Catalyst Initiative : Kentucky 2015

Center for Performance + Civic Practice

CATALYST INITIATIVE Artist Mark Kidd, based in Whitesburg, KY, worked with Cowan County Community Action Group, a fifty-year-old not for profit focused on citizen-led anti-poverty efforts in Letcher County, KY. Their work together focused on bringing stakeholders into creative dialogue while exploring the legacy and future of antipoverty work in their region. Their story together over a year of collaboration is one of strategizing what tools match the intention and needs of a project, developing effective invitations for productive participation, and having the patience to see and respond to what develops over the course of an evolving process.

KENTUCKY

THE PARTNERSHIP >>

Mark and Valerie in Chicago for the Catalyst Convening, Summer 2014.

Mark Kidd, Artist

Valerie Horn

Mark’s work focuses on storytelling in rural communities.

of Cowan Community Action Group (and multiple other local organizations)

A diagram shows the complexity and connectivity of local and regional organizations, resources, and relationships. In a community of Cowan’s size, citizens like Valerie Horn are a driving force, cultivating

“The conversations and the connections, the capacity, the trust that came from this project led to the second.

I’m not saying it would not have happened without this, but I know it made the transition smoother and put some pieces together.�

- Valerie Horn

meaningful social and cultural capital by their leadership of multiple coalitions and initiatives.

This interrelatedness was a fundamental condition of and asset within the work in Kentucky.

Baseline Assessment Report on the Kentucky Site of the Catalyst Initiative

Baseline Assessment Report on the Kentucky Site of the Catalyst Initiative

from data collected June 2014

from data collected June 2014

Baseline Measures of Kentucky Catalyst Initiative Inter-­‐Generational Leadership Development

Baseline Measures of Kentucky Catalyst Initiative Artistic and Media Representation of tA he Community’s Experiences, representative team of Kentucky site community leaders used the following assessment rubric to describe the base-­‐line Visions, and Cultural Heritage nature of inter-­‐generational leadership development at the beginning of the Catalyst project. These measures will be

compared with POST responses at the end of the project to assess cultural shifts in the course of the programming.

A representative team of Kentucky site community leaders used the following assessment rubric to describe the base-­‐line

nature of Artistic and Media Representation of the Community’s Experiences, Visions, and Cultural Heritage at the How do organizations in our community build inter-­‐generational leadership? I would describe our community’s approach beginning of the Catalyst project. These measures will be compared with POST responses at the end of the project to assess to building leadership as: cultural shifts in the course of the programming.

• WELCOMING: Young people and new residents seeking to connect and reconnect to our community feel welcome What relationship does our community have with art and media? Are our own experiences, visions, and cultural heritage participate in community organizations. portrayed, and portrayed accurately? I would describe our community’s relationship with art and mto edia as:

• EXAMPLES: Established leaders make a point to share stories and examples of leadership in our history. Established • RARELY: We rarely see accurate portrayals of people and their life experiences in our community and m communities leaders ake introductions and provide mentorship for emerging leaders. like ours.

• TRADITION & CHANGE: The ways we talk about our community at meetings, school, church, and other gathering • OFTEN: Communities like ours are often portrayed accurately in art and media. places reflect the ways we support new ideas. The ways we talk portray how our stories and visions for the future • SHARED: Accurate art and media representations of our community are regularly being created and shared abnd ack both change stay the same through the generations. with us.

• NEW HOPE: Community development projects share inter-­‐generational leadership and build on the culture and • SELF-­‐CREATED: Our community is creating a variety of artistic representations which portray our own visions and strengths of the past. Development projects generate energy, hope, and new action here. cultural heritage.

There is clear evidence from the rubric data, as well as from other communitybased description and comments, that this region is rarely portrayed accurately in the arts or in the general media, that the community is becoming excited about self-representation and that there is hope for the efficacy of the Catalyst Initiative and other community-based projects in bringing about this change.

Percent of leadership development characteristics evidenced in four areas:

Percent of artistic and media representation characteristics evidenced in four areas:

0.9

90

80

0.8

70

0.7

60

0.6

0.5

50 40

Series1

0.4 0.3

30 20

0.2 0.1 0

10 often

shared

rarely

self-­‐created

0

Examples

Welcoming

Tradition & Change

New Hope

There is clear evidence from the rubric data, as well as from other community-­‐based descriptions and comments, that his growing out of new community development projects is the most prominent area of inter-­‐ The generation of new htope region is rarely portrayed accurately in the arts or in the general media, that the community is becoming excited about self-­‐ generational leadership development evidenced by the data. The areas for greatest potential growth are in sharing representation, and that there is hope for the efficacy of the Catalyst Initiative and other community based projects in examples of past leadership strategies and in mentoring emergent leaders. bringing about this change.

Respondents also provided other descriptions of and comments about leadership development: Respondents also provided other descriptions of and comments about their community’s artistic and media representation: New residents are interested in culture and stories from the past. We need hope and energy and to be proud of our • I think an effort is being made to more accurately portray our people and community. • heritage without • We need to lose the stereotype surrounding our mountains through the programs available to us. Hopefully, this being made fun of. will help.

• Appalshop & Grow Appalachia are starting to bring young people to work in grant projects -­‐ also, Valerie Horn & • Local artists do a great job portraying our people and local media also does well. Outsiders do Appaltree. not do as well.

• Cherokee culture has been erased, but there's a lot left.

• We have to use/implement the programs made available to us to help show our culture strengths, and not the • Our community needs to rise above and get away from the "hillbilly” stereotype. negativity surrounding us.

•

There is so much more awareness now due to the involvement of Grow Appalachia and other workshops such as this.

I think an effort is being made to more accurately portray our people and community.

