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Building Community using the multicultural festival format

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Building Community using the multicultural festival format

Rohini Dandavate

In the United States, Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May. For the

Asian communities of Columbus, Ohio it is the time to organize the Asian festival.

Introduced in the year 1995, this festival has emerged as a prominent community

based art project, which contributes significantly towards building community

networks within the various ethnic groups of Asian origin in and around Columbus.

This project touches the social, cultural, political, and business life of the Central

Ohio communities. Because of the tremendous success in drawing people every

year the festival has received strong financial support from state, city, and

corporations, since its very inception.

According to Ms Rebecca Ogden, who was one of the key figures in the

administration of this project “this event was conceived with the simple objective

of building connections within the Asian communities and with the mainstream

community. “ (Ogden 2002). Dr Lou, a professor in the Department of

Mathematics, at the Ohio State University was the main inspiration behind this

project. Being involved in social services, he recognized that the Asian

communities lacked a social infrastructure that could help getting/providing proper

health services to the people of their community. With a view to address this need

he set out to bring together professionals and other key persons from the Asian

communities to address how health and social services could be easily made

accessible to the needy people in the community. Through discussions/meetings

with representatives of 13 Asian groups it was felt that organizing a festival to

share the arts and traditions of Asia would help to:

• Build connections amidst the participating minority groups

• Build awareness and cultural understanding in the mainstream population

and

• Create a platform to share Asian art and culture

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(Ogden 2002)

The members of the organizing committee envisioned that in the long run, this

festival would help in building and sustaining connections and relationships,

resulting in creation of community support networks. To make the event engaging

for participation of the Asians in Columbus as well as mainstream communities, the

committee decided to focus on presenting arts, art making activities for children,

cultural displays, Asian food ways, educational displays, health awareness, and

martial arts. It has come to be one of the most attended events in Ohio.

William Cleveland, Director of the Center for the Study of Art and Community in his

article ‘Mapping the Field: Arts-Based Community Development ‘, defines an ABCD

project as

“Arts-centered activity that contributes to the sustained advancement

of human dignity, health and/or productivity within a community,

including,

– Activities that EDUCATE and INFORM us about ourselves and the world

– Activities that INSPIRE and MOBILIZE individuals or groups.

– Activities that NURTURE and HEAL people and/or communities

– Activities that BUILD and IMPROVE community capacity and/or

infrastructure. (Cleveland 02)”

The objectives, activities, and outcome of the Asian Festival meet the

requirement of this definition making it to be an apt example of an Arts

Based Community Development (ABCD) project. This festival encompasses

activities that generate all the attributes that come under the purview of the

above definition. The following paragraphs analyzes the impact of the

festival.

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EDUCATE/INFORM: The Festival has increased the overall awareness about

Asian culture, art forms, lifestyles and expression amongst the greater

Columbus community. About 100,000 people attended the Asian Festival.

The information booths, the art exhibits, dance and music performances, the

shop with artifacts from various Asian cultures has aroused an interest in

people to learn more about the Asian countries. The indicators of this

growing curiosity is seen in the:

– Increasing numbers of ethnic restaurants in Columbus

– Ethnic aisles becoming a part of national grocery chains.

– Ethnic cultural immersion programs becoming regular features in

elementary, middle and high schools.

– Opening of Henna parlors, an Indian body adornment technique

– Student community of Ohio State University organizing a similar Asian

Festival every year

According to Ms Ogden, presenting a variety of artistic events has helped

people understand and appreciate universal themes in diverse expressions as

well as recognize the unique characteristics of different cultures. It has

helped people discover a new unifying eclectic experience that draws upon

qualities of diverse forms, flavors and rhythms. (Ogden,2002).

There is a growing interest in schools in smaller communities in the vicinity

of Columbus to expose students to ethnic cultures through these arts

activities. Performers and artists from the Asian communities have been

invited to present their art more frequently than earlier.

