PACKING FOR THE TRIP EXTRAS

The first section of the Beginner's Guide ("Packing for the Trip" pp. ix - xxvii) contains an overview of community-based arts theory. While written with a general audience in mind, it is based on extensive academic research. Here is a "Top Ten" of the texts used:

Boal, Augusto, Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre Communications Group, 1979.

Brazilian theater artist, educator and politician Augusto Boal is one of the most influential writers and practitioners today in the growing field of community-based arts. Not only does Boal do an extremely good job of laying out his grounding approach and exercises in this foundational book, he also dedicates the entire (under appreciated) first half to a history of performance as democratic social intervention.

Farris Thompson, Robert, Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy, Random House, 1983.

European American historian/anthropologist Farris Thompson has ruffled almost everyone's feathers in the art world, from those who resent his almost religious belief in the primacy of African influences on American culture; to others who resent his attempts to incorporate African American "otherness" into his ideas and styles of presentation. In any case, this book presents a fascinating and deep account of how cultural forms and ideas persist over time and space.

Florida, Richard, The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life, Basic Books, 2004.

Florida, one of the world's leading social theorists and public intellectuals, believes that human creativity is the engine of economic growth. Every human being is creative, Florida argues, and for the first time in human history, our economic growth depends on the further development of a wide spectrum of human capabilities. This foundational book provides excellent strategic arguments as well as food for thought for artists and educators working in communities.

Gladwell, Malcolm, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Back Bay Books, 2002.

Gladwell's book presents a new, more organic way of understanding why cultural change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does. He believes ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics, and this book is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us. The connection with community-based arts may not be immediately evident, but it is powerful, particularly in regards to the concept of "Feedback" as it is articulated in the case study section of Beginner's Guide.

Greene, Maxine, Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change, Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Dr. Greene is a long-time professor of philosophy and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she continues to teach a course in educational philosophy, social theory, and aesthetics. In Releasing the Imagination, Greene passionately but systematically lays out a powerful set of arguments for the central, liberatory role of aesthetics in democratic education. A good book on philosophy for teachers who may not consider themselves "artists."

hooks, bell, Yearning: race, gender and cultural politics, South End Press, 1990.

Professor hooks is an internationally recognized African American intellectual and social activist who focuses on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender, and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. In Yearning, a collection of essays, hooks looks at a wide range of cultural phenomena not only related specifically to African Americans, but more generally to all those "on the margins" of mainstream, mass culture.

Laraña, Enrique, Hank Johnston and Joseph R. Gusfield, editors, New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity, Temple University Press, 1994.

This is an impressive and diverse set of essays written mainly by sociologists looking into the nature and history of social change. The overarching concept of the book, explained perhaps most usefully in Doug McAdams' "Culture and Social Movements," pp. 36-57, is that people do not organize simply because of where they are in the established social structure. Just as importantly, people are motivated in response to "grievances" that transcend purely rational analyses and go to the heart of who people think they are and what constitutes a meaningful life.

Lippard, Lucy, Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America, Pantheon Books, 1990.

Since 1966, Lippard has published 20 books on feminism, art, politics and place and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations. In Mixed Blessings, she takes on what was at the time the burgeoning theoretical topic of "multiculturalism." Sometimes overwhelming the reader with her unique synthesis of personal and journalistic references, reading this book is well worth the time required, not the least of which because of the amazing artists she introduces.

Mahdi, Louise Carus, Nancy Geyer Christopher and Michael Meade, editors, Crossroads: The Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage, Open Court Publishing Company, 1996.

This is a collection of essays from leading psychologists, anthropologists, social and religious leaders, medical professionals, educators, and parents. Contributions include personal first-hand accounts of rites of passage, plus practical information about contemporary professional work by individuals and organizations working with youth in transition. It is useful as a layperson's introduction to the field of adolescent development and human development as a whole.

McCloud, Scott, Understanding Comics, Perennial Currents, 1994.

Essentially, a 215-page comic book (similar in size to Beginner's Guide) about the comics medium that explains its history and inner workings, as it examines many aspects of visual communication along the way. While the most obvious influence of this book was formal (in its use of comics), McCloud also presents important ideas about the nature of art in general as an ancient container for encoded cultural information. A must-have for those using graphic stories as a way to instruct and educate.

To make contact with the Crossroads Project, email us at info@xroadsproject.org