Portland - Boundaries?

Posted by on May 23, 2007

A fundamental set of questions emerged in Portland around the tension between, on the one hand, the strength and flexibility that come with widely distributed resources and, on the other hand, the benefit of decisive and innovative leadership when it comes to making strategic leaps forward. Is a DIY culture fortified or fragmented?

video by: Christopher Reyes

What boundaries do communities need to collaborate and co-create? What structures are light enough to preserve individual autonomy but firm enough to make creative efforts sustainable? Such questions came to the forefront during our discussion with leaders from P:EAR (whose mission is to creatively mentor homeless youth through education, art and recreation), Disjecta (?an incubator, social and professional network, and community around interdisciplinary art?), City Commissioner Sam Adams, and Brad Maslin of BEAM Development. These arts organizations feel particularly acutely the need to support artists in various fashions, but also the danger of institutionalizing (and therefore stifling) their creativity.

photo by: Christopher Reyes

Sam Adams, who is working on developing a Creative Capacity Strategy for the city aimed at improving the basic infrastructure required for the arts of flourish, sees additional challenges (opportunities?) for arts and culture in the form of the internet: when most people, youth especially, he says, get their art through their computer monitor, where does that leave arts organizations?