new directions for youth development

8/8/2019 New Directions for Youth Development

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CulturatAgentsand CreativeArts



CULTURALAGENTSAND CRF-ATIVE RT S

analysis f the project'sconceptual nderpinnings-thet is, to

explore how art is present n the project even fit wasnot conceived

asan an project.In this analysis, refer to the proiect's ducational

stratelryofvah.res lari6cation,which was developed y its precur-

sorsbasedon the ideasof participationand communicationof

meaningsand valuesasstated n Deweyanpragmatism.

Following a brief history of the proiect, I address hree questionsthat will serveasa framework or the analysis:l) How doesar t

work, according to Dewey'.s heory?(2) What worked, and what

did not? (3) And what are the replicationoppomunities or youth

develooment?

A brief bi*ory'I}Ie

pilot project staned n 2ffi1 when the Civil Action and Edu-

cationCorporation askedme to conductapplied esearch, ased n

a norm of the Constitution of Puerto Rico, which mandates hat

t}le penitentiary systembe oriented oward moral and social eha-

bilitation.f While the term rehabilintion s not definedby laq it k

defined n specializediteratureas the pr<xess f restoringan ndi-

vidual to her or his placr in societyby therapeutic,educationalorcorrectional reans."lA few problems bllow from this working

deEnition; t presupposeshe existence f valuesand ife skills for

prisoners o sustai na crime-free ivelihood. n fact, hc profile

of the prisonersand the socialconditionsof communities o which

they are restoredcould render hosesuppositions nvalid.

Based n factscorresponding o the starusof socioeconomic nd

cultural rights of the correctionalpopulation, the proiect'sobjec-

tive was o rssista group ofparticipants n defining heir owl place

in society.Assisunceconsisted f providing participantswork and

education.The work was o improve he environmental onditjons

of a valuable pacen the ir own community:a deterioratedwo-

acrewoodedareawithin thc propertyofAngelesCustodios, local



AULA \IF,RDF]

job and an undedyingcurriculum o facilitate process f values

clarification.

The proiect is basedn the Manuel A. Pdrezc'ommunirya half-

century-old publichousingproiectsuffering iom a high incidence

of crime. Thirty-five personsook pan in the trial periods, nclud-

ing thirteen personsbetweensevente€nand twenty-one yearsof

. age. Twenty-three were hired, including twelve participanrsbetweeneighteenand twenty-two yeersof age.

The pilot projectwes undedby fine monies mposedon Puertr_r

Rico'sgovernment or violations o the rights of rhe penalpopula-

tion, a direct result of a lawsuit by the Civil Acuon and Education

Corporation.The transformation f the woodedareawascom-

pleted n tbree years.81'the fourth year, en participants, nclud-

ing five who reached he :rgeof majoriry while in the project,foundedan orgrnization to successiirlly ecomeself-employedby

providingenvironmentalworkshops or public andprivatesch<xrls.

Hau daesart work?

John Dewey addressedhis question by way of compositional

semantics efiningart asa qualityperrneating xperiencc.l ual-ity, he explained, an be clptured through the senses,he intellect,

or emotions,but a full aesthetic xperience rcurs only when these

qualities ointly permeate omeone's xperience nd reachcon-

summation n the artist's ommunication f meanings nd values

to the audience hrouS;hamvork.r From a nonladve perspective,

the significance f an aesthetic xperience, ays )ewey, s to be

judgedbv its effect (rn the individual's presentand furure and thewayhe or she contributes o societv hrough the collectiveexperi-ence: The moral offrceand human firnction ofart can be intelli-gendy discussed nly in the context of culnrre."t

Consequently,o speak f how art works n Aula \terdewhenviewed rom



88 CU[.TI.]RAL GENTSAN D CRIiATIVEARTS

socialconduct-not by s{tme ort of moralizing ndrrcn'ination, ut

by the moral content ofthe quality of the experienceself.

The projectparticipants'dedic"tionand creativeenfiag€mentn

landscapingAula Verde speakof their role as artisus.Artists, said

Dewey,are thoseengagedn intelligent and creadveactiYities.n

his own words, I'he intelligentmechanic ngagedn his ob, nter-

ested n doing well and inding satisfactionn hishandworlgcaring

fo r his materialsand oolswith genuineaffection, s artisticallv

engaged."''

