Neighbourhood Folk - Sunday, Feb 2 - 2025 01 27

 

The first Sunday of February has come up fast! It is time to re-charge our collective batteries and get ourselves on the same page for the month ahead. 

Many of us are facing unprecedented challenges that are calling us to our best work, our best selves and our greatest courage.

Ellen Dissanayake asked, "What is Art For?" (1988). She observed that art-making behaviour was common across humankind and was curious about the significance of creative works in human social systems. How is it possible that we allocate precious resources to creative works even in times of scarcity and difficulty? What is it about our art-making activities that gives us the sustenance we need to face an uncertain future?

We may not understand the relationship between our transcendental experiences with art, art-making, and art appreciation. We may not be able to define how our experiences of creative works as a collective body giving us strength to persevere, increasing our resilience through our shared experience. It may be difficult to quantify what changes, from one moment to the next, as we encounter, participate in, and move on from experiences of shared creativity.

We have evidence of human creative activity going back to our earliest records of human existence. We know there is a difference in how we feel, what we are able to conceive, what we are able to understand, what we are inspired to pursue, depending on our immediate experiences. If we are in a forest at sunset, our imaginings are going to be very different from where we are at rush hour in a crowded Skytrain after a long day at work. Any given circumstance is going to rise to a singular creative response. Any singular creative response may articulate an intangible common experience that helps us feel less alone, a sense of belonging, a sense of being part of something bigger than ourselves.

Neighbourhood Folk provides a safe place to gather, to share, and to learn from each other. It is antithetical to the commodification of our creative work. It fosters conditions for sharing and experiencing creative works to broaden perspectives, deepen understanding, and increase our capacity to change social systems to support the common good. We need to feel part of our neighbourhoods, to build trustworthy relationships within our communities.

We do not know what hardships lie ahead. We are going to need each other, and a robust creative capability to persevere for the good of all concerned. We are going to need each other to bolster our resilience, to act in good faith to uphold values of caring, equality and justice. Our creative works with help us find solutions where none are self-evident.

I hope we can foster creative works across our neighbourhoods and communities. I hope to see what others are thinking about, creating, and bringing to a Sunday afternoon of gathering and sharing.