Good Art Talks
What?
A series of conversations/facilitations/hang outs across age, gender, sexuality, class, ability etc spectrum. The conversations will focus on Art, on Good and the intersection of Art and Goodness.
The guiding questions will be…
What is Art? Who makes Art? Where is Art?
What is Good? Who is Good and Why be Good?
Is Art inherent & Good? Can Art create collective Good?
The space that will hold the conversations will have King Kxndi’s Art on the walls.
Why?
Because we deserve it. Because we need it. Because we want it.
The world is so complicated, scary, weird, uncertain, fast paced. I felt like I needed a minute. To check with everyone. Are we ok? What’s Good ?
Everything feels us vs. them when there’s no them.. Just ALL of us. The world is telling us we must choose left or right and I just want to Art. I want Peace.
I found relief in Art. I found solace in Art. I healed through Art. I found comfort in Art. I found answers to big questions in Art. I learned big Truths through Art. So clearly there is a connection to this innate creative ability of ours and the Goodness in the world. Right?
That is how the Good Art talks were born. I would say I had them with myself first. I saw that there was a connection, an intersection, a venn diagram between Art and Good. And like Dora, Imma explore.
Over time, I realized these conversations needed to be had with others. Whenever I would say certain words such as Art is inherent or Art is always/only Good. Folx literally light up. The Good Art talks started happening, people wanted to think about it, we are already talking about the spiritual, magical essence of Art connected to revolution, collective change but we don’t yet have the language for it. I believe through Art, through unpacking all the feelings of what was and what is, will we then be able to create/Art the future of what will be. I’m hoping through this dialogue we can talk about what we have no name for yet at the end of these conversations and to have talks with many demographics across the Island, I hope a light of Good and of Art is lit. That a little seed is planted that carries this knowledge that Art, Good and Humans are inextricably intertwined and who knows where that seed/light goes and it doesn’t even matter if that little seed does not change the whole wide world, my hope is that seed/ that light changes the individual’s perspective of the world. That they see themselves and others as Good and as Art.
Who?
There will be different audiences curated for the Good Art talks. The audiences are listed below;
Members of Community, Artists, Creatives, Friends, Family, Elders, Local Leaders, Influencers, Magik Makers, Caretakers and anyone that fits, is interested, is compelled to join will be invited. This space will be guided by who is there is who was meant to be there. Outreach will be via one another and the primary Artist, King Kxndi. Folx will gather, eat Good local food and respond to the questions on Good, on Art and the intersection of Good and Art. At the end of the year, a conversation, survey on overall happiness, growth and self Love will be had to gather where people are at, what has changed for them through these conversations.
This part of the Good Art talks is funded by the GEDI fund, via the province of PEI.
Youth, Kids are also members of Community, Artists, Creatives, Friends, Family, Local Leaders, Influencers, Magik Makers, Caretakers and more. They too deserve to be part of the dialogue of the changing world they are in. In this part of the Good Art talks, over the course of a school year grades K, 4, 8, 11 will be invited to a series of Art sessions/workshops that will explore Good, Art and the intersection of Good and Art. There will be three series of these. One on the west side of the island, one on the east side of the island and one in charlottetown. This will be done with the support of the public school board via Debbie Langston and Vicky *
The youth will have an email to send their after thoughts, reflections, creations to after the Good Art talks. With this time and freedom to reflect, we hope to see some interesting responses from all the age demographics.
This could/will be funded by the Canada Council of Arts seed grant.
Elders are critical members of the Community, Artists, Creatives. You can see where I am going here.I would like the Good Art talks to reach members of Community we don’t usually think to engage in such dialogue. Elders deserve a say in the fast changing world they live in. Through the Good Art talks we will explore Good, Art, the intersections while considering the past, the present and the future. This part of the Good Art talks will be recorded on a podcast so the wisdom of the Elders can be accessible to all.
This could/will be funded by museums and heritage.
When?
I’m hoping to start the Good Art talks in the Creative space in Feb 2023, in the public schools in Sept 2023 and with the Elders in Summer 2023. Since the Creative Art Space is already funded, that is ready to go. I’d like to use the momentum of Black history month to engage with the community as a lot of my community is Black and will be out and about engaging with the community for the month.. I believe we would be a Good transition, continuity of BHM.
Where?
For the Create space Good Art Talk, the primary Artist KingKxndi, has offered their creative space for folx to come and engage in the talks. The space is full of local Art and a cute ball Python sourced by the Artist. The Artist will order Good local food in advance of the guests arriving and they will also organize the first few months’ invites and then let folx organically invite other folx to join the talks.
For the Public School board Good Art Talk, we will use the cafeteria or gymnasium in the school. Three of us will go together, 2 educators/facilitators and 1 note taker. We will post up 4-8 Art large Art pieces(sample images attached) on the walls. Debbie Langston and Vicki will introduce us to the grades and their teachers as well as show us where we will be.
If possible/ideally, the last Good Art Talk will be ALL the youth that participated, participating together.
Elders, for this Good Art talk. The podcast recording can happen anywhere depending on weather, comfort and covid. So for this one, a location is not super necessary however if needed BCS has a Good recording room and so does Creative PEI. UPEI also has a soundproof recording room. There are options.
With?
This is a project that is very much people, community, conversation driven. There is a curiosity, quest, hunger to know what the folx around think of Good and what they think of Art and the intersections and possibilities that come from Good/Art. So the cost is not drastic but since it is a Love based project, folx deserve to be paid and paid well. So money does matter, especially in a capitalist society.
So far
- the GEDI fund has covered the Creative Art space Good Art talks
- Canada Council could/will cover the Public School board Good Art talks.
- Heritage and museums will/could cover the Elders Good Art talks.
Without?
Oppression. This is an anti-oppressive project. It is a Love based project. It is a project based on the belief that humans are more than inherently Good, that they are Unique Gods. A blend of Spirit and Creature put on earth to Create. So it is a project that will be for everyone . It is Black led, pro Black, pro Indigenous, pro Palestine. It is a project that recognizes the long term harm of white supremacy yet does not exclude whiteness from the space. The heart of the Good Art talks is to create a Loving space to explore what is Good and what is Art in a complex scary world. It is an opportunity to create a Brave space for us to challenge that we are not inherently bad, quite the contrary, we are inherently Good.