AulaVerde, he woodlandcultivated nto a teachingorest, s the

work of art that resulted iom the participants'artisticengagement

with the space.A work ofart, said Dewey, s not a product (sculp-

tures,nrusic,gardens), ut "what the product doeswith and n

experience."? hen a person nteractswith a product, he outcomeis an experienceo be enjoyedbecause f its embedded ualities.

Finally, will speakof"audiencenas hosewho benefit iom the

qualiuespresent n Aula Verde,particularly he childrenand youth

participating n environmentalworkshops.Ar audience, aid

Dewey, s anyoneengagedn the creativeprocess. work of art

evolves very ime the audience xpressesis or her own meanings

and values; n Dewev'sownwords,

"enew poem is createdevery

time one readspoetically."fl

The practicalconnections etweenDewey's deason art and

Aula Verde'seducationalstrategy s madeexplicit in the work of

John Raths,Merril Harmin, and SydneySimon,who usedDewey'.s

Art m Exprinrc asa point of departure o develop heir method of

values larification.Theseauthorsassertedlnt humans anreflect

aboutvalue ssues nd by doing sogain the most fiom their value-

relatedexperience.ehey aniculated he connectionbetween xpe-

rienceandvalues n thek values larificationmethod,whichfocuses

not on values hemselves ut on the processof valuing.r0 o study

the processof valuing, tieir method set to obserrehow a person

chooses, rices,and actson beliefs.rr



AUI,AVIIRDI,: 89

stake.Therefore, AulaVerde's orecurriculum used he ccosr/stem

model to guide intervendons n the environment and to reorientinterventions f participantsshowed ndifference o the moral

standingof other persons nd other living thingsand creatures.

\,tr/hen ppreciationof facs involved n the componentsofan envj-

ronment s consideredn reladon () eachother rs a unit, the model

facilitatesa processof understand.ingnterconnectedness,ot

indod'inatine it.

What ztorked" and what did not?

From its outset, he project planned o elplore the needsand val-

uesof participants. Beginning in 2001, I explained he project topotential participants and asked hem ro relat€ its objectivesand

stretegies o their personal nteresls.While all intewieweesprop-

erly expressedheir need o work, all of them failed o mnnect the

project'sobiectivesand strategieswith their pastexperiences nd

future ife plans.They needed he work, but the proiect'sobjectiveswerenot of personalnterest o them, To tum the equationaround,if the project was o succeed, connection between ts objectives

and he needsand vrluesof participantshad to be hcilitated.

A prychologistconducted nterviewsandclinical research o

study he needs. apac ities, nd nteressofpanicipana. The assess-

mentsserved o benchmark individual and aggregate ndicators

under different variables,which in turn helped o understandeach

perticipant's rocess f valuingand to facilitatespecialized elp

when required and agreedon with participants.

To study the processofvaluing, we applied the method devel-opedby Raths,Harmin, and Simon, which observes ow a personfreelychooses isor her beliefrand behalror {iom altematives fterdue reflection and considerationof consequences; ow a personpriceshis or her belieGand behaviorand publiclvaffirms hem; and



C U L T L I R A L A ( ; L , N ' I ' S N D ( : R I ; A T I V F A R T S

The following analysis ppliesDewey's deason art to the

processof creating Aula Verde and, more specifically, o the par-

ticipants' ndividual and collectiveexpression f meaningsandval-

ues bcilitated by the method of valuesclarification. Deweysaid,

"The experience s of materialfiaught with suspense nd moving

towards ts ov,,nconsummationhrough a connectedseries f var-

ied ncidens."rr

The first phaseof the project wasoriented by the discussion

strategy or valuesclarification.All discussrons ereheld in pgoup

sessions here participans were ntroduced o drawings, lans,and

documencs ubmittedor personallypresentedby theproiect'.son-

sultants n naturalsciences,andscaping, nd architecture. he

work of consulantswasalsodiscr:ssedn light ofliterature address-

ing subjectmatter suchasbeautyand function, and conservationand development.Pictures, ideosof ropical forests, nd the work

ofthe renownedBrazilian andscape rchitect RobertoBurle Marx

were discussed. hese discussions rovided information with

regard o the rhetorical dimensionof the participants' aluing sys-

tem, that is,on their willinpgnesso publicly affirm their values nd

beliefS. very time the participants ffirmeda beliefconcerning he

topicsdiscussed,wouldaslc hem to ex plain h eir point ofview

with an example rom their lives.

