Peoples Housing's
Community Arts Program 1993-1995
V. LESSONS AND ACTIONS FROM THE SURVEY
The entire survey process was a very valuable exercise for Peoples Housing. We gathered important information about what sorts of cultural activities people wanted to see in the Howard Theater. More important, we opened a channel of communication to our neighbors which was designed to tap their talents, and not just assess them. Surveying neighborhood talent is a positive community activity and revealed riches and opportunities for CAP.
Perhaps the most exciting finding was that 42% of the people reached by this survey, or 445 people, said they wanted to participate in some way in Peoples Housing's Community Arts Program. 23% said they wanted to help organize and plan activities. An astounding 51% of the youngest respondents, aged 12-19, said they wanted to participate.
Other key findings were:
The most popular type of activity selected was "Festivals & Street Fairs" (57%). We built on our 1993 efforts here and produced the Howard Theater Family Arts Festival in the Spring of 1994. Our Performing Arts Committee planned and provided volunteers for this event. The 1994 event was themed "The Drums of Rogers Park" and featured drumming performances of musical styles from around the world. Over 600 people attended the festival and barbecue.
We also expanded our Market Place Program by working with the City's Department of Consumer Services. We brought a weekly Farmer's Market to Howard Street, which ran from July to October, 1995. We surrounded the farmers with crafts people and small business people who sell a range of items off tables at local markets. We hired a market manager with extensive minority micro-business experience.
The most popular cultural activities selected were "Dance" and "Theater & Music Performances for Children" (48%). We held classes in African dance and hip-hop style dancing. We produced a weekly Saturday night teen dance for 13-17 year-olds. We also tried to get the Dance Center of Columbia College to set up a satellite center at the Howard Theater, but we did not get funded for a pilot project.
The most frequently mentioned talents that people reported having were Dancing (34%), Singing (30%), Party Making (28%), Photography (27%), Painting (24%), Acting (21%), Sewing (19%), and Rap (18%). We tapped these talents through a series of "Open Mike Nights at the Howard Theater". The open mike nights were produced by an actor and arts educator, Oba William King, who lives a few blocks from the theater. Oba saw a sign in the Howard Theater saying "Do You Have Any Bright Ideas About This Space? See Tom at Peoples Housing". He offered to organize and host the first open mike in January 1994. The event was enormously popular with young people and became bi-weekly in April. Oba was hired as a part-time arts activity organizer in October of 1994. His energies, talents and artistic networking led to many of the successful programs at CAP.
The community arts survey was also a good experience for the seven survey team members. Peoples Housing was committed to training and employing members of the north Rogers Park area for this type of work, and we sought funding for a year-round community intern program. We would have liked to have a team of community residents on retainer to do a number of community surveys, both for Peoples Housing and for other agencies. We also would have liked to expand the arts survey and make it an annual event. We were unable to accomplish these goals.
