Next Steps…Are The Hardest And Most Crucial.
Last week I gave my perspective on the metro Grand Rapids arts scene to a group who had signed up for the Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Community Leadership (CCL) orientation program.
And in the course of our talk, I was stopped in my tracks by a pointed question about how the community can nourish the spirit of ArtPrize during the next 50 weeks as it waits for next year's edition.
It was a particularly thoughtful question given the audience, a friendly and slightly skeptical crowd who are recent transplants to Grand Rapids. They were here to kick the tires of Grand Rapids, and in the course of their kicking, my shin got in the way.
Newcomers to metro Grand Rapids aren't the only ones wonder about this. Artists such as Young Kim have posed the same question.
“We often treat art as a peripheral thing, and it is great that this event brought art to the community’s main discussion,” he told me during ArtPrize. “But I hope it will not just be a fleeting thing. Keep talking about how art and the role of the artists are important in our community. We need artists in our society.”
“Continue the conversation," Kim says. "Talk about not only what is best and worst in art, but what is relative in our community.”
I did eventually answer that person’s question with a simple: “Our community members have to begin immediately to add arts experiences to their schedule. ArtPrize brought people downtown to experience art but it now rests on you to continue traveling this path.”
G-Sync asked at the beginning of ArtPrize the burning question: If you build it, would they come?
Well, they did, and now a new day is here. History has shown that a city with a thriving arts center is a place where great advances will be made…but only if we support the diversity of arts and cultural choices. This week I challenge you to add just one more event to your schedule. I have a few below to get you started.
As Kim said good bye, I asked him if he had any closing thoughts for the community members, many of whom showed their admiration for his artwork by visiting it several times during the biggest art love fest I have witnessed in my life.
“Can we make this event mandatory for every state?”he replied.
Yes, we can, but we started the conversation here first.
Choose local…and often.
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
Email:
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@TommyGSyncPhoto of Young Kim and Tommy at his Kissing Booth ArtPrize entry provided by
TanglefootStudio.com. For more info on the
Kissing Booth, visit here.
Press Releases for upcoming events in the West Michigan area should be sent to
[email protected]. Please include high res jpg images that are at least 500 pixels wide.
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