The idcassultmittedby consultants nd materials iscussed ere

developednt o a collectiveconceptnamed by the participants

themselves s Aula Verde.Whilc the transformation of the forest

for the sakeof it (asestablishedn work conracts)did not make

much serse n their life, the transformation of t}re wooded lrnd lnto

an open classroomor children became i l of meaning.Tlrgv mn-

ceivedAula Verde as a project about tie "6ve senses [ the envi-ronment." The tcrm JrzJdwasnot used n a raditionel way but

rather referred to humans,nature,economics,education,and

health ascomponens of the conceptofsustainabledevelopment.

Art began o work in the experience f participants rom the

moment they becamean n relation to the



AULA :ERDE qI

ahead.Art manifested tself in a creativeand dialecticprocess

whereby he paniopants eamed rom the educationalmaterialantl

in turn enriched he proiectwith their own understanding f thematerialand s application o rspond m their meaning:i nd values.

Art did no t work in the experience f participants' xpressing

skepticism, ear of mmminnent, apprehensionof being ridicule<1,

depression, r plaindisinterest n work. \{4rile mostof thesesirur-tions became essofa problemas he proiectprogressed, lain dis-

interestdid not. When disinterestwassustainetlhroughout heproiect'.smplementation, rt {ailed o positivelyaffect heir engage-

ment and participation n the project and to conftibute to the co,-lectiveexperience.n frct, someparticipantsmade t clear hat theyjoined the projectonlv besause cnrrectionalofficer required hem

to work. Altlough the job wasnot denied to thosewho expressedand sustaineddisinterest, t is fair to sav hat tle need o work did

not stem fiom an interest n the particular ob offered. Since rhere

wasno personalengagementn the creativeprocess fconceiving

the project, he qualityof experiencc annot be equated o thatdefinedby Dewevasan.

1b compare he instances hereart worked o thosewh€re r

did not, it must be stressedhat the participans' needsand values

are not static. lhe educationalprocessawakenednterest n someparticipanswho at 6nt expressedisintcrest.For thesepanicipans,

art worked.However, t isequallv mportanr o stresshat needsandvalues annot be taughtor imposedasnorrnscan; heycan only heclarified.The clarificationexercisesrovided nsight nto their ownmeaningsand values.For thosewho failedto connect he proiect'.s

objectiveso their own meaning;and values, n did not work.

While discussion orums wereongoing throughout the pilot proi-ect, other clrification techniqueswere introducedto inquire intr,different aspecs of valuing.For instance,while the discrrssion trate-giesemphasizedhe rhetoricaldimensionofvrluing, the dialoguestrategies sedemphasizedhe developmental imensionofvaluingby



CULTURAL A(;ENTS AND CRFATIVE ARTS

g€neralquesdonsike, "Which work aslcsareyou best suited to ere-

cute in the proiect?" Or specific questions ike, "Ifyou had to choose

between wo different patlrways o be built in this forest,how rvould

it affect hc visitors' perceptionof the landscape? nd why is it or

should t be mporunt for you, for us,or for visitors?"

The dilferent dynamicsbetweeneducationaldiscussion orums

and decision-makingdialogue sessionsmade it clear that toprize and o choosear ecompletely ifferentactions.While dis-

cussions pened he space or new ideas, he choicesmade n the

decision-makingdialopJueessionseflectedold patternsof power

relations.Before he participants oined the project, hey held dif-

ferent social ankinS;sn the community.I'hese

rankingswere

imposedduring the proiect'searlyphases f implemenution. They

were challenged s the proiect pro;;ressed nd finally became

expressednder a different paradigm.

