Benefits to the Community

Art can be a painting by Jasper Johns, it can be my great-grandmother’s lace-making…. We think of community and the arts as creating these “campfire moments” where we can come together with a bunch of other people to do nothing. This isn’t a meeting, there isn’t an agenda, there isn’t a to-do list. Often art is just a call to come together and be with fellow human beings, which is at the root of the individual transformation.

When art happens, there are benefits to communities and to individuals. Those benefits include increased creative capacity and insight, the ability to bridge and bond and make connections with people who aren’t like you. Art is unique in that it offers individualized experiences, which can comfort you, sometimes provoke you, sometimes challenge you and sometimes it does all those things.

SikoraArts believes that the arts are recognized as integral to the lives of all people and essential to healthy, vibrant and equitable communities across the nation. Everyone deserves equal access to a full, vibrant creative life, which is essential to a healthy and democratic society. The prominent presence of artists challenges inequities and encourages alternatives and provides a cultural impact that will result in the involvement and participation of the community attending programs of true artistic value which will enrich the spirit of each individual.

Our organization wants to lead and develop artists and intellectuals to strengthen their capacity to serve communities through the arts and to help build environments in which the arts and arts education thrive.

SikoraArts would like to expand individual awareness and recognition of the value of the arts and arts education as central elements to a vibrant and equitable community.

Jamie Bennett writes in ArtPlace America that “Putting art at the heart of a community enhances our lives by stirring hard-to-articulate feelings and inspiring us to look beyond what we believe to be possible and imagine a more vibrant, exciting future. It also reminds us that we’re all creative beings — and that whether we’re making art or music, telling stories or  sharing in the experience, we’re all connected.”
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