Why I think this is a good idea. :) (original) (raw)

It's not just a love of the performing arts, although that is a big part of it. I think this is a feasible, viable and wonderful idea for several reasons, in brief:

First, I believe that artists do their best work when they are allowed to cultivate their creativity. Artists need, NEED to have a lifestyle that allows them to do this. We have been, understandably, programmed to have a lot of guilt about this. We tell ourselves it is selfish. We say it is impractical. And when we don't say it, others do. Art is often a luxury.

While I won't deny that our society, being the rich society that it is, does indicate that this is the case, I also believe strongly in doing what you are meant to do, what your skills and gifts are. Many artists feel a connection with a divine sense of purpose, however they choose to define it. Art has a healing effort on the world; it is often a sort of meeting ground where we allow different values and ideas to play themselves out, discovering the truth at the core of them. Many times, art allows us to express, discuss and address things that we otherwise do not know how.

I believe that it IS important to have a sense of practicality and care for the outside community. But I also believe that the best way you can take care of others, is to not neglect yourself. And, since we DO live in a free society that allows us to choose our paths, our destinies, and offers us many resources and opportunities to do so if we will only take the chance, then we can and SHOULD take advantage of those things and "seize the day" to be perfectly cliche about it! If we do so, we can create a haven, or a model, for other budding artists to emulate, we can cultivate those around us, help heal others, help them grow, and beautify our lives to the better of everyone.

Second, it follows that an artist has an opportunity to be involved with the surrounding community in creative ways by acknowledging the diverse narratives, lifestyles and needs of local residents. I kind of envision a future artist community being something along these lines, and not only for the reasons listed above. Such a community might be an important commodity to a local government that wanted not only to stimulate and foster the arts, encourage a small tourism industry and offer youth activities, but also portray itself as current and culturally diverse. An artist community could take advantage of this by making crosscultural awareness and a variety of artistic expression its priority, its "schtick" if you will.

Anyway, those are some random, rambled thoughts on something I hope to see. I hope people will join and talk about their own ideas! Even if it's just a hypothetical idea, it never hurts to talk. :)