environment for Learning and Play,” offered by Elizabeth Traina from Xavier’s Community Arts Program
• “Entering, Building, and Exiting Community,” offered by Urban Bush Women
• Story Circle training by John O’Neal
• Liz Lerman community art-building techniques, offered by Jeffery Gunshol from Tulane University’s Dance Department
Although Tulane, Xavier, and previously Dillard, have formed the core of HNO?’s university network, other university relationships have been forged throughout the duration of the project, such as that with the NYU/Tisch School of the Arts’ Office of Community Connections and Interactive Telecommunications Program.