Originally posted on the “Creative Village” Substack

While here in Bratislava I decided being alone was, of course, something I wanted to diminish every now and then. In my research for my work I had come across the International Women’s Club. I have met some very intelligent and kind women. Some work for the embassies here, or their husbands do. Or they are Slovakian women who want to engage with foreigners. They are a very active and very giving organization. I have felt truly welcomed by them.

I was asked to give a presentation on what led to my being in Slovakia. Which is a pretty common question I receive – “why Slovakia?” They wanted to know my background and the trajectory of my career/life experiences to being here. It was an interesting exercise to look back and look forward in context of where I stand today. 

So I explained how my journey of laying in the grass at 15 and doing my first “relaxation exercise” led to working on Star Trek and then running to Italy and finally being in Slovakia. Where I have the time to focus myself on what is now my passion – Art for Social Renewal and its connection to Community Renewal International.

In 30 minutes you can’t really explain the underlying foundation of work that is based in over 20 years or so of experimentation and implementation. But what struck me from one of the ladies was her need to diminish the arts in general as frivolous to the challenges we are facing in the world. And my work here, specifically, as not directly addressing those challenges. “What about the Roma children, and human nature? Life today is a reality we must deal with.” That sort of thing.

First, I have to say with regard to the Roma children of Slovakia…. or of elsewhere in Europe…. there are so many people doing great art and social work with marginalized communities. It’s unquestionably important. They are doing much better work than I ever could. They are impacting lives. And I have many dear friends who have been doing work in this area for decades. Because there are always more and more people marginalized in our society. Or groups who remain marginalized. And the Roma remain that way. I contend that if all of our work only focuses on the Roma (or any marginalized group) we are missing the problem… which is the lack of connection between them and the rest of the community. We are missing the opportunity to work toward our wholeness.

Art for Social Renewal focuses on the ground under this kind of work… the ground that currently continues growing conditions where people are marginalized. The ground that should, in “reality,” be connecting us all. That’s what I’m interested in…. how are we nourishing that soil of connection? It’s not fluff or fantasy, it is very serious and grounded in its research, intention and action. It comes across to the community as fun and playful. And it absolutely should. Because a life connected to others should be lived and experienced joyfully. Why have we forgotten that?

Why do we continue to diminish this possibility in our communities and our world? Why are we so quick to devalue it? THAT’s a question I think we should be asking. 

This work is about bringing us back to a Common Fire – no matter our background. We all must be reminded of where we come from and what we need in order to grow a healthier more connected future. How do we, in 2024, intelligently incorporate what we know to be true about our evolutionary needs while respecting where we have come to as contemporary beings?

We look at indigenous peoples who are still living in harmony with themselves and nature, who are innately creative in their approach to life and each other, as primitive. Yet we in the “modern world” are isolated from one another and killing each other and our only home with greater and greater efficiency. I don’t think you can get more primitive than that. We have a great deal to learn from those who came before us. And those who preserve their traditions and approach to living. Who gathered around the fire to celebrate each other and life for the sake of the health of the tribe and its future. 

We are all the tribe.

Creativity, in its purest essence, allows us to connect to something greater than ourselves. A creative experience inspires the possibility for beauty to emerge, to be appreciated. It requires that we are generous with ourselves and others. And it allows for empathy to be seeded in our hearts and therefore our view and resulting actions. Exposure to and engagement with the arts allows us to become more whole human beings. To create healthier relationships and – together – healthier communities involving all who live within them.

It’s so easy to write these words. How many times have I read similar ones elsewhere – how many times have you? But we must keep repeating them – turning them over and over – until we find our way back to that common fire. And when we do arrive there, we must construct it as a meeting place which celebrates the only tribe that matters — the human tribe. 

How do we do that? 

I see a path through Art for Social Renewal. I think the intentionality of our work is paramount. I woke up today with a clarity that artists declaring a direct connection to the mission of Community Renewal International in their work allows the ‘mission to become the purpose’ of what is created: To care together to make our world a caring family where every single human being is safe and loved. Work that turns this statement upside down and inside out, that chews on it until it became a part of the maker, would get us to the warmth of those flames. It doesn’t have to be the Arts for Social Renewal approach, it just has to be consciously connected to the purpose, the only purpose that matters now. We must become one human family. And this “light” thing called ‘the arts’, has the tools, the walking stones, the handrails and the illuminated pathways to assist in getting us there.