INSPIRE and MOBILIZE: The festival has inspired patrons, volunteers, artists

and the audience. There is a continued enthusiasm for organizing, supporting

and participating in the Asian festival each year. The Asian Festival has now

become as much a part of the popular public events in Columbus as the Rib

festival or the July 4th fireworks. People from all walks of life are attending

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the festival. It has mobilized around 30 corporations and city and state

government arts agencies to provide regular financial support.

NURTURE and HEAL: Health pavilions in the festival grounds have healthcare

professionals demonstrate and offer workshops on traditional healing practices such

as acupressure and meditation. Health promotions, nutrition education, Yoga

demonstrations and health screenings are among the other activities presented in

the health area. Consequently, health screening and demonstrations have now

become a part of an outreach service to Asian and non-Asian communities as well

as to elderly, women and people in need. Health information is available, many in

Asian languages, in the area of community diseases, nutrition, cancer education, as

well as information on available screenings. The original motivation for this

community initiative is pursued through the voluntary efforts, which are initiated

during the Asian Festival.

BUILD and IMPROVE:

The intercultural communication for planning and execution of the festival

has resulted in continued interactions between the communities (as opposed

to within the communities) beyond the festival. Asian Festival has motivated

people of the community to invest their time and money into an activity that

leads to developing long lasting bonds in the community.

The phenomenon of globalization and the consequent change in the demographics

of Ohio has resulted in the need for building cultural understanding. People are

recognizing that understanding of multicultural practices and values can facilitate in

their workplaces, malls, schools, colleges and neighborhoods. It is becoming

important to learn to live in harmony with people of different nationalities and

develop the ability to understand each other. Artistic expressions help in connecting

people and it teaches people to accept and appreciate each other’s differences.

In the words of Raj Isar (1996), author and Professor of Global Communications,

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"One of the major challenges today is how to manage and promote

diversity as a positive force, so that the recently released energies of

ethnic identification and solidarity serve as catalysts for creativity

rather than destruction, for concord rather than division (Isar quoted

by Williams 1996)".

The Asian festival has demonstrated that the benefits of art based community

projects are not just limited to the evolution of a new mindset that is culturally

adaptive. It also leads to development of cross-cultural networks that help people

share skills, resources and knowledge. It leads to participation of the ethnic

communities in the social, political and business networks of the mainstream. The

following diagram illustrates how the Asian festival contributes in building

connections within and outside the Asian communities.

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This diagram displays the partnership and collaboration in all the stages of

organizing this festival. It brings together people from Asian American communities

of Columbus, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia,

Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and the Vietnam to name a few. According to

Community Partnerships for Older Adults the “hallmarks of community-based

collaboration are cooperative investment and allocation of resources; shared

authority and benefits; and joint planning, risk taking, implementation, and

evaluation”. It can be said that this collaboration has it all. There is local support

and local control in planning and execution. The collaboration between multiple

organizations and individuals under a unified structure brings a variety of

perspectives and expertise into a comprehensive vision.

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In conclusion it would be appropriate to say that in long run efforts of art based

community development make life richer in cultural content and build social

networks which become more stable because diverse populations have a sense of

participation in the evolving infrastructures and power structure.

References

Cleveland W, (2002) Mapping the Field: Arts-Based Community Development

(http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/resdev.php)

Community Partnerships for Older Adults

(http://partnershipsforolderadults.org/whatis_cp.htm)

Ohio Arts Council, (2002) State of the Arts Report,

(http://www.ohiosoar.org/)

Asian Festival

(http://www.asian-festival.org/first.html)

Booth, K (1995) Culture Builds Communities Washington, D C Partners for Livable

Communities

Congdon G, Blandy D, Bolin P (2001) Histories of Community-Based Art Education,

VA National Art Education Association

Graeme Chalmers F. (1996) Celebrating Pluralism :Art Education and Cultural

Diversity CA The J Paul Getty Trust.

Williams, J. (1996) Across the Street Around the World- A Hand Book for Cultural

Exchange London, U.K. British American Arts Association Ltd.