GRAC initiates Creative & Courageous Community Conversations Series
MT. STERLING, KY: The Gateway Regional Arts Center and its Board of Directors today announced the start of a new collection of arts events that will tackle sensitive or challenging social issues through the power of storytelling, artistry, and community. The Creative & Courageous Community Conversations Series aims to bring together a diverse cohort of community members with a wide range of beliefs and backgrounds to discuss tough issues through different artistic mediums.
“For too long, politics have been divisive in our communities. It has gotten to the point where we can’t have civil dialogue when we disagree,” shared GRAC Executive Director Jordan Campbell. “Through this series, we hope to be the solution that can help folks see the humanity in those with whom we don’t see eye to eye on challenging topics. Politics and social media have torn our communities apart. We hope that art and creativity will heal divides and allow us to engage in healthy conversations across lines of difference and, perhaps, we will walk away with more in common than we have in opposition.”
The Creative & Courageous Community Conversations Series will intentionally bring together people who have differing views on potentially divisive, socially relevant issues. “We want there to be vigorous disagreement - we are designing this so that it is a way to share empathy across viewpoints,” continued Campbell. “That friction is where we find common ground and are reminded that care for community is more important than the little things that divide us.”
The series will include quarterly events that utilize a variety of art forms - theatre, dance, music, and visual art - to inspire community discussions around a given topic. “Everyone - and we do mean everyone - is welcome at this event. We want people to leave with greater understanding of the worldview from those with whom they don’t agree, and what is a more powerful way to do that than through the arts?” said Campbell.
The first installment of the Creative & Courageous Community Conversations Series will commence in October 2022. More details will be released in the coming weeks.
###