FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Hello,
Thank you for your interest in The Newark Public Arts Project. I’ve put together this FAQ page to share with you all how I/we have been answering your very important questions concerning this public arts project. From providing input on the process and form to participating in the different activities, it is my personal goal that this project will engage as many people in Newark as possible. Please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions to add to this list. Warmly, Pastor Isaac Scott |
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What is The Confined Arts and why should we trust your organization?
The Confined Arts is a program that I created out of my own experience of being incarcerated in New York State for more than nine years. During this time, visual art was the way that I was able to psychologically cope with incarceration as well as financially sustain myself during my bid. I came home in 2013 and created The Confined Arts as a series of exhibition events that featured the visual works and poetry of currently incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists. In 2015, I enrolled into Columbia University’s Justice in Education Scholars program which is part of an initiative to provide higher education to people who are currently incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. Since 2015, through my affiliation with the university, through my personal involvement in local and national organizing, and through strategic partnering, I’ve been able to scale the work of The Confined Arts to become a program that works at a national level to use strategic arts engagement to equip artists to influence policy change, and use their artistry and knowledge to advocate for a world anchored on empathy and saturated with healing and prevention-based policies.
As a researcher and a visual artist I have worked over the past 5 years with a team of policy leaders, advocates and community based initiatives to develop an interdisciplinary approach to utilizing strategic arts engagement to:
I am the Director of operations for The Confined Arts and have the final say in our organizational decisions. I say this because it is important to understand that our methodology is not systematically formed by Columbia University with me as the Black director but instead, The Confined Arts is a Black-owned and Black-operated arts and advocacy organization that is informed and influenced by directly impacted community members from across the country.
The Confined Arts is a program that I created out of my own experience of being incarcerated in New York State for more than nine years. During this time, visual art was the way that I was able to psychologically cope with incarceration as well as financially sustain myself during my bid. I came home in 2013 and created The Confined Arts as a series of exhibition events that featured the visual works and poetry of currently incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists. In 2015, I enrolled into Columbia University’s Justice in Education Scholars program which is part of an initiative to provide higher education to people who are currently incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. Since 2015, through my affiliation with the university, through my personal involvement in local and national organizing, and through strategic partnering, I’ve been able to scale the work of The Confined Arts to become a program that works at a national level to use strategic arts engagement to equip artists to influence policy change, and use their artistry and knowledge to advocate for a world anchored on empathy and saturated with healing and prevention-based policies.
As a researcher and a visual artist I have worked over the past 5 years with a team of policy leaders, advocates and community based initiatives to develop an interdisciplinary approach to utilizing strategic arts engagement to:
- Change perception about people impacted by the criminal legal system,
- Build relationships across different experiences to create more informed policy as well as strategic partnering to scale new and existing advocacy campaigns,
- Foster action toward collaborative and creative solution making.
I am the Director of operations for The Confined Arts and have the final say in our organizational decisions. I say this because it is important to understand that our methodology is not systematically formed by Columbia University with me as the Black director but instead, The Confined Arts is a Black-owned and Black-operated arts and advocacy organization that is informed and influenced by directly impacted community members from across the country.
What research are you conducting in Newark, what does it have to do with public art and why should we fill out a survey or participate in an interview?
We were asked by our funders “How do you plan to measure the progress and the impact of your work? What information should be monitored or collected to demonstrate whether changes have occurred? Please include clear indicators by which you will measure progress.”
We answered “The Consistent input of our Newark partners and community stakeholders will help inform our collaborative design process and ensure that this public arts project addresses the community issues and gaps in the artistic landscape identified by people who are living within the communities themselves. Throughout the duration of the project we are conducting the Neighborhood Arts Assessment Research [NAAR], which is series of surveys and evaluations (see activities section) that will help us measure the impact of:
Our ultimate goal is to have a positive impact on the Newark community, so it is important to gain an understanding FROM YOU of the ways in which this project can successfully address the needs of the community. We are currently conducting interviews with local organizers and community advocates to learn more about community needs, community arts and community involvement in the most vulnerable parts of Newark.
