Community as a Form of Expression

By Will Carnes
Creativity + Social Change
University of Connecticut

I came up with community as a form of expression because I thought this metaphor was really important. A community is a group of people living in one place, by definition. To me that definition is plain and paints a picture of just people living their own lives, not interacting with each other. I believe every community should get together at least once a month to interact and express themselves whether its through music, dance, story telling or a party. Coming up with community-based projects is a great way to build connections and interact. It also builds a sense of accomplishment, the community gets a feeling that they accomplished something good. I believe this builds confidence in being able to take on even more challenging tasks in life.

In order for a community to be able to express themselves they need to make a change. A community that is plain and ordinary is one where neighbors do not interact, merely just live their lives in their homes and go about their own business. Change needs to be made and a leader needs to emerge so he/she can engage the community. The leader should be enthusiastic so community members get hyped up and excited to make a change and be proactive.

Once the community is engaged to make a change they can begin to communicate with each other about ideas to be creative in the community. Setting up town gatherings is a good way to voice ideas. It doesn’t have to be formal it could be a block party where community members can come socialize while sharing ideas of what they could improve in the community.

After setting up ideas of how to change the community for the better, its time to take action. A goal is hopefully going to be reached and members of the community are working together to get to that goal. Relationships are being built during the process and trust is being formed. These are essential tools to form a productive, creative, and expressive community. Before you know it the community that was once plain and distant from each other now consider each other family.

Working together as one unit or a family to create positive projects in your community will create a sense of self worth and happiness. Helping people always makes me feel good because I made a positive difference. The people really appreciate it and remember that you helped them. Someday they will help you when you are in need. Everyone can start by helping people in their community and then branch out and help other communities.

I also wanted to share a video that I think is pure creativity. I found this video about a year and half ago and it's a couple of guys on the streets of Oakland dancing in the rain. What struck me as incredible was they were freestyle dancing on the street for fun. They weren't doing in front of a crowd for attention or on a stage. They were just trying to express their creativity. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. They have pretty incredible moves! I talk about expressing yourself in your community, I thought this was a good example.