Episode 9: Erik Takeshita - Creative People Power

Dear Listener: In this podcast Erik describes agency and connection as essential elements for emergence of creative people power. If you are interested in exploring this idea further here are two resources that might be of interest.

Creative People Power Web Site & Report @ Springboard for the Arts

Small Towns, Big Stories: Arts-based Community Development Makes its Mark in Southwest Minnesota - A Center for the Study of Art and Community Blog Post

Threshold Questions & Juicy Quotes

What do the challenges inherent to equitable philanthropy, light rail construction and the sanctity of sacred space have in common?

Art and Culture exists everywhere... it needs to be be nurtured. You know, there is solar power, because the sun exists, or there is wind power because the wind exists. And what we need to do is create the capacity to harness and transmit that (cultural) power that exists.

Why art and culture in these challenging times?

I would say that art and culture is... most essential when we as individuals, and we as communities are struggling, because it's actually part of what makes us human. It's part of what creates our connections to our humanity, but also our connections to one another. But it's it can be the kind of glue that can help bind this together and common experience and inspiration and ideas.

How do human creative capacities contribute to building caring, capable, just communities

When people have hope, and agency, and they have connections, that can then lead to collective efficacy, That's a kind of a necessary underpinning for me about how change happens in communities. And what's interesting to me is that art and culture becomes an easy on ramp for this, it becomes a way to practice some of those skills. it becomes a way to help give people a sense of agency and a sense of hope.

Transcript

Bill Cleveland: So, what do the challenges inherent to equitable philanthropy, light rail construction and the sanctity of sacred space have in common? Well, according to Eric Takeshita, they all meet in a place he refers to as creative people power. Now, Eric is one of those rare individuals who make an impression and a difference by calling upon both the head and the heart. I spoke to him about his life's path in early 2020, just before the COVID justice/stew began to boil over. 

From the Center for the Study of Art and Community, this is Change the Story, Change the World, a chronicle of art and transformation. I'm Bill Cleveland.

Part One: Shoulders, and Ladders. 

BC: You are the first person that I have ever seen use one of those back scratchers. Yeah. 

Erik Takeshita: Oh yeah, I love these. I have one here on my desk, I use it all the time.

BC: That is wonderful. That is 

ET: I have two, I have one here and one upstairs.

BC: There you go. Okay, a true addiction. So, I'll just start. You've had a long and a storied career in a world that spans many realms, some of which don't normally come together, our community development, storytelling, art making being a potter. So, I'm just going to ask, how do you describe what you do in the world? 

ET: I’ll try to answer your question by naming what I'm most interested in. And my passion is this nexus of, of how art and culture can be leveraged to create a healthy, more equitable, and sustainable world and planet and community. I have been very, very fortunate to have had a number of different platforms from which to pursue that passion. I've had the opportunity to work in the community development sector, I've had the opportunity to work in the arts community, I've had a chance to be an artist, I've had a chance to work in philanthropy, I've had a chance to work in government. But what I would say is that through the through line for all that work is really the, for me, it's this intersection of how art and culture really ties to building healthier and stronger communities, particularly within historically marginalized communities, communities of color, in particular, and other historically disinvested [communities]. So that's what I do, right, I do work, but really, it's about supporting those communities, by helping them tap into that the power of art culture that I believe exists in every person in the community. And really trying to help support and facilitate the unleashing and channeling of that energy.

I think one of the important things I will mention is that there's no such thing as an art desert, which is sometimes just false. Art and Culture exists everywhere and is available to everyone. Perhaps it needs to be supported somehow seems to be nurtured or it needs to be brought out. But I think that it exists, and it needs to be celebrated and facilitated. I think it's much like, you know, kind of how there is solar power, because the sun exists, or there was wind power because the wind exists, and what we need to do is perhaps sometimes create the capacity to harness and transmit that power that exists. I want to give credit to Helicon Collaborative and Springboard for the arts, because those are ideas that come out of their credit People Power Report. So, this idea that the people power that exists, and that we just need to tap into it. And I very much believe in it. 

BC: So, there are some people who would say that we live in a very challenging time, and the issues of the day are daunting. Why would something like art and culture be a primary resource for addressing these kinds of things? Why art and culture? 

ET: I guess I would actually challenge the first part of that statement, which I mean, should be sure we live in challenging times, relative to most many of our lifetimes. Sure, things are kind of interesting right now in terms of geopolitics or climate change. But when we look back at the 20th century, we go back to the civil rights, the Vietnam protests, you know, Kent State, you go back further to World War Two and the Holocaust, the depression, the Great War, the flu pandemic. So that's the 20th century, right. So, I guess, I feel that we have a distorted view of history. I'm not diminishing the difficulty of the pain and suffering. I will be interested in how this era in this period plays out in history.

