Julia Di Bussolo
Making the Road: A Case Study
“I think that one of the best ways for us to work as human beings is not only to know
that we are uncompleted beings but to assume the uncompleteness.”
Paolo Friere, We Make the Road by Walking (p11)
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing chorus of young
community artists entering the field and to provide my perspective on the simultaneous
growth of organizations and the people within. With the growing number of educational
institutions offering degrees in community art and cultural work it is important to
maintain a critical eye on the link between theory and practice, especially upon first
entering the field of community arts. I found my greatest struggle with theory and
practice to be remembering that the process is how you connect your practice to theory.
So eager was I to put the well intentioned theories I had learned in school to work, that I
often forgot that there would be no ‘finished product’ but an ongoing and ever-changing
journey.
On the Road
Stepping carefully over the enormous trash pile littered with glass and tired
looking cats I picked my way to the front door of the Club. Aside from the vacant row
home adorned in faded, once colorful paint, there was an overwhelming feeling of gray to
the bleak landscape. The Club at Collington Square had opened in 2001 as an after school
program in the East Baltimore neighborhood of Collington Square by parent organization
Episcopal Community Services of Maryland (ECSM).
1
Originally, the Club worked with the mission of providing middle school students
a safe place to go after school. Noticing a growing need for academic and homework
help, the Club developed a strong focus on tutoring and academics. In 2006, the ECSM
board and Executive Director saw that the Club needed a fresh approach to how they
served the youth. Attendance fluctuated and it was hard to develop a rapport with
students that came and went as they wished. Students often brought with them the anger
and frustration that they encountered at school, at home, and on the street. Yes, the Club
offered a safe space to play basketball and get homework help, but many youth needed
more.
Executive Director, Jean Cushman and Director of Development, Nancy Fenton
began to research best practices visiting a myriad of sites offering creative approaches to
after school programming. In their search, they came across Maryland Institute College
of Art’s Master’s of Arts Community Arts Program (MACA). Learning through meetings
with MACA Director, Ken Krafchek that Community Arts takes an asset-based approach
to working with people and communities of all ages, they began to envision a new future
for the Club. In a neighborhood lying in the shadow of John’s Hopkins University
offering a multitude of services to address the deficits of the neighborhood there was very
little celebrating the vibrant life that existed within the park and in the residents.
On the day I turned in my thesis to complete my Masters of Arts in Community
Arts degree, I attended a presentation by ECSM speaking on their hope to transform the
Club from a recreation and academic program to a Community Arts Program. After
graduating from the MACA program in 2007 I got the job as Co-Director of the Club and
2
the challenge of putting my theories to practice in real space and time. It was not until my
first day that I realized just how daunting a task I had taken on.
In the distance I heard the school bell ring from across the street. It was the first
day of Club and my first day on the job. Located in the deep basement of Trinity A.M.E.
Church, a yellow beam of sunlight filtered through the barred windows of the large
cavernous room. A basketball court dominated most of the space with 4 long tables
situated opposite the net. Within a few minutes the room was filled with 10 young people
talking, shedding their backpacks and stiff school shirts as they walked in. Already the
sound began echoing with the voluminous voices of only 10 people. I had a wellintentioned plan for the day to make some identity self-portraits, but soon realized that
the basketball court was far more enticing.
Over the coming months with the help and patience of AmeriCorps Artist in
Residence, Emily Vaughn, we were able to dedicate two days per week to art. The first
major project we were able to do was the Race for Mayor of Collington Square, a project
based on the local mayoral election challenging the Club youth to think of what they
would do as Mayor of Collington Square. The project culminated with a dinner and
Election Night Event where the teams of youth made speeches as candidates for Mayor.
With over 60 people in attendance, the event should have felt successful. However, the
space was difficult to control and there was chaos at the end resulting in the broken
headlight of a co-worker’s car. The Club continued through the winter with a project on
Japan and a Kimono Fashion Show. With moments of success few and far between, I felt
I was working very hard to keep my head above water and lacked the time and energy to
3
develop a long-term view of where the Club could go programmatically. Personally I had
felt that I had lost site of what Community Arts was all about.
In March, a glimmer of hope came in the prospect of a new location in an
apartment building located only a few blocks away. In the same month I was able to
move my office from the remote location across town to the Collington Square
Neighborhood. Finally, I saw the disconnect between the program, myself, and the
community begin to shrink. At the end of March 2008 we moved the Club from the dark
Church basement to occupy 3 community rooms in the Collington Commons.
Immediately we were able to restructure our programming to allow multiple projects and
activities simultaneously. That same month I became the Director of the Club. Overnight,
possibilities seemed to multiply exponentially. The Club was finally in a position to
create the journey rather than working within the barriers of a difficult space.
Today, the Club is open to youth ages 5-14 and is home to more than 30 students
Monday through Friday from 3-6. We extended our age range to welcome the many
young children living in the apartment building. We make art, do homework, study, and
share meals in our beautiful space. Emily Vaughn extended her AmeirCorps term for an
extra year and began an adult community art class creating a new facet of the Club
community.
As I look back on my experience in the MACA Program and my journey with the
Club over the past year, I see that a large part of the learning process was realizing my
abilities and weaknesses and remembering that Community Art is a work in progress.
Although such a simple concept does not require a Master’s Degree to understand, the
4
theory and concepts fall into place once you remember to appreciate the uncompleteness
and with that, the infinite possibilities.
5
Works Cited
Horton, Myles, and Paulo Freire. We Make the Road by Walking. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1990.
6