Words to Live By: Community Engagement
The leadership of Red Clay Dance Company explores themes and topics inspired by various words that resonate among its artists, students, administrators, and supporters. We have been offering examples in a series of stories this fall and have asked for your responses to them as well.This month, we conclude with
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
actively attract and occupy the attention, interests, and voices of our glocal community and involve them in the work of artivism to address our collective needs and interests
What does community engagement mean to Red Clay Dance Company?
Vershawn Sanders-Ward, Founder and Artistic Director
Community engagement starts with our commitment to being deeply rooted in the communities we serve. Rather than situating the company elsewhere in Chicago, we made a commitment to serve the South Side of the city, so our offices and program space had to be on the South Side. To engage means to come to a shared understanding about what each person values, needs, and dreams for and then finding synergy and connectivity in these areas to begin building and working towards a common goal. Community engagement is about respect and care for the communities you are part of and allowing that understanding to guide every decision about how you build together. Red Clay Dance strongly believes that we are stronger together, and every community has value because people have value. The key to finding alignment in community-building work is honoring and celebrating the assets of every person in that community and collectively and strategically working from a place of abundance, not scarcity.
Leana Allen, Company Member
In my own words, community engagement is the gathering and exchanging of goods, services, or ideas with the people around us. I think this has been necessary to ensure the survival and well-being of human society since at least the age of great civilizations. Red Clay serves as a hub in which the black community can gather and learn about issues of social justice, and how to express oneself as an artivist, then walk away with new movement tools. And no one is left behind. I think our Making the Artivist program at Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center is a good example. Being part of these programs has taught me so much. I’ve been able to fill the roles of instructor, student, and employee and learn at all levels. I’m so happy to have been connected to this community, which has engaged and encouraged me to dig deeper.
Cynthia Cornelius, Red Clay Dance Academy Coordinator
Community engagement has many definitions across many disciplines. At its root, I believe community engagement is the process by which an individual and/or an organization builds ongoing permanent relationships for social benefits and positive outcomes. Building a trust and understanding the core values and issues of the community are essential to building this relationship. Key to this process is listening, giving the community a voice, empowering and ensuring they have access to relevant, valued social settings and activities.
I have spent more than 25 years as executive director of a nonprofit alternative education school funded by the state of Illinois, designing and implementing creative programs to meet the needs of disadvantaged youth and adults in underserved communities in Chicago and around the state of Illinois. I continue to use these skills as a teaching artist for the award-winning Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, and as Red Clay Dance's new Academy Coordinator. I am passionate about the arts and have been successful at motivating youth and adults to become positive, participating citizens through theater arts, writing, storytelling, music, and dance. I have taught and learned from students, community members, teaching artists, board members, and politicians that art is relevant, educational, engaging, influential, and changes opinions within communities about what is possible.
Anjelica Masson, Brand Ambassador
To me, community engagement means the relationship one organization has with the people in the neighborhood. I believe Red Clay does a fantastic job stretching itself and its resources to grow their community and mission, as well as creating a safe space for beliefs and voices to be heard through dance and art—which also might be called “artivism.”
Anthony Vega, Board Member,
Community engagement is a critical component of any organization that places the community at the center of the organization’s mission. It is intentionally placing community as a valued partner in the growth and success of a company or organization. For me, the growth and success of a company relies on effective community engagement. Bringing our community into the work we do ensures we are providing a social benefit. In turn, our community allows us the opportunity to grow as a company. Community engagement isn’t just a motto, a box to check for funders; it is a value we practice every day.Community engagement is at the center of the great work Red Clay Dance creates. From CPS partnerships, affordable dance classes for South Side youth, and participation in After School Matters to its renowned partnerships with professionals in the field, Red Clay connects with its community at every opportunity. At its core, Red Clay Dance Company creates opportunities to engage community youth through its CPS partnerships and affordable class programs and provides a service that has benefited its Washington Park community. As Red Clay grows, its partnership with the community only strengthens. Community engagement is lived and practiced every day and is the reason Red Clay continues to grow and succeed.
We’d like to know what COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT means to you! Please email
and share your thoughts with us.
