The Art of Engagement - Lally, Eng, & Anderson
Is it possible for commercial, creative, and community interests to be in complete alignment? What happens when they are?
A new publication hits the bookstores this week. This publication has great relevance for me – it documents a project that occupied my attention for some time.
The C3 West project.
In brief, this project calls up the potential power existing in territory defined by the intersection of 3 categories of endeavour – Commerce, Creativity, & Community. The geographical focus was Western Sydney. Hence C3 West.
These areas of human effort seem to meet infrequently – and when they do it is all too often about employment rather than engagement. It is driven by more by transaction or exchange rather than by collaboration.
- A business commissions a piece of art or offers patronage/sponsorship to a local gallery,
- A company makes charitable contributions to community initiatives,
- An artist is driven to articulate some expression about a community issue,
- A community canvasses designs to enhance a public space.
The value of these connections, and others like them, are vital. Their importance should never, ever be underestimated. Nevertheless, they are exchanges that provide a momentary bridge between disparate disciplines.
What if? What if … at some time, in some space, under some conditions the drive within these 3 areas was in unison. What if the imperatives of commerce, creativity, and community were treading the same path, in the same direction, towards the same goal. What a potent time and space that could/would be.
Could we consciously create that condition, that space, that time? Wouldn’t that be interesting and, perhaps, rewarding!
It certainly was both interesting and rewarding for me.
It is a great project. The project was, and is, being followed and documented by:
- Elaine Lally, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts & Social Science, UTS
- Ien Ang, Professor of Cultural Studies, Director of Centre for Cultural Research, UWS
- Kay Anderson, Professor of Cultural Research, UWS
They have co-authored this publication:
The Art of Engagement: Culture, Collaboration, Innovation.
Click on the cover picture above or here to get more information about the book.
Click here and you can have a look at some extracts from the book, including the Foreword by the fabulous Liz Ann Macgregor, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
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