The Atlanta Regional Commission hosted the first in a series of revamped “cultural forums” at the Onward Theatre Feb.13 aimed at creating a “regional dialogue” between artists who are LGBTQ+, disabled, Black, Indigenous and people of color.
Since 2013, ARC has produced the so-called “cultural forums” that tackle topics under the organization’s purview. The commission’s culture and community design program falls under the region’s community development umbrella, which works on housing, economic prosperity and pedestrian-friendly areas.
The ARC, one of 12 regional commissions in the state, heads up regional transportation planning, aging services, water resource management, workforce development and homeland security. It’s a broad organization, but a new approach to arts and culture looks to weave creativity into all aspects of the ARC.
Roshani Thakore joined the ARC in 2023 as the head of the Community Engagement and Arts Program after a 2019 board adopted arts, culture and creative placemaking strategic plan pushed to redesign the long-standing forums.
Thakore said the original model didn’t do enough to center community engagement, particularly with marginalized communities.
“There were a lot of people that went that already have access to our resources, more of the traditional bigger name arts institutions,” Thakore said. “It’s our responsibility to bring all these other voices that don’t have access to those resources and to hear them and help create space for them to make their voices bigger.”
First, Thakore had to engage people who were previously left out of major arts and culture conversations. She opted to remodel the forums into a more informal, conversational event. The first forum on Feb. 13 brought a small group to a potluck dinner with icebreakers and community agreements to set the stage for future events.
Each artist suggested a different tenet to the agreements, like “accessibility” or “sense of play.”
Thakore’s main goal is to bring artists and culture bearers into the region’s planning processes since those are often the people most “connected to the community.”
Planning processes are used for community development projects like the “Livable Centers Initiative,” transportation development and climate resilience work.
Thakore said the processes are happening “everywhere, all the time” in ways people may not realize. Each process requires community engagement, though.
The community engagement and arts team brought an organizing approach to revitalize the forums. Thakore previously worked as a cultural organizer for the Asian American Advocacy Fund and a cultural work manager for the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon.
“[They’re] super basic, relational kinds of organizing strategies,” Thakore said.
Still, Thakore and her team had to completely rethink the way cultural forums worked, so they prioritized transparency and communication.
ARC senior communications manager Paul Donsky said the commission’s scope can be leveraged by Thakore and her team.
“ARC is really uniquely positioned for this role because we are a regional organization,” Donsky said.
The forums are one part of a newly integrated arts and culture planning process. Thakore and Donsky said the field used to be an “afterthought” for the region, with only an occasional mural tossed into an existing plan.
“This is flipping the whole process, reversing it and having them actually embedded from the beginning,” Donsky said.
With an integrated planning process, arts and culture will cover a large scope of projects.
“Anything that is really tangible is another part of our community development department,” Thakore said.
But all of the projects require some level of community engagement, which is where the forums come in. Thakore aims to connect so-called “culture bearers” with people working on community development projects.
“For cultural forums, we want people to be in relationships with each other,” Thakore said. “We want people to know what the different concerns and needs for their communities are, to be able to ideate and strategize together.”
The new approach is part of what Donsky calls a “holistic” approach to the region.
“What [Thakore] and her team are doing are going to make all of our planning work out better,” Donsky said. “When you truly engage the community, that just makes all of our planning work better, a better quality of life.”
For Thakore, it’s about building a space where artists feel comfortable and confident.
“That comes from more of a social practice and socially engaged art kind of philosophy of not just aesthetics, but what the artists actually do for our communities,” Thakore said.
Scare quotes? so-called “cultural forums” ? What’s going on here?