Listening to all voices in a community allows art organizations to offer a safe outlet for expression through art projects, developing skills and building community. Placing ultimate importance on the process of creating art and community partnerships, Hidden Voices exhibition participants have ranged from teenage graffiti offenders to women who have experienced domestic violence to senior citizens. Art Access connects lives through making art that shares experiences. This session examines the lasting benefits of community-based projects for both the organizations and the selected participants.

1. Benefits of a
Community-Based
Exhibition Project
Antonio Castillo, Carlyn Barrus,
Melissa Hempel, Sheryl Gillilan,
Rebekah Monahan (moderator)

2. Introductions
Sheryl Gillilan
Melissa Hempel
Antonio Castillo
Carlyn Barrus
Director/Curator, Woodbury Art Museum
Gang Prevention Specialist, Provo School
District

3. ART ACCESS

4. Since 1984
Our mission is to provide equal opportunities
to inclusive arts programming to Utahns
with disabilities and underserved
communities with limited access to the
arts.
Our vision is to demonstrate that the arts
are a universal vehicle to draw out
similarities, celebrate our differences,
and ultimately connect us to each other.

5. Art is one of the oldest forms of
storytelling.

6. Art appears in every culture on Earth.

7. Art is the only language that every person
in the world can understand.

8. Art helps us to understand how
others see the world; clarify
how we see the world; share
our experiences;
and connect to one another.
Fresco from the Villa of the Mysteries.
Pompeii, 80 BC.

9. Stories connect us because they allow us to
break down the walls between
“Them” and “Us”
Who I Am, mixed media, Sherrie Hawker
Atem, oil on canvas, Eric Empey

10. ART ACCESS Core
Philosophy
We believe in the power of art to
connect people and to build a
stronger, more inclusive
community.

11. ART ACCESS Programs &
Services
We offer 12 mission-driven programs focusing largely on the Wasatch Front.
Sharing stories through art is so important that ART ACCESS believes everyone should have
access to arts opportunities.

15. Visit us at ART ACCESS
We’re looking forward to hearing your
story, because. . .

16. we believe that
ART IS FOR
everyone!
www.accessart.org

18. Benefits for a Small Museum

19. Climate
AUTONOMY
●Somewhat unincorporated department within
the school
●Separate mission statement
TIMING
●Building a regular exhibition schedule
●Community partners and representatives from
the school

20. Project Scope
Working with underrepresented populations, the Hidden Voices
Program offers a safe outlet for expression through art projects,
developing skills and building community in Utah County.
2011 Hidden Voices: Graffiti
Provo School District Gang Prevention
2012 Hidden Voices: Women in Printmaking
Utah County Center for Women and Children in Crisis
2014 Hidden Voices: Fiber Arts
“Not Bound by Tradition” community group

21. Awareness & Stakeholders
PARTICIPANTS
MUSEUM
●Reclaiming space and
attention
●More community “buy-in”
●Learning art skills
●Increased attendance and
recognition
●Reputation

23. Content & Display
PARTICIPANTS
●A chance to tell their stories
●An opportunity to teach others
MUSEUM
●Ability to expand beyond the
artist statement
●Content from the project:
process and backgrounds

24. Expanding our Definition of
Contemporary Visual Art

25. Can You Read Graffiti?

26. “Final Product”
Set out to tell the whole story as the
final product for display:
● Completed artworks became
secondary
●
Showing the Process
●
Representing Participants
● Contemporary Art = art being
created right now, on-site

29. Evaluation
A small museum
doesn’t have much
time to complete
evaluations, here
the audience helps
you.

30. Never have I
had more
comments
than...

31. Challenges
● If no strong community
partner, the concept
suffers
● If no continued
support, participants
lose connection with
museum
● Long-term project
completed over 6
months or more
● Keeping new
visitors as regular
visitors

32. Provo School District
Gang Prevention

33. Recruit Juvenile Artists
● Convince artist to participate in Hidden
Voices Program
● Commit artist for HV project
● Obtain parent permission

34. Mentor Artist
● Assist artist with obtaining a high school
diploma or equivalent
● Set short and long term goals
● View urban art in a more positive way

35. Collaborate with Museum
● Provide a space where artists could
express themselves
● A space to display their art
● Building bridges with the Provo and Orem
communities

36. Albert Anzar
● 1st artist recruited
● Slate Canyon Youth Detention Center
● Facing 30 counts of vandalism
● Dropped out of school prior to his arrest

37. A Second Chance: Albert
● Assisted with recruiting artists
● Excelled as a leader among the
group
● Stopped tagging illegally
● Received commissions to paint

38. Self Portrait Albert Anzar

39. The Two Sides of Graffiti:
Nick Solis

40. Family Involvement

41. The Artists

42. Scholarship & Award
Recipients

43. Community Art

44. Community Art
“...basically involves artists and their
fellow citizens coming together to
make art that in some way reflects
their common concerns.”
William Cleveland

45. Participation
encourages
- blurs
line between artist and participant
Process over the final
values
product or object
element of
Activism
addresses needs/concerns of community
works to bring about change or action

51. Relational Aesthetics:
Nicolas Bourriaud, 1998
“A set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of
human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space.”

64. Final Questions?