We were asked by our funders “How do you plan to measure the progress and the impact of your work? What information should be monitored or collected to demonstrate whether changes have occurred? Please include clear indicators by which you will measure progress.”
We answered “The Consistent input of our Newark partners and community stakeholders will help inform our collaborative design process and ensure that this public arts project addresses the community issues and gaps in the artistic landscape identified by people who are living within the communities themselves. Throughout the duration of the project we are conducting the Neighborhood Arts Assessment Research [NAAR], which is series of surveys and evaluations (see activities section) that will help us measure the impact of:
- Ensuring the best possible representational public art piece as informed by Newark community members, community arts organizations, and local artists.
- The role of public arts to create lasting relationships with different community stakeholders to increase likelihood for future collaborations focused on targeting representation in Newark in areas not limited to aesthetics but also representation in law and policy.”
Our ultimate goal is to have a positive impact on the Newark community, so it is important to gain an understanding FROM YOU of the ways in which this project can successfully address the needs of the community. We are currently conducting interviews with local organizers and community advocates to learn more about community needs, community arts and community involvement in the most vulnerable parts of Newark.
I believe part of phase one is community building and getting a better understanding of the scope of the arts in Newark, I was wondering if anyone on your team has been to Newark, reached out to local organizations here (I do see Yendor listed but that was the only one) or has any prior knowledge of the arts community here.
Although many artists and organizers are just seeing this project for the 1st time, since the fall of 2020, I have personally met with several community leaders which include but are not limited to:
PHASE 1: RESEARCH, RELATIONSHIP BUILDING, AND PROJECT PLANNING [4 MONTH PROCESS NOV. 2020-MAY 2021]
We have focused our outreach to be as expansive and as inclusive as possible within the Newark community. If you are aware of people or organizations that should be aware of this opportunity we ask that you forward this opportunity as soon as possible.
Although many artists and organizers are just seeing this project for the 1st time, since the fall of 2020, I have personally met with several community leaders which include but are not limited to:
- the faith community,
- educational community,
- local organizations,
- local artists.
PHASE 1: RESEARCH, RELATIONSHIP BUILDING, AND PROJECT PLANNING [4 MONTH PROCESS NOV. 2020-MAY 2021]
- Research: TCA is surveying and documenting fact sheets on topics pertaining to Newark’s history, community make-up, legal procedures and arts landscape. This knowledge will help TCA staff engage deeply with community members in conversations, direct questions and fuel areas for future research. These fact sheets will help provide a record of TCA’s knowledge of the city, and can be used as a record to help information be more succinctly and easily shared across the team. This research is vital in every stage of the process, and will be used to address any obstacles and fill any knowledge gaps necessary for the toolkit. Whenever possible, TCA will add insights from members of the Newark community that we’ve interviewed to the fact sheets in order to incorporate lived experiences into the research narrative.
- Planning Meetings: TCA held planning meetings with Yendor and other Newark partners to collaboratively create framing and decision-making tools to ensure full participation in the planning process and the execution of the project as a whole.
- Public Community Meetings: TCA held its first public community meeting on February 11th, 2021 and the topic of this meeting focused on introducing the project concept as well as discussing the impact of the War on Drugs and representation in Newark. Future meetings will engage a larger network of artists and community stakeholders to contribute to the project by responding to the prompt through visual art, live spoken word, and live discussion.
We have focused our outreach to be as expansive and as inclusive as possible within the Newark community. If you are aware of people or organizations that should be aware of this opportunity we ask that you forward this opportunity as soon as possible.
I also saw that the methodology would be piloted in Newark, and I wondered why Newark is being used for testing research models as opposed to your local community?
The Claiming the Visual Narrative Initiative executes its mission of targeting and undoing systemic oppression in popular culture in the form of community misrepresentation by forming Community Convening Cohorts (CCC). The CCCs are designed to be made up of different community stakeholders with its primary function to collaboratively conceptualize, fabricate, and install public art and media that represents the values and experiences of community members. The CCCs are designed to be formed in different spaces amongst different groups of people with the goal of using art in whatever preferred form to change public attitudes about individuals and communities impacted by the criminal legal system and inform representational policy solutions.