We need to lose the stereotype surrounding our mountains through the programs available to us. Hopefully, this will help.

Local artists do a great job portraying our people and local media also does well. Outsiders do not do as well.

“Cherokee culture has been erased, but there’s a lot left.”

“Our community needs to rise above and get away from the “hillbilly” stereotype.”

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“New residents are interested in culture and stories from the past.

We need hope and energy and to be proud of our heritage without being made fun of.”

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This project was the first time this historic space was used as a theater.

Their Catalyst-intitiated project incorporated the voices of a cross section of the Cowan Community Action Group’s stakeholders into creative dialogue about the interrelatedness of the CCAG’s programs, the legacy and future of anti-poverty work in the mountains, and the possibilities of expanding to new ground.

The Community Cultural Development potluck/workshops incorporated activities such as community development, role playing, story circles, digital storytelling, and photovoice.

PHOTOGRAPHY STORYTELLING DIALOGUE

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The energy generated by the photography project played a vital role in the formation of the community stories project.

In the Catalyst-initiated community events, an emphasis on the potential of live storytelling shone through.

Mark comes from a community of theater and mediamakers that includes the nationally renowned Appalshop and Roadside Theatre Company. “Roadside’s ensemble members grew up without television, immersed in a world of local stories and oral histories. The oral audition, often in ballad form, is the most prominent feature of our shared Scots-Irish heritage, and it has shaped the content and determined the form of our plays. If you have ever sat around with friends and kin singing, spinning tales, and recounting histories, you will quickly see where we’re coming from...

“The result is the grand choral effect of harmony and counterpoint that is group storytelling, whether on a front porch or in an auditorium.” — Roadside Theater

Catalyst photography project pictures exhibited the Cowan Community Center during a sold out performance of the new community stories project.

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Mark Kidd on the emerging Community Story Plays project growing out of the Catalyst work on photography — click here.

Valerie Horn on the history of the Cowan Community Center — click here.

“We have to use and implement the programs made available to us to help show our cultural strengths — and not the negativity surrounding us.”

- Mark Kidd

In addition, Mark and Valerie reported Facebook as a lively inter-generational communication tool in their community. It may be worth examining the particular organizing role of social media in place-based and rural communities.

As a team, they prioritized participants having both the opportunity and resources to be able to lead future workshops without the artist/ educators that are brought into a residency, creating sustainability.

They on are on the cusp of their next collaboration — Community Story Plays.

RESOURCES: “Low-cost media curriculum” developed by Mark Kidd with Nick Szuberla http://appalshop.org/projects/innovationlab/ Arts and Culture: Essential for Transition in the Kentucky Coalfields (created jointly with Ada Smith of Appalshop) http://blog.artsusa.org/2014/02/21/arts-and-culture-essential-for-transition-in-thekentucky-coalfields/ With all the expertise and Creativity We Can Muster: 2014 Chemical Spills in West Virginia and North Carolina http://roadside.org/news/all-expertise-and-creativity-we-can-muster

OUTCOMES << Partners were emboldened to test new creative practices together as relationships with artists deepened and trust was built. “Frankly,” said Mark Kidd, “we spent the last three weeks doing intensive theater creation workshops and I feel like we’re all in the same world of creating art together. I certainly wouldn’t have been capable of imagining [at the beginning of Catalyst] the form [our work] has taken.” At one of the play devising workshops, Mark facilitated improvisations about the scenario when family members and loved ones are forced to leave the region. “We would have done a completely different thing if the atmosphere hadn’t been good in the first 30 minutes, but folks integrated,” he said. Returning workshop participants brought the new people into a place where they were feeling safe which enabled discussion of some difficult issues he needed to flesh out in order to have a robust script. “I really did feel like this was something I would not have known how to do or been doing without my work with Catalyst.” Partner Valerie Horn observed a difference from previous straight storytelling to “a more a professional, choreographed (to a degree) piece of work…that would validate that folks in the community … have the skills and ability or are willing to work to develop those....

Catalyst projects have led to continuing or new collaborations between the artists and community partners.... Artist Mark Kidd and Valerie Horn of the Cowan Community Action Group began a new theater project collaboration even as their Catalyst project was still unfolding. Valerie credits Mark as the “through-line” between the photo stories project supported by Catalyst and the play. ....

[The project experimented] with new media and social media in place-based work.

The Kentucky project capitalized on social media and noted significant traffic and sharing of information. In surveying Facebook traffic, Mark Kidd observed, “I saw so many people interested in what we’re doing with the collaboration now. I do think we have created community change already. There are people having experiences with art and media that are positive and they are communicating to their friends and neighbors.”

More people and new voices were engaged in civic dialogue through the Catalyst activities....

Although Catalyst projects were small scale, the increase in new participants was notable where it happened. The theater project that evolved from the Kentucky Catalyst project, for example, attracted large numbers of new as well as repeat participants. “It was very gratifying at the very last of the series of play devising workshops,” Mark Kidd recounted, “when we realized two things: one, that we had 26 people show up, more than had ever come before; and half of them had never been to any of the other ones.” ....

The Kentucky project was able to secure additional resources which doubled its budget. “The grant really leveraged the time I could spend getting to know Cowan,” Mark Kidd reported that the fellowship engendered through the Catalyst project “really leveraged the stories workshop format as an example of what I could offer a broader region.”

- Excerpts from the Catalyst Initiative Report (Animating Democracy, 2015) Animating Democracy is a program of Americans for the Arts

The Catalyst Initiative is an action research initiative â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a model for supporting, advancing, and learning from innovative artist and community partner collaborations in order to reveal new possibilities for artistic contributions to community problem-solving and growth.

The Catalyst Initiative is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

CENTER FOR PERFORMANCE + CIVIC PRACTICE Š2015 www.thecpcp.org