For instance,whenJuan,one ofthe participans, was presented

in privatewith his WechslerAdult IntelligenceScale-lll test esuls

showinga borderline ntellectlal quotient,he commented hat the

life expectanryof males n the underground economyof his com-

munity was wenry-five earsofage. The fact that he had been

engaged n such activitiesand had surpassedhat age,he said,

showed hat he had the intellecnralskills o survive n his commu-nity. Regardless f which work tasksJuan as bener suited o exe-

cuteaccording o his IQ, he wasdetermined o play a leading ole-

Much canbe saidaboutJuan'.sesponse, ut 6rst had o take

into consideration he context fiom which he exercised is value

judgmens. 4/hilevalues renormallyequatedo concepts f moral

relevance eferring to emotions(suchas ove, friendship),behav-

ior(such

as oyalty), or things(such

as ife),valuesare also pen of

undergroundhuman activity. n thosecases,he problem s not

whether thesevaluesare prizedor chosen,but how they are ived

out and how the correspondingchoicesconstituting individual or

cultural expressions ffect hose n agroup or outside he group.

Juanls esponse ncapsulatedne ofthe projectls hallenges: ow



ALII-A !:F]RD}; 93

mations.The ecosystemmodelbecarne cntral to the elaborationof creative esponseso counter the existence f human valuesresulting from marginalizedor oppressive ultural formations.Tiken as a metaphor to refect and dis!.nss ocialneedsand prob-lems, le ecosl,stem odelstrives o characterizehe majordvnaln-ics of communitiesand synthesize he understandingof such

systems-to foresee heir behavior in response o particularchanges nd to prescribenten entions o achievea desired esult.'.

As pan of the projectt tasks, he panicipans chose mong threeworkinggroup's. he firstgmupof tasks ncluded61tllectingnd cfus-sifring sarnples finsects n different pars ofthe San uan lay Areaand to use he inventory to makecomparative s$essmenBf enti-ronmental health.The secondand rhird groupsoftasks had to usetle ongoing assessnrentnadetrv the first group to plan the intcr-vention n the forestandexecute he plan.One grouJrwouldbuild rgreenhouse nd cultivateplants o be introduced n the foresttunderstory,and tie other would intervene n the forest o improvesoil, water, ieht, endcanopyconditions o introduce ivc species.

ln the exeorrionof usks, the okl power relationswereexpressedwith new meanings.For instancc,when Alberto u,asdigging todemarcate path for future visitors,a big beede arvacameout in a

clump of clay.He rnadean exclamation [disgust ard was eady ukill the "ugly" creature.nlmediately,Juanand Carlos,anotherpar-

ticipanqcummanded:Hey, dont mes with my beans.', asked hemabout he meaningof the expression,nd they explainedo rne hatit isa popularexpre.rsion eaning hat one shouldnot interferewithsomeoneelse's ourceofincome. Their explanationwasx sign thatthe project *as herding in the right direction. 1'he entergingnor-mativemmmitrnentssurfaced, nderan ecologicallynformed par-rdigm, to ranscend from the immediateexperienceofdisgust causedby dre appeamnce f lanraeand movedonto more responsible eam-ings.The old power structures esponded o a new investment n thesustaimbledevelopment f tireenvironmenca conrmunitydevelop-ment proiect placed n a cornmunityschool,a project whoseobiec_



94 CULTURALAGENTSAND CREA'I. IVE RT S

Normativecomminnens wouldnot havebeen nterioriz€d n thepanicipans' valuessmlcture or expressedn their reler"antbehayior

if their experienceswerenot taken nto consideration.Just ,s an aes-thetic e4xrience corresponds o asubjective processof valuing thatcannot betaught or imposed, hc pnres ofclarification showed hatthe valuesCarlos andJuanrefened to as ife, loyalry and honesry

which were mportnnt for pastexperiencesn the undergroundecon-omy,are ie samevaluesbut liveddifferendy n AulaVerde.

Seen hrough Dewey'sconception of art, t}e project'spartici-

pantsbecameartisticrlly engagedby interacting with their envi-

ronmengmakingchoices, nd using heir work tnolsand he living

materialavailableo them to makea forlorn space eaudfirl. n thecreativepnrcess, hey firund meaning, eaf6rmed heir values n a

constructivemanner, and shared hcir work ofan with an audience:

Aula Verde's uture pau'ons.Rereplant species nd seedswerecol-

lected,nurred, and uansplanted o form a mosaicof deep, ender,

crisp greencolors and contrastin€i right uopical flowersbloom-

ing beneatlr he canopyand along the trunks sunding ascolumns

in this cathedral f Malaysian lmondand mahoganyrees. he

product, Aula Verde, achieved he desiredsymbioticand aesrhetic

functions, hosting over two hundred plant subspecics nd niches

for insects, rnphibians,eptiles, urtles, and birds-a diversiryranging iom water bugs o nestinghawks n the toweringcanopy.