Second, as I would say that art and culture is always essential. And, in fact, it's perhaps most essential in most trying times. Right? It is, is perhaps the most essential when we as individuals, and we as communities are struggling, because it's actually part of what makes us human. It's part of what creates our connections to our humanity, but also our connections to one another. But it's it can be the kind of glue that can help bind this together and common experience and inspiration and ideas. So, to me, the answer is, it's not, why would we do it? It's that in those challenging times, it's the very time in which we must fight. That's, that's the path forward. That's the way that we will emerge from any challenges I think we have right is by seeking that inspiration by seeking that meaning making by seeking those connections that art and culture can uniquely help to provide. 

BC: So how did you come to this, you have a pretty clear outline, and focus for your work. I would imagine growing up there were not a lot of people doing what you're doing now. And yeah, so what's the path? 

ET: So, my path is one of a lot of luck is what I would first say. I've been very blessed, I would be quick to say that I've been given a lot of privilege in terms of the opportunities I was given by family, and by parents, and those that came before me, things in terms of education, and more had the access. I was allowed at early age to explore my creative expression, and I found that outlet through ceramics right through as I went through high school and received a scholarship to go to undergraduate offers on the court. And so, I found that as a as a vehicle for expression. Another piece of my journey, though, is being the son of a social worker, and a public-school librarian. You know, this idea of service, this idea of needing to give back.

Another piece of my journey is that I'm a fourth generation Japanese American that was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. And I grew up at a time when I thought you were the whiter black and I was neither. And it was through the arts that I was able to find my place in this geography. Right so through the work of Asian American Renaissance, and theatre, moved from fine arts to really help me find my place and identity here in this community. 

And the other piece, I would say is, and it's also that I might just by biographically for me, it was sent to private high schools and private colleges, I have been given a lot of privilege and a choice along the way to either kind of say, ‘wow, look at me, aren't I great and fortunate, and I'm going to take all my marbles and go home’, or I can make a choice to say now I have an obligation or responsibility to ensure that those are coming behind me have those types of opportunities, right? Like that is I can either pick up the letter behind me, or I can choose to step back now, for those that may be coming as future generations options.

BC: That challenging history you mentioned earlier though, World War Two, the depression, the Holocaust. These are times when selfless human cooperation made all the difference. Some would say, right now we're living in a time when sharing those ladders is really an open question. Could you say a bit more about the sense of responsibility you grew up with? 

ET: I think for me, it's really clear that I have an obligation or responsibility to kind of pay it forward. Like I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me, and I hope to be shoulders upon which future generations can stand by. My goal is to really try to carve a path, to create shelter, to whatever it may be, is needed to support those who are going to be coming in the future, because that's truly how we're going to change the world. It's not going to be one person that will do that. So, you know, my grandfather was a plantation. He was a laboror, he was a janitor and not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. My mother was the first in her generation first woman to graduate from college. My father was the first in his family. My grandmother, my mother's mother, was born a US citizen and she lost her citizenship when she married my grandfather, who immigrated when you're 16 to work in the sugarcane fields because he was an alien ineligible person. So, my grandmother was undocumented most of her life. She lost her US citizenship, when she married my grandfather, and had to take the citizenship test to get a passport so, she could leave the United States. Even though she was born a U.S. citizen. 

My mom, (their family, was relocated five different times because of highway construction, right? As you're building the freeway in Honolulu, they had a move, they were poor, and they lived in the section of town where the freeway was. And so they had to move five, she went to six different schools and seven years because they kept on having the move. So, these issues around whether it's immigration, or if it's about displacement, these are the stories of my family. Certainly, it's ever happened to me. But I but I know of these stories, I know these things happen. And they shape who I am, and they give me the sense of obligation or responsibility. If I don't speak up, if I don't do what I can, to help others and my family, I need to make sure that…I don't often use the term social justice, I guess, because I don't think it's a social justice, I think it’s about doing the right thing. But for me, that's how I come to the focus of my work. I really see the power of people centered approaches to building stronger communities. So you know, over time we've constantly over in the history we’ve build, you know, having built environments, and the ones that I believe are the strongest, healthiest, best, are those that are driven by and kind of been formed by those that are going to be looking at

BC: What a story, and as long as I've known you, a good portion of that is new to me, and I appreciate your sharing, particularly the generational layers. One of the things that is obvious is that you are not doing work separate from this story of your life and your family. It is organically connected to that lineage and your own personal life experience, which is another privilege to be able to manifest a work that rises up from who we are. 

