DRAW ON!
By L. Jane Calverley, Grant Coordinator and Publications Editor, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum's annual two-week community celebration of drawing, Draw On!, has become a catalyst for creative thought and community engagement throughout New England. During Draw On! organizations and businesses inside and outside of the arts show their visitors/customers that drawing has the power to engage them with exhibitions, programs, staff, artists, architecture, gardens—and with other people—in new and exciting ways.

Since 1964, The Aldrich, located in Ridgefield, CT, has served the region as the foremost non-collecting museum devoted to the work of living, working artists. Draw On! was inaugurated at in 2006 by the participants in Art Lab, the museum's intensive after-school arts program for high school juniors and seniors. (The teens were inspired by The Big Draw, a successful UK program which reaches 300,000 people.) In 2007, the museum took over the program under the leadership of Carolina Pedraza, the Head of Youth and Family Programs.

The fact that drawing is an inexpensive pursuit that appeals to people of all ages and abilities is a driving force behind the program. Participation is not limited by expensive tools or props—students in urban schools, residents at senior centers, patrons in libraries, families in recreation centers, individuals at home, and even customers at a neighborhood Irish pub have all joined in! Drawing helps to develop skills and perceptions, means of communication and invention, which are transferable to any subject and helpful in a variety of settings. It is a social activity that brings people together, and a tool of engagement with the past, present, and future.

Draw On! offers the opportunity to suggest and offer activities and ideas for exciting new ways to draw and discover the world of art—such as drawing with colored tape, drawing from live models or nature, collaborative drawing, cartooning, and exploration of non-traditional drawing tools. Through the varied areas of interest in which the museum's guest artists work, participants see that drawing has many applications. The Aldrich has featured workshops and programs led by a dancer/choreographer, an architect, a toy designer/inventor, a children's book writer/illustrator, a graphic designer, editorial cartoonists, even a mathematician.

The Draw On! Artists in the Classroom component started in 2009, providing practicing artists to lead workshops in inner-city classrooms. In 2010 it served fifteen schools, with 433 children taking part. Draw On! also has the ability to interact with and enhance already flourishing Aldrich programs, such as Aldrich Buddies for preschoolers; the First Fridays monthly mixer for adults; and the culminating hands-on Saturday of art, Family Day, when drawing takes over the entire museum. The interest generated by the events taking part out in the community helps to drive attendance at the museum throughout the year.

In 2010, Draw On! attracted 114 organizations, businesses, and schools that participated on their own, or through partnerships with The Aldrich, and involved about 7,000 people in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York. Activities included group and team collaborations and inter-generational projects (such as local teens drawing with residents at a memory-care facility for seniors), with each site organizing the activities to which it is best suited, within parameters suggested by The Aldrich. The exciting thing about Draw On! is that the template can be adapted for organizations of any size and any budget. Activities may be self-guided, or led by an educator, artist, or staff at the host site. Experimentation and innovation are encouraged.

As Draw On! has grown, it has become a museum-wide effort, with curatorial, membership, development, visitor services, and education working together. It is also a year-round project, with invitations to participate sent out about six months prior to the event so that organizations and teachers can plan ahead.

A Draw On! website was launched in early 2010: www.drawon.org. All the participating locations are listed, there are links to Flickr and Vimeo—through which people and participating sites can share their ways of drawing—plus information on how to get involved. The website even allows people to make their mark on the site itself, with drawing tools and an eraser for online visitors to work with.

The Aldrich is looking forward to an even bigger Draw On! in 2011, and would like to extend an invitation to all NEMA members to get involved.

The Aldrich is located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield CT, and open noon to 5 pm. For more information, please call 203.438.4519 or visit aldrichart.org. For information on participating in Draw On! contact Michelle Friedman at drawon@aldrichart.org.

Opportunity and Great Risk: Daring to Make It Happen!
By Susan Beane, Archivist/Public Relations Coordinator and Rachel Desgrosseilliers, Executive Director, Museum L-A
Since its opening in 2004, exhibits in Museum L-A have focused on sharing the stories of Lewiston-Auburn’s industrial legacy and its inventive and hard-working people. The museum launched its Portraits & Voices oral history project, connecting the stories of people through work and community. It was an initiative that helped keep the museum relevant in innovative ways to capture the stories of today. This led to the creation of Rivers of Immigration: Peoples of the Androscoggin, an exhibit not originally planned, but deemed to be of utmost necessity for the community.
The people of L-A have a diverse heritage, but share the common link of having ancestors who immigrated to the Twin Cities because of industry. With a mission to strengthen community and connections between generations, Museum L-A is best known for serving as a bridge between the ages and building sense of place.

