One thought is "Making Cleveland a world aerosol art capital", already posted to this forum - I think it is important to create value in what arts already are vibrant in urban communities - while it is important to bring arts into communities, it is very opportune to identify existing talent in a community/neighborhood... like with aerosol art... and help that art find markets.

Recent NEO boomeranger from Japan, Rob Hawkins, has mentioned a program in Brasil where they set up open source music and video production facilities in underprivileged neighborhoods and then sought out talented performers to come use the facilities to produce music and videos of their work, which then has global market potential. Imagine if that had been set-up at E.99th, a decade ago when Bone Thugs n Harmony were crafting their future Grammy winning sound, and consider there are many Bone-Thugs in NEO today just looking for a way to succeed here, or to get somewhere else where they can (in Bone's case, following Easy-E to LA). We know the talent is on our streets - all our streets - so let's start providing Free Open Source tools to help it become valuable... even if just "for the love of money".

When you consider the visual and cultural diversity of our urban core, versus the generally sterile environment of say Westlake, one must consider which children are underprivileged... those deprived of affluence or those deprived of diversity?

I don't believe this issue is so much one of bringing more arts and culture to underprivileged "poor" people but is one of giving those who cannot afford access to some arts greater access to the arts in their schools and the region, while driving less diverse communities to experience a broader range of the arts and culture.

Over the last year, I began to noticed these electronic billboards along the freeways, in both the innercity and suburbs.  You can see them in Cleveland along I-90 and I-77.  This technology is also displayed at Playhouse Square on a smaller scale.  The displays change at short intervals with different content.

Wouldn't it be cool to have some of these electronic billboards replace some of the old "Colt 45" billboards in the innercity, and display artistic images and wholesome community information? 

They could be placed at strategic locations in the innercity neighborhoods and entertainment districts to stimulate the mind and provide information.  They would become the new landmarks for the area, kind of like the old Goodyear sign in the valley, that was recently replaced.

I realize that the electronic billboards make their money from advertisement.  However, it may be worthwhile for the city and the Community Development Corporations to explore how much a small scale display would cost versus the benefit to the neighborhood.  If put on city property, there would be a one time cost to buy the display with an ongoing programming cost.

http://www.artheals.org/ahn_award/2002ahn_award.html

Philadelphia-based visual artist Lily Yeh is the founder, executive director and lead artist of The Village of Arts and Humanities. "The Village" is a community of volunteers and paid workers that turns abandoned lots in North Philadelphia into community gardens, arts centers and parks. "I've come to conceive of The Village as a living piece of sculpture," she explains, "in which sculpture is a communal event. The walls are shaped and touched by people's hands, including as many people from the community as possible." The Village's primary focus has always been the North Philadelphia area, but Yeh has also taken the work to Nairobi, Kenya and has plans for "Village" projects in Ecuador and China. In addition to her work with The Village, Yeh is an accomplished painter and taught art and art history at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia for thirty years. She received her MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania.

Listen to her speak here: http://slought.org/content/11025/