The arts and culture community in St. Louis, while far from a monolith, has plenty of common ground. After seeing arts communities work together to advance political initiatives in other cities, some St. Louisans wondered if it could work here.
And so, Citizen Artist St. Louis was born.
Stay up-to-date with the local arts scene
Subscribe to the weekly St. Louis Arts+Culture newsletter to discover must-attend art exhibits, performances, festivals, and more.
“Citizen Artist St. Louis is a group of artists, organizers and people who are actively engaged and work in the arts and culture community in St. Louis,” says Kristin Fleischmann Brewer, an artist and organizer for the group. “Ultimately our goal is to really put together the values of these constituencies and get involved in St. Louis politics and policymaking.”
“For every task force or planning committee, there should be more artists in the conversation. People should be looking to artists to address the land bank or other things that are seen as a burden—that people in the arts community see as assets.”
Fleischmann Brewer says she was inspired by the work of artists and organizers in Baltimore, and had a chance to meet with some of them at Culture/SHIFT 2016 in November. She also cites the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in Chicago. After Culture/SHIFT and some First Fridays conversations at UrbArts, she contacted about 40 artists who also work as activists, and hosted a discussion to determine if it was work that could and should be done in St. Louis.
A core group emerged, and they are working to identify community assets and concerns shared by the creative communities in the city.
The group is currently in data collection mode. A questionnaire, available online, seeks to determine the priorities of the arts and culture community. So far, the emerging priorities are arts education, gentrification and housing, funding, and transportation.
Next month, several St. Louis mayoral candidates from the sprawling field of potential replacements for Francis Slay will converge at The Luminary on Cherokee Street for a Mayoral Town Hall on Arts and Culture. Confirmed attendees at press time are: Jeffrey Boyd, Antonio French, Bill Haas, Tishaura Jones, Lyda Krewson, Jonathan McFarland, and Lewis Reed. (Check the website for updates as the event gets closer.)
The event is also supported by Critical Conversations, Critical Mass for the Visual Arts. Journalist Sylvester Brown will moderate, using responses from the online survey to guide the conversation.
“There are a lot of people working really hard to make this city a better place to live, especially in the arts and culture community,” Fleischmann Brewer says. “There is so much innovation and risk-taking going on in our neighborhoods.”
With a long-term mayor leaving his post, she says, comes energy and potential.
“What is fantastic about this election is the chance to do things differently. The office has not turned over in so long,” she says. “Maybe we can look at things differently. We can have a seat at the table.”
Fleischmann Brewer acknowledges that it would be easy to be cynical about the potential for artists to effect change in such a nuts-and-bolts way. But artists are uniquely situated for the potential grind of trying to change policy at a municipal and state level.
“Many of us artists are used to failing,” she says. “For us, it’s like, ‘why not try?’ I think it’s about getting people to think about the arts differently. It’s not just about putting a mural on a wall in a neighborhood, it’s about creative problem solving.”
Visit citizenartiststl.com for more information or to take the survey. The Mayoral Town Hall on Arts and Culture will take place on Monday, February 27 at 7 p.m. at The Luminary.