Newspaper headlines since 2003 have read: Two Worlds Collide in Lewiston; 4,500 Rally Against Racism; Somali Leaders Call for Mayor’s Resignation; Documentary Shows Lewiston’s Racial Divide. This press attention, spawned from the sudden influx of Somali immigrants to L-A, was not unlike that when Irish immigrants created tensions new to Lewiston in the 19th century. The Irish remained subject to suspicion and discrimination until the next wave of immigrants, the French Canadians, arrived in late 1860s.

Today, the community’s diverse heritage is on display through places such as the Italian Bakery, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, and the Franco American Heritage Center. However, the community seemed to have forgotten that language barriers, social unrest, and cultural differences were once common. By the mid-1960s, the various cultures had assimilated and a “live and let live” attitude of tolerance prevailed. Things remained static until the early 2000s, when a major wave of Somalis started arriving by the thousands. Once again, in an all-white community, there were very notable differences of color, religion, culture, dress, and speech. It was a shock to a comfortable existence. It was history repeating itself.

We seemed to have forgotten that over 100 years ago, our people burned down churches and posted “French need not apply” signs. There was a role the museum could play in remembering and celebrating our history of immigration. It was clear that this long-forgotten story of immigration needed to be dusted off. Museum L-A could be the vehicle with which to build bridges of understanding between our largest and newest group of immigrants. The museum staff agreed that it would be well worth the extra effort.

In January 2009, Colby College anthropology professor Catherine Bestemen came to the museum with her exhibit The Somali-Bantu Experience: From East Africa to Maine. The exhibit’s primary focus was to share the transition the Somali Bantus have experienced in the past two decades as they have lived through a horrific civil war and several relocations as refugees. The goal was to educate visitors on the history, culture, and current lives of Somali Bantus in the United States, many of whom have made their home in Lewiston and Auburn.

Executive Director Rachel Desgrosseilliers considered that, although the Somali exhibit was excellent, there was too much friction and strife in the community at the time for the museum to focus on the Somali population alone. The exhibit might be polarizing to the community rather than help it to heal and understand. In order for the museum to participate, it would be necessary to include it under a bigger umbrella of “immigration.”

A varied group of individuals was brought to the table to form the exhibit planning committee. This collaboration included Besteman and photographer Jorge Acero, who contributed the exhibit along with a collection of artifacts from Somalia; Anne Kemper of the Lewiston Adult Education’s English Language Learner (ELL) Program, who contributed 28 first-person accounts of immigrants from Peru, Africa, China and more; and a delegation of the Somali community, from young to elders. Through a major partnership with Bates College, cultural studies professor Elizabeth Eames, Ph.D., joined in the planning.

How did this small museum take advantage of this great opportunity to make a difference and live its mission? The board was presented with an unplanned exhibit that could turn into a great risk, especially with the museum just starting to be known in the community. It could become a public relations problem due to existing cultural tensions. In addition, this exhibit had no budget and a cost of $22,000 in a time of great economic uncertainty. After reviewing all of the above, the board emphasized that Museum L-A was to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Even though this was not budgeted for, the museum had to make it happen since it was mission-fulfilling.

The exhibit committee worked over months to produce exhibit elements and plan a multi-cultural opening. Through the generosity of many in-kind services, the museum was able to produce a sophisticated exhibit. In addition to the established Somali exhibit and personal histories of the adult education students, the exhibit included an immigration timeline reaching back to the mid-1800s, a writing wall for visitors to add their own stories of immigration, and an interactive world map. The exhibit and its associated lecture series were created with a goal to connect its community with its story of immigration in ways that:  (1) share the stories of our present-day immigrants in a sophisticated manner, (2) dispel myths and change attitudes with the intent to build bridges of understanding for our immigrant story, (3) assist the ELL program with furthering students’ English language skills by asking them to write their personal histories, (4) provide self-discovery of our own individual history of immigration, and (5) explore controversial and innovative topics through safe discussion.

Rivers of Immigration opened in October 2009 with more than 300 in attendance. Ethnic foods (Italian, Irish, French Canadian, Greek, and Somali) were served, ethnic dance and music filled the upstairs galleries, and stories were learned and shared. The 10-month exhibit hosted school groups studying community and United States history to better understand our diversity along with its economic and social impact.

Visitors were surveyed: 59% of respondents stated that the exhibit was excellent and 29% stated that the exhibit was good, 82% felt that they learned more about the diversity in their community and 65% reported a greater appreciation and understanding for our newest immigrants.

The risk was an opportunity challenged and won. The absolute risk-taking honors a board of directors that knows its identity and has the passion for its true mission-fulfilling responsibilities. It honors a staff which believes in work, dedication, and partnerships that make their communities better places for all. Our wish to all of you – may you be so lucky as to have such a team.