Creating community - Art for community development

This study examines the relationship between community art and community de velopment, Using data gathered from community-art projects in two Denver ne ighborhoods, the study describes the community-art process as a ritualistic setting for social interaction and documents the construction of neighborh ood community The author identifies the emergence of the social bonds of so lidarity and collective identity that occurred as a result of bringing neig hborhood residents together providing a shared goal, and setting a common m ood for the purpose of designing a community symbol, Drawing from tradition al models of community, the author concludes that it is possible to generat e gemeinschaft in settings where gesellschaft prevails by using community a rt as a tool for transforming a social realm. The author uncovers the uniqu e characteristics of the community-art ritual that contribute to its effect iveness at building community and also discusses several policy implication s for using community art to address social issues.