Sights of Change Cross-Sectors Proposal | Justus Harris
Justus Harris was one of four artists selected to participate in our 2020 Cross Sectors residency program focusing on the healthcare, aimed to introduce creative ways of bringing art into the service of human care.
Justus’ Sights of Change proposal was produced as part of the residency, presented at the Artivate Summit in Fall of 2020, and open to public feedback.
Elsewhere’s bi-annual Cross-Sectors research Residency embeds artists within non-arts industries to build partnerships through project research and proposals, modeling the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration.
Sight of Change Proposal
As a healthcare design strategist, artist, and educator, my focus in the Cross-Sector residency was to create a sustainable way to empower teaching artists to expand the use of art that incorporates vital and timely health information.
My proposed project, Sights of Change, will train teaching artists already in Greensboro communities how to use science to communicate critical issues through a sustainable process that I have piloted in projects at the Chicago Public Library and around the world.
Through my own experience living with type 1 diabetes, my time in the Cross-Sectors HealthCare residency, and my involvement with communities in Greensboro, I have proposed a project that uses art to help foster conversation between communities and health systems. With so much of the data from health research and personal results looking like a stock market chart, the ability of the average person to read this information is not common. My hope is that Sights of Change will empower artists to step into their urgently needed roles as visionary leaders in conversations around global and local health.
Learning about Cone’s commitment to “Being there with you”, I reached out to people outside the hospital and talked with Greensboro residents. I learned from the Collaborative Cottage Grove organization during multiple neighborhood meetings that all projects, whether science or art, need to be aligned with local leaders in order to bring about substantive changes. Consistency and showing up is the only way a program can be successful.
Sights of Change will take these insights and focus on empowering local Greensboro artists with technology, computer, and art skills to create radical conversations about the healthcare issues affecting their communities. Each project will look different depending on the community and the teaching artist; however, keeping research connected would be part of the process through multiple university partners. This would happen over a year, designed to work in a virtual environment with sustainability as the primary goal.
Summary of Project & Core Goals
Select teaching artists from across Greensboro to be trained in-person/virtually at public libraries.
Develop curriculum with teaching artists tailored to their community’s health needs and students.
Mentor 3-5 teaching artists in production of artworks building on existing techniques.
In-person and virtual exhibit of artworks locally within neighborhoods and at health centers.
Documenting curriculum and processes so that this project can remain viable for future teaching artists within Greensboro communities after the initial production year.
Success looks like communities having more resources, where artwork and discussion can become new paths for action. Success looks like providing a format for educational and therapeutic storytelling around health. Success looks like healthcare systems and healthcare workers engaging directly with the issues most important to the communities they serve.
Community Feedback for the Sights of Change Proposal
Polling - 27 votes on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)
Who are potential partners, funders or collaborators?