Part Two: Agency and Connections.

BC: When I asked Erik to share a story or two about his work, it was obvious that this sense of responsibility for extending ladders that translated directly to his work with communities, he began by describing a new program he helped develop at the Bush foundation in St. Paul.

ET: The story that I would say that is top of mind for me comes from my most recent work, which was at the Bush Foundation, which is a private foundation that's located in St. Paul, that that serves North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and over 23 native nations. 

At the time, I was stood in a role as director of Community Creativity, really looking at the role of arts and culture and helping foster creative problems in the classroom. Part of it was to recognize that if we want to help make the region better for everyone, we need to help make the region better for those who do least well. And in that process, we also need to have strategies that are geared towards specific populations within that broader goal, we all will do better. So, we were able to create a program where it was really focused on and centered in black indigenous people of color, as well as in rural communities. If you look at the numbers and statistics to say, okay, well, those communities have been historically under invested. And perhaps not coincidentally, those are communities that offer statistically doing least well. You have income, wealth, health outcomes, educational outcomes.

So, the idea was to really say can we invest in culture in these communities, really, as a way of helping to achieve those other outcomes, right? For me, it was never sufficient to invest in your tech culture as much as invest in arts and culture as a way of driving towards these other community outcomes of health disparities or income disparities or educational disparities. And I named that because to me, the story is thatI believe that the only way that we can change some of these broader social ills is it has to start with the individual. An individual must believe he or she can actually make a difference in their life. And this idea that we've seen over and over that if one is in despair, and one has nothing to lose, then one doesn't actually try to make things better. So, it has to do with hope, and a belief that they can actually make a difference in their life, sometimes called agency. 

BC: So, it sounds like you're starting to do describe a theory, a story of change. If a community is going to move towards social economic health towards justice, these are the foundations. 

ET: Right? So, one has to have hope and inspiration, and one has to have agency at the individual level. [Then] you also need to have connections, right, and I've already outlined for me, like what I saw through the work of Theater MU, or at Asian American Renaissance is the power of having that sense of community that sometimes-called bonding. And finally, that when people have hope, and an agency, and they have connections, that that can then lead to collective efficacy, people can come together, and together they can try and solve. So that's a kind of a necessary underpinning for me about how change happens in communities, and what's interesting to me is that art and culture becomes an easy on ramp for them, it becomes a way to practice some of those skills, it becomes a way to help give people a sense of agency and a sense of hope. But it can be inspiring, and they can participate in things and say ‘oh, I can make a difference in the world’. But as a potter, when I throw pot, I literally take a month lump of mud, and I can transform it into you know, this coffee cup, I can drink my coffee. Like, that's kind of amazing, right. And it's been happening for millennia.

BC: Every day, throughout history and prehistory,

ET: Like humans have been doing this for thousands of years, in a similar way. Like, wow, that's really interesting, too. But I've made a difference little like, there's a physical difference that I've created in the world. So that's, to me, art and culture can help give people a sense of agency, they can also connect people in new and exciting ways. It can be fun, it can be surprising, it can be, you know, in ways that we wouldn't expect. Yet, when you dance, the light rail shuffle with the mayor, your interactions with him changed forever. But because you have a different relationship now to this human being because you participated in this article. Right. So, it can create different connections hoping that agency can then create power that can change systems. And so, to me, what we were trying to do with the Bush foundation was to support art and culture, focus on that idea of building agency help creating connections with an eye towards changing their communities for the better. We selected 40 organizations, all of which were led by or serving people of color and led by rural communities. And we said, you know, what's best we will support you will give you general operating money, we're not going to dictate what needs to be used for, and we will support you and your growth, what capacities you want to build, we will support you by going to a conference, going to do a site visit with another partner, going to training hiring a consultant, maybe we will support that in an unrestricted kind of way. 

BC: So, what's changed?

ET: Just I just heard that that the internal evaluation, we're kind of tweaking, and then we started to see the results that people are doing well, they are picking up that responsibility for themselves, in terms of helping them make those connections, and really helping to build the capacity and that you're then seeing results in the community that you're seeing, you know, more activities are happening, where they feel they're having more impact in their community. And to me, that's the promise, right? To your earlier question about, you know, in challenging times, why our culture. Well, in challenging times, there's a huge opportunity for art and culture to...