TCA is an outside organization working with the local Newark community, and has to build trust with community partners to assure that the project reflects the voices, leadership, and priorities of the Newark community. The design of the project addresses this obstacle by prioritizing relationship building and community decision making. The project also requires considerable research and organizing support.
We are not testing any research models in Newark. The Newark Public Arts project is one of several projects under the Claiming the Visual Narrative initiative and will be the first project that will use our proven research-based methodology to facilitate a public arts project. Our methodology for interdisciplinary strategic arts engagement has been applied to fabricate and execute several national advocacy campaigns such as:
In addition, our methodology is currently being utilized in our Film Documentary Project, which is a collaboration with The Confined Arts and the Newark Community Solutions Center (Center for Court Innovation). The project aims to bring Newark and Harlem community residents together to explore solutions to issues within their communities through discussions that are centered on the different experiences, perspectives, and identities of community residents. This workshop will explore complex community relationships and issues related to social and emotional safety and well-being, and propose co-created solutions to the following topic: Undoing Gender Stereotypes and Societal Norms in Black and Indigenous Communities of Color. You can click here to learn more about how our methodology is currently being utilized throughout the Claiming the Visual Narrative Initiative.
The Claiming the Visual Narrative Initiative executes its mission of targeting and undoing systemic oppression in popular culture in the form of community misrepresentation by forming Community Convening Cohorts (CCC). The CCCs are designed to be made up of different community stakeholders with its primary function to collaboratively conceptualize, fabricate, and install public art and media that represents the values and experiences of community members. The CCCs are designed to be formed in different spaces amongst different groups of people with the goal of using art in whatever preferred form to change public attitudes about individuals and communities impacted by the criminal legal system and inform representational policy solutions.
TCA is an outside organization working with the local Newark community, and has to build trust with community partners to assure that the project reflects the voices, leadership, and priorities of the Newark community. The design of the project addresses this obstacle by prioritizing relationship building and community decision making. The project also requires considerable research and organizing support.
We are not testing any research models in Newark. The Newark Public Arts project is one of several projects under the Claiming the Visual Narrative initiative and will be the first project that will use our proven research-based methodology to facilitate a public arts project. Our methodology for interdisciplinary strategic arts engagement has been applied to fabricate and execute several national advocacy campaigns such as:
- The Viral Monologues: COVID and Incarceration, a partnership between TCA, 24 Hour Plays and several other organizations culminating in twelve filmed monologues that raise national public awareness of the conditions of incarceration amidst the pandemic. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
- 132 Calls, an artivism project made in collaboration with the Chicago Community Bond Fund that lended voice and visibility to the injustice of wretched conditions amidst the pandemic in Cook County Jail. This effort in combination with the sustained work of the Coalition the End Money Bond contributed to the passing of the Pre-trial Fairness Act which abolishes the use of cash bond in the state of Illinois. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
In addition, our methodology is currently being utilized in our Film Documentary Project, which is a collaboration with The Confined Arts and the Newark Community Solutions Center (Center for Court Innovation). The project aims to bring Newark and Harlem community residents together to explore solutions to issues within their communities through discussions that are centered on the different experiences, perspectives, and identities of community residents. This workshop will explore complex community relationships and issues related to social and emotional safety and well-being, and propose co-created solutions to the following topic: Undoing Gender Stereotypes and Societal Norms in Black and Indigenous Communities of Color. You can click here to learn more about how our methodology is currently being utilized throughout the Claiming the Visual Narrative Initiative.
I don't mean in any way to detract from your project, but many people have come to study Newark, or test out ideas, and then just left immediately after they got what they wanted. There is a long history of political activism, community engagement, and showing up in the arts community that is quite special and unique to Newark, so I am left wondering how committed this project is for the long-term, not just for an arts exhibition and film festival.
- The Confined Arts conducts work at a national level and we are fully committed to the communities that we collaborate with, even after the life span of the initial collaborative project. This is not our first project in Newark and it will not be our last. It is important to us all that by participating in this project, it will create lasting relationships with different community stakeholders in Newark to increase the likelihood for future collaborations amongst Newark stakeholders focused on targeting misrepresentation in Newark in areas not limited to aesthetics but also representation in law and policy.
