On December 9th & 16th, The LP hosted its annual Create Change Institute (CCI)—a two-day virtual workshop for artists, activists, administrators, organizers, and cultural workers to learn about how to meaningfully collaborate with communities on shared creative projects addressing social issues, using a racial justice lens.
Through the lens of The LP’s pedagogy and values, participants explored different ways to foster connections among artists, art administrators, and cultural workers committed to making art, building community, and creating change.
Beyond offering a rich and informative curriculum, CCI was also a space for co-creation and reflection. As CCI came to a close, each participant created a personal response to the question Why does art matter to you? Using the personal statements, the group collectively wrote a poem as a meditation on why art matters to us, and we are excited to share the poem with you all:
Art connects me through place and space
It is a universal and sacred component.
It has given me the ability to express and connect
To share experiences with many
Art is MY expression of being
It centers
My imagination.
My possibility.
My freedom.
My magic.
My grounding.
My transcendence.
My collective joy & love.
It is MY deepest expression of love
It fuels my need explore many ways of noticing the world around me
It unlocks my agency to achieve well-being goals
Art expresses the sparkle I hide
Yet it gives tools to imagine liberation
Cultivating connections and reckoning with history.
Art is a hand and a cry
Art is central to my daily experience
Connecting with love, spirit and souls
Expanding my understanding of what’s possible
Art frees me, connects me, inspires me and heals my community
It is my Mindful Action Movement that provides colorful Community Engagement
It encourages
My self awareness,
My self esteem,
My dialogue,
My sensibility,
Our own creativity helps connect communities.
Art is a beautiful liberated teacher.
It shares universal truths, language,emotions. understanding
Creating art connects me to others
It is where I continuously find
WE
-2022 CCI Participants
We are grateful for our 2022 CCI participant’s fruitful and vulnerable shares as we explored tough conversations and personal experiences that have shaped our passion to intentionally create change as a collective. We hope this experience allowed attendees to feel confident in their ability to be a change agent in our own community and to cultivate a personal practice of abundance!
Interested in attending Create Change Institute 2023? Sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop about future dates.