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Columbia College (Chicago, IL)
Office
of Community Arts Partnerships
Summary
In 1998, the newly formed Office of Community Arts Partnerships (OCAP)
at Columbia College Chicago embarked on a project designed to develop
effective and sustainable partnerships between the college and the local
community. As a result, OCAP gave birth to the Urban Missions Program,
a collaborative effort to facilitate long-term partnerships, embodied
in three program areas: Community Partnerships, School Partnerships, and
Cultural Partnerships. Each program area creates dozens of high-quality,
arts-based programs for young people each year.
The Practice
The founding partners of Urban Missions included four community-based
organizations (CBOs) and six Columbia academic departments. From the outset,
the Urban Missions partners recognized that building solid relationships
between the campus and community partners needed to precede projects and
activities. For the first nine months, the partners met twice a month
for four hours each time. During these meetings, the partners learned
to articulate honestly their respective values and their hopes for what
might come from a true partnership. Using a classic assets-based needs
assessment, the partners were able to focus on what resources and talents
they were able to bring to the effort. The partners intentionally refrained
from initiating any specific projects during this stage of the process
in an effort to focus on the trust-building process. This enabled the
partners to develop general approaches to dealing with difficult issues
instead of ignoring them until they surfaced later on in the context of
a particularly charged issue or project.
During this period, for example, there was honest dialogue about how
issues of power and money would be handled in the partnership. The community
partners acknowledged the historic mistrust that they had toward the elite
nature of local higher education institutions. At the same time, campus
representatives acknowledged their self-interest in wanting students to
benefit from the opportunity for first-hand experience that could only
happen with cooperation from the community. The partners strongly agreed
that a representative body of campus and community partners would make
budget decisions for the partnership.
The high standard for collaboration and honest dialogue that was set
during the Program’s start-up phase has continued to infuse the
Partnership as it has launched its many successful initiatives. One example
that illustrates the depth of partnership that has been established is
a three-way project between Columbia College’s Theater Department,
Free Street (a community-youth theater organization), and Association
House of Chicago (a social service agency). The three partners designed
a teaching-practicum class in community arts, which was co-taught by a
Columbia professor and Free Street’s artistic director. The project
enabled college students from the Theater Department to benefit from the
community expertise of someone with years of experience working with community
youth (Free Street’s Artistic Director). At the same time, Columbia
students were given the opportunity to practice teaching in the community
setting with the high school students from Association House’s alternative
school.
Effectiveness
This is just one of dozens of examples of projects that have flourished
from the solid foundation that was built at the Program’s outset.
The Program now has expanded to include seven CBOs and over a dozen Columbia
Departments. Monthly planning meetings, with all the Urban Mission partners
represented, continue to be the primary place where honest conversation
takes place and tough project-related decisions are made. The partners
have learned that issues of money, power, and self-interest have to be
addressed continuously if the Partnership is going to remain authentic.
For example, as projects have developed that involve paying local community
artists and Columbia faculty members, the partners have had to deal with
the inequity in pay scales that exist between the Columbia professors
and community artists. In this case, provisions have been made to create
an equal pay scale as a way to demonstrate that the partners value each
others work equally. This is just one of many examples where the solid
trust between the community and college has enabled this effort to grow
and develop into a successful partnership model.
Resources
More information about OCAP’s programs can be found on its website.
To request a copy of REACH, OCAP’s semiannual newsletter, contact
Ann Wiens at 312.344.8878 or awiens@colum.edu.
Contact Information
Paul Teruel
Director of Community Partnerships
Office of Community Arts Partnership
Columbia College Chicago
600 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605
Phone: 312-344-8871
pteruel@colum.edu
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