T he project's ircilitationofaestheticexperiencesannot be den-

ti6ed assolely esponsibleor dre project'soutcome, ts successnd

hilures, but it proved o havea lnsitive effecton someparticipants'

values ystems nd relevantconduct-Here I must place he role of

art in coordinadon with that of cultura l agency o af6rm that artwasnot only instrumental or insdtution building but alsoconsti-

rutivc ofit. The problernwith the undergroundculture resides otin a lack ofvaluesbut in the context n which they are ived. n the

new context of Aula Verde, the participantsact on their own val-

ues n a way tlrat facili tatesa crime-fiee livelihood.

Jb follow Dewey'.sdeason an again, f the significanceofan aes-



AU|,AvERDt: 95

ent and future and his or her bondswith r particularsocialmilieu,it is also fair to say hat what Aula Verde did and still does n theexperience fsome participants nd new membersoftheir com-munity is life changing.

During the threeyearsofthe pilot proiect,AulaVerde emainedaway rom the publiceye.But finally the consummation f aestheuc

experience ccurredwhen the interactionbetween he participanuiand leir medium of expressionurned into participationand com-munication between hem and the audience.Aula Verde has noronly beendocumented n severalmagazines, ewspapes,znd tele-vision programs,but its qualitieshavemade t an open air lahora-tory for children and youth to enioy environrnennl workshops.

Staning n July 2004, ournalistMimi Oniz published he 6rst

article in a local newspaper.She titled her piece,,The

TeachingNature." Ortiz spentseveraldavssharingwith me and the partic-ipants. She sat alone under the nrahogany rees, ving withbromeliads n the forest'spathways,observing he embracinganrphitheater onformedby small alarlearevolving nto helinnias,*elitzia4 and then into the gigantic flowering walls <>fRaaenalnmadagzsmriensis.he arrived early in rhe morning and left late,when he forest! inhabitanLsan be recognized ot by sight tur

by sounds.By describingall theseernotionswith her own sense fsocial ustice,Mimi received he Overseas ressClub award n2004 for her article-

Ever since,Aula Verdehas eceived housandsof visitors eachyear,most of them children and youth who interact with the spaceand find their own meaning n it. The aesthetic xperienceived inAula Verde's orest, greenhouse,butterfly farm, and gardenshas

beenwell documented, baciersare giveneducationalmaterials opr€pare tudents o visit Aula Verde,and the visit is comuletedwithworkshops onsisting f four topics: he functjonaland aestheticqualitiesof urban foress; the symbirxis among fore;ts, humans,andanimals; he propagationof insects'host plants;and the life rycleofbutterflies. The



()6(JIIL 'TURAI. A(;EN'I 'S AND (:REATIlIF, AR' I S

Replicartonopptranirtes ftr youth datelopm.ent

Aula Verde's ilot project was mplemented n a cornmunity hat is

the second argestpublic housingproiect n Puerto Rico and a

rough environment o undenakestudies imed at producingsocial

change.n spiteof these hallenges,hi spilot projectsucceeded,

and oppomrnities or replicabecame mminent. The key o nccessfor any replica s not to duplimte it but to adapt he previousexpe-

rience o the new natural and socialenvironment and the persons

asa constitutivepan of it.

While Aula Verde'spilot project was undertakenwith the par-

ticipation of community mernbers etweenages eventeennd

forty-seven,ts theoreticalunderpinnings re not a Fe estricted

and can be adapted or other population groups, as denron-strated n the first replicawith prirnarvschoolchildren. oth the

pilot project and the possibility of replication opcned he horizon

of a long joumey to motivate others to facilitatealternativecorrr-

munity developmentprojects.

The first replicationof the pilot project ook placebetr.r.een

August2008and February 009when Rosanna erezo,a lawyer

and doctