The Other View

Art is another form of political dialogue which has no manifesto and begins with 'I and you' and moves to 'them and us' then back again, eternally. It is a dialogue which crosses over all boundaries between people and all time. Obviously, the local language and regional culture informs the creator's imagination as well as his or her education and experience.

These combine to give any piece of work its local relevance and coloration, thus distinguishing it from work elsewhere and any other time.

It is this localised differentiation which distinguishes 'community' art from the mainstream in any society, just as the different 'schools' of art have distinguished various 'communities of artists' in the past. It is this

distinction which validates the work of 'community' artists. The 'community' artist lives in his or her home community and the work derives from that

community. The modern community artist has a tradition going back to the Rhyming Weavers and Gaelic bards, folk rituals and cross-overs from court entertainments. Community arts is for the community by the community. It reflects and expresses something of that community in many ways, some of which are unacceptable to the 'nice' elements of society. In some respects, the working class, marginalised folk and community artists have through the years been to a feast and allowed to take away the scraps.

It must be borne in mind that creative art is an individual process. It is the result of an eternal struggle with the materials at hand or relevant to the art form. These materials may be language, a musical instrument, the human body or paint, etc.

One of the most vibrant expressions of community art comes from the musical traditions of the people. The marching bands for instance are examples of community participation in the arts. Granted, levels of virtuosity vary yet it is a community arts activity. This community participation also finds its expression in many organisations. It finds expression in church choirs,

singsongs in pubs, folk music, pop groups and football terraces. It finds its expression in theatre, an activity normally reserved for the more affluent elements of society except in its most popular types. However, it is one thing to sing or play a piece of music or song and actually making something.

Community arts therefore tends to be a collective and collaborative activity and tends to be more recognisable in the kind of communal activities indicated above. The problem of identification, of pigeon-holing the artist, becomes manifest when attempting to 'locate' the individual creative artist within the contemporary hierarchies. Status within a given arts hierarchical framework will always remain problematic as long as people fail to respect the efforts of

the artist. For instance, are writers who live in and write about working-class communities, 'community artists', 'urban folk-artists' or just people on the fringes of the mainstream arts community? Do they fit the socio-economic and educational, even political paradigms that a 'cultured' society demands of its artists? It seems to me that there is an expectation that art which comes from 'the community' shouldn't disturb the political, economic or societal status quo, yet every artist often manages to do just that.

It is from this proximity to the community that community artists can produce work relevant to their own people. Of course the style and manner of execution create their own problems of communication. Verisimilitude is probably the easiest understood means of communication, yet many artists try to 'push'

themselves beyond the limits of normal representation in visual work or syntax and grammar in the case of poetry. This leads to misunderstanding of the artist and the work.

Art functions in a number of specific ways: it criticises the political and social status quo, it articulates a people's individuality, it celebrates the artist's own joyful sense of beauty, horror and wonder, it ornaments the things of everyday life with those same qualities, it demonstrates the artist's exploration of the chosen medium and shares the sensation of invention and discovery. All these things contribute to the value of a work of art, some more so than others. It is a particular pleasure for me to look at the incredibly beautiful depiction of the human form and features that painters such as Botticelli place in the most absurd and un-natural landscapes yet I have gravereservations about the work of many writers in the canon of literature in English.

Art quite often attempts to take the ordinary, everyday, commonplace object or experience and elevate it to a new, unique expression and existence. Community arts therefore has potential for unique expression and consequential value. It is a value which 'outsiders', with some artistic sensibility, are entrusted to place on what is created or produced.

More importantly, in giving value to such art, the community and the artist is given value, respect and recognition. Our general culture places value on the work of artists from all places and all times. It values work by artists who have been dead for thousands of years. Should it not value the work of the living artist at all levels of society? However the

prevailing system of status and privilege tends to discount the work of

community artists no matter what the art form. Remember though that practice came before theory and artists in the past have produced their work without the benefits (or otherwise) of theory although it must be admitted that knowledge grows with practice and experimentation.

Importantly, community art gives a community a sense of identity and helps reinforce notions of communinal difference as well as unity. Division is in the eye and mind of the beholder. The artistry and pageant of the Loyal Orders is as valid an expression of 'community' as are the great murals in Ardoyne with their

current emphasis on 'Gaelic' culture. In both these traditions both politics and the arts interlock just as in the dramas of Aristophanes in which art and politics are regarded as legitimate twins. Again, in popular British and Irish television culture, art and politics mix in the sitcoms, 'soaps' and satiric programmes.

It is through community art that communities can express themselves and talk to each other. We may not like and might even disagree with what is communicated, but the various artistic media provide a variety of forums for dialogue that need not issue in bloodletting. Community art allows a maturity of response and

sophistication of thought to develop beyond shouting and guldering at each other. It allows for an exploration of the 'other side', however briefly, whosoever the other side may be. In many, many ways community art lets us look into the neighbour's kitchen and community just as much as it lets us look into the soul of the individual artist. Therein is the ultimate value of community arts.To misappropriate the words of John Hewitt, the communication that community art can establish is rather 'like moth to moth across a roaring hill'.

In this time of political and economic development, it is uncanny that the arts in general seem to suffer from a profusion of administrative burdens at the same time as a supposed increase in arts spending, Perhaps there is too much emphasis on the so-called 'business' side of the arts. Perhaps too the art has been taken out of the arts and we're left with '...s....'. It is my own observation that commercial considerations seem to predominate in the arts world and risk-taking by public funders has been minimised to the point of eliminating small arts groups from adequate empowerment funds. In effect, killing off much community art and shutting the door on many individuals and groups. Yet sponsorship of the arts from the public purse was a practice in both ancient Greece and Rome.

As in times past, art will survive in the community because the community itself survives. Art has survived the Holocaust, the Gulag, the rise and fall of empires, revolutions, and why? Because it has relevance to its community and survived primarily as a form of community art. The zamizdat -- illegal publishers -- in the Soviet Union, the state officials and politicians of other places made their art despite censorship.

The state of the arts reflects the state of the nation and I'm afraid this nation is in a bit of a state. That being so it is up to the people themselves to generate their own art and not let themselves be cheated by cheap commercialism. It may seem strange to quote Stalin, but he did say 'poets are the engineers of the human soul'. Our community artists, in days to come will help repair the damaged soul of this people for these are the people living in close combat and love with one another, whose souls are twinned in past sorrow, present hope and future celebration.

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