by Sabrina Zarco & Randi Romo

Art and the creative process are life. Using this philosophy, Arkansas-based Center for Artistic Revolution (CAR) respectfully connects people to one another, encouraging them to see past prejudices and discover ways to work together for the benefit of their communities. CAR joins art and creativity with community education, organizing, and advocacy, believing that this holistic combination helps to bring down personal defenses and increase the capacity–and desire–to see beyond cultural norms, preconceived ideas and deeply held prejudices.

Both our organization's name and its acronym have meaning and raise discussion. Some people question what art and cultural work have to do with creating social change. Others fear art and believe it has no place in activism. Still others are concerned about the word "revolution," afraid to be too radical. Some say that the word "center" suggests a single location, not our statewide mission: promoting fairness and equality for all Arkansans through education, community organizing, art/creativity, cultural work and advocacy.

As for our acronym, CAR moves around the state, helping make our part of the world a better place. CAR helps us cross bridges of understanding to discover the connectedness we as humans share.

To achieve that mission, we the members of CAR ask ourselves many questions: How do we get people to stay in an organizing initiative for the long term? How do we engage, move and challenge people? How do we build community and empower community members? How do we build understanding and alliances between diverse communities? How do we make change that lasts? The answers to these questions include structured organizing, education and advocacy tactics-as well as art, creativity and cultural work.

CAR defines cultural work in the context of intentionally utilizing art and creativity as a way to speak about issues of injustice and to convey messages of hope and change. It is also a means to build relationships among diverse communities.
CAR's conception of cultural work grows out of our founders' heritage, as Chicanas, artists, and activists. The organization's underpinnings came in the 1960s and ‘70s, when Teatro Campensino used art and creativity as a way to organize. Performing on the back of a flatbed truck with impromptu actors, the theatre troupe told the story of grape pickers who worked under unfair conditions for low pay, and with no benefits. The actors used music, songs, poetry, art installations and murals to tell the story of the people's struggle for justice. Through such cultural work, Teatro Campesino helped to educate laborers about their rights–and was central to struggles to win those rights.

Today, the artists and activitsts in CAR still refuse to separate art from their daily lives, instead making personal and political connections. For example, while we were painting a mural for a gay pride event in the summer of 2006 in Little Rock, CAR members facilitated casual, non-threatening dialogue among youth and elders, gay and straight, African Americans, whites, Latinas and those with disabilities. Conversation flowed as all worked together on the mural. As questions arose, honest responses created a space where all felt respected and included. The process of creating art together generated a common goal and set the stage for building allies.

Many people hold a limited view of the contribution art and artists make toward community organizing, seeing artists as peripheral to the real work of political action. In other words, they think artists are great for making posters for demonstrations, or for warming up a rally with songs, but that is where it ends.

However, CAR celebrates all forms of art and the creative process, including music, dance, spoken word, visual arts, films, cooking and storytelling. Furthermore, art and artists bring a critical perspective to political dialog and provide tools to effectively organize for change. Art reaches into your spirit and stirs the passion. It facilitates a connection within, and this is the place where long-term change happens.

CAR's “We the People Project” illustrates how we join creativity with organizing in a way that helps overcome personal and institutional barriers and prejudices. The last census showed that there were over 4,500 lesbian and gay couples representing every single county in the state. Yet Arkansas is overwhelmingly rural, and many of these couples feel isolated and do not participate in the political process.

For the project, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Arkansans created “bodies” out of pink wooden triangles; each body contains a biography and statement of the person depicted. On the head of the body is a photo of an Arkansas LGBTQ person. Some of the heads do not have faces, only a statement about why many people are afraid to show their face; family and jobs are the foremost reasons.

CAR created We The People to educate Arkansans about the LGBTQ community and as part of our efforts to oppose the state's anti-gay marriage amendment, enacted in 2004. The show has been viewed by thousands of Arkansans, with appearances at many locations around Arkansas, including the state capitol and the Political Film Festival in Little Rock, town hall meetings in Conway, and Liberty Fest, a celebration of Arkansas’ GLBT community, allies, and families. We have taken it to Hendrix College, the University of Central Arkansas and the University of Arkansas.
“We The People” has been a powerful tool in helping to dismantle myths and stereotypes about the LGBTQ community. It reminds Arkansans that this community is comprised of their relatives, friends, co-workers and neighbors.

Another CAR effort, Poets 4 Peace, began in 2004 in observance of the first anniversary of the war in Iraq. Annually, this Little Rock event brings together a diversity of poets, a gathering that is far deeper than the black-and-white paradigm that so often represents racial diversity in Arkansas. It features poets who are African-American, Latino/a, American-Indian, white, Jewish, Christian, indigenous, male, female, lesbian, gay, transgender, heterosexual, young and old. About 45 people took part in 2004, the second year about 128 people attended, and we expect a larger audience this year.

Most poets write from their identity, and Poets 4 Peace presents their diverse voices to the audience. The first year it seemed that this made some audience members uncomfortable at times. Yet no one left and the dialog about what people had heard was incredible. This event talks about peace from the perspective of war's impact on our lives and country, and on those in other countries, and it provides for a critical analysis of peace in both personal and community identity.

During the 2004 presidential elections, CAR wanted to encourage our community to think about the real "state of the nation." For example, Arkansas ranks 45th in the nation regarding the well-being of children. The state ranks 37th in regard to education. Although Arkansas is Wal-Mart's home base, 3,971 of its employees here are on public assistance, costing the state over $16 million dollars annually. The Work Environment Index ranks Arkansas 49th in terms of pay, employment opportunities, employee benefits, percentage of low-income workers, fair treatment between genders, and the ability of employees to unionize.

As a way to reach out to others with facts like these, CAR members created giant skeleton puppets. Each skeleton holds statistics concerning health care, employment, the number of soldiers killed in Iraq, etc. To complete the image, CAR members painted their faces and held signs that said, “Think and Vote.” This dramatic street theatre display popped up on various street corners in North Little Rock and Little Rock.

CAR's definition of cultural work as an integral part of how we organize for change has led us to bring creativity to the subject of our state's changing demographics, with the increase of Latinos, many of whom are Mexican. Some elected leaders cultivate a strong anti-immigrant sentiment, most of which targets Mexicans, despite the fact that the Arkansas immigrant community is comprised of many different groups. Since 1990 Arkansas has had the second-fastest-growing Hispanic population, at 437 percent. (The state is still only about 4 percent Hispanic, compared with the 14 percent national average.)
To explore cultural differences and similarities, CAR members of Mexican heritage created a large community altar for Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, a holiday observed primarily by Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. This event, held in collaboration with Little Rock Unitarian Church, brought together a diverse group of Arkansans to learn about a tradition of one immigrant group. At the same time, it dismantled many of the mistaken assumptions they had held and counteracted misinformation that they heard about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Following a question-and-answer period, participants ate a dinner featuring traditional Mexican foods.

With art, creativity and cultural work, CAR helps us all envision what might otherwise be invisible. Art opens the doors to unlimited possibilities; it can move a person to take a step toward another who is not the same and to see the human side of things. It facilitates the understanding that we all have some basic wants: to life with dignity and respect, jobs that pay fair wages, clean air and water, enough to eat, safe and affordable housing, access to quality education and medical care. Through the creative process, we can have hard discussions and still stand in solidarity. For those of us at CAR, it's not a revolution without the art.

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Sabrina Zarco and Randi Romo are founding members of the Center for Artistic Revolution, which received a grant from Resist this year. For more information, contact CAR, PO Box 2300, Little Rock, AR 72114; www.artisticrevolution.org.