Cultivating Humanizing Change  Imagination, Creativity and Collaboration

Anne Riggs, PhD

The paper I gave at the conference Emerging Challenges for Social Development and Human Services Practice in the Asia Pacific Region, Bali 2016.

cultivating-humanizing-change-conference-paper

excerpt :

The name Artists in Community speaks to the creative part in all of us. “This hard-wired creativity, the inheritance of every child ever born across space and time”, as writer Jeanette Winterson describes it[i]. “… the desire to play, to imagine, to tell and hear stories, to be taken on wild imaginative journeys and to see ourselves reflected back at us.”   It reflects a view that the arts and community are relevant, are worthwhile, are the things that sustain us, especially in times of uncertainty, when other things fall away or have yet to be built. We are compelled to consider creativity as the rule rather than the exception, that professional artists and arts organisations are essential contributors to assisting people and communities gain insights, reach their potential and find meaning.

[i] Winterson Jeanette, The Inside Life: on arts funding. Presentation to the Wheelers Centre, Thursday, 19th May 2016 www.wheelercentre.com/notes/the-inside-life-jeanette-winterson-on-arts-funding