Books by Arlene
“Living at The Crossroads: Culture, Politics, Spirituality”
Arlene Goldbard is a writer, speaker and consultant whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics and spirituality. Her blog and other writings may be downloaded from her Web site www.arlenegoldbard.com. She was born in New York and grew up near San Francisco. Her most recent book, New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development was published by New Village Press in November 2006. She is also co-author of Community, Culture and Globalization, an international anthology published by the Rockefeller Foundation and Clarity, a novel. Her essays have been published in In Motion Magazine, Art in America, Theatre, Tikkun, and many other journals. She has addressed many academic and community audiences in the U.S. and Europe, on topics ranging from the ethics of community arts practice to the development of integral organizations. She has provided advice and counsel to hundreds of community-based organizations, independent media groups, and public and private funders and policymakers including the Rockefeller Foundation, Global Kids, the Independent Television Service, Appalshop and dozens of others. She is currently focusing on three projects: a book about artists working to heal the prison-industrial complex; a film about Rabbi Arthur Waskow; and a campaign to create Cultural Recovery for the U.S., including a “new WPA” for artists. She serves as President of the Board of Directors of The Shalom Center.
New in the Arlene Goldbard Column
When Worlds Converge
By now, I have tried out approximately one gazillion concepts, arguments and images intended to convey my passion for art’s public purpose. Some have great persuasive power and some, despite my deep conviction of their merit, don’t quite get over.
Sometimes, these are like beloved children who learn to walk or talk behind schedule: you just [...]
The Disappointment System
My friends tend to a few views of President Obama and the Democrats at the end of Year One. They seem different, but actually, all are part of the Disappointment System, my new name for the combination plate of hurt and response which has become our national dish. As is so often the case, what [...]
Read more…Embracing The Outsider
My ancestors were nomads and refugees, and I have carried on that tradition. Sometimes I think I was born packed and ready to go. I no longer speak the language of infants, so I can’t quote my exact thoughts, but I have the distinct impression that the synapses that fired when I first opened my [...]
Read more…Necessary Beauty
In ordinary conversation, beauty can be an answer: what nourishes the spirit, kindles desire, soothes the heart? But in the more self-referential realms of the art world, it is a question. Critics and curators ask if “mere beauty” is a mask for deeper truth. Does it snag the eye, diverting attention from the true essence [...]
Read more…Art and Public Purpose
The Cause: You’re Beautiful site is one expression of a movement I care deeply about, which includes countless artists in every nation who place their gifts at the service of the causes they cherish. Some of them do it by making art about issues; and some by collaborating with non-artists to create work that expresses [...]
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