An Inclusive World: Bridging Boundaries through the Arts

John Kaiser's Creative Reuse session

by Vida Sabbaghi

The theme of the July 17-19 USSEA Regional Conference at the Queens Museum - An Inclusive World: Bridging Communities - was developed by aligning my art program, COPE NYC, with a gathering of local, national, and international museum, academic, and community arts educators to fill the Queens Museum with three days of intercultural dialogue about bringing our communities together through art and design. 

Each day, three hundred participants attended the conference which began with a welcoming speech by Queens Deputy President, Melva Miller who said: “if there is one thing that can cross racial, ethnic, and geographic boundaries, it’s the arts.”  More than 65 arts workshops and panels filled the beautifully renovated Queens Museum - a venue which engendered a sense of intimacy. Workshops included: The Met Media Lab; How Student “Art Explorers” Bridge Communities; Effective Tools for Diverse Community Engagement in the Museum; and Art from the Heart: Curating a Community Exhibition.

 

Ann Elisabeth Holt presenting.

Keynote speaker, Tom Di Maria, Director of Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center told how the center provides artists in need of support with a professional studio environment for artistic development, gallery exhibition, representation, and a social atmosphere among peers. In a breakout session, Bound and Unbound: Presenting the Work of Judith Scott at the Brooklyn Museum’s Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Di Maria and Catherine Morris, Exhibition Curator, discussed the installation of the work of Creative Growth artist Judith Scott at the Sackler Center for Feminist Art. 

The Met Media Lab

This presentation brought to life the social and communitarian model of an evolving group of artists creating dynamic thought-provoking work sometimes referred to as “Outsider Art.” Speaker Tim Rollins described his life as a teacher with difficult students who later became the artists’ group KOS. Sherry Huss spoke about promoting the idea of Maker Faires through the magazine, Make.  Sree Sreenivasan, the first Chief Digital Officer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gave tips about using social media and popular apps.

A Diamond Called Outsider Art panel

In many regards the USSEA Regional Conference, focused on Inclusion, was a multi-dimensional success in its efforts to bridge the gap between community and art by bringing social issues to the forefront. A surprise for many in attendance was the bridging of international, national, and local professionals in the arts.  One third of the attendees were visiting Queens for the first time. This confluence of diverse participants not only bridged borders but also prompted interaction among professors, teachers, curators, artists, and educators of community arts organizations and museums.  

Familiar academic boundaries cause many art professionals to be dismissive of outsiders. This conference was a partnership between the Queens Museum, USSEA, United States Society for Education through Art, InSEA, International Society for Education through Art, NYCATA, The New York City Art Teachers Association, and COPE NYC, my art and design programming organization. This partnership will be evident in the upcoming show that NYCATA and COPE NYC will exhibit which integrates InSEA’s 2016 theme.

COPE NYC artist Michela Martello's frontage

It was especially fitting to have the 2015 USSEA Conference at the Queens Museum, an exciting place to explore. Several collegiate institutions expressed a desire to create a synergy with the museum so their students can be exposed to museum education and see how the museum uses resources to connect to the most ethnically diverse community in the world. 

Camaraderie and professional affiliations formed in the conference panels like the one I initiated on the museum access programs. As a museum access educator and programmer for diverse populations, I feel museums, schools, and community organizations need to have more dialogue. Links to blogs materialized through this collaboration.

COPE NYC frottage

A follow up survey found a general consensus that the intimacy fostered in this museum space made it special. In conjunction with this conference, I curated a group exhibition, focused on creative reuse, under my travelling exhibition project An Inclusive World. It was an extension of An Inclusive World’s Repyschling exhibit at Teachers College Columbia University, Macy Gallery. The artists made striking artworks with unexpected materials usually identified as commonplace. View them on this video. 

This exhibition physically connected the museum spaces as it was extended to the museum library and to construction spaces. Through COPE NYC partnerships, we also had three independent exhibits in the museum café: InSEA Underlights, a pop up NYC artist/teacher exhibit, and a pop up NYC student exhibit the Museum Unisphere area.

One challenge for conference presenters at some areas was the acoustics - something to consider for potential reiterations.  But, it was very special to be in a museum space, which many associate with “no touching,” and to be closely connected with all the exhibitions, engendering a sense of trust that you do not often see in a museum.

Vida Sabbaghi

COPE NYC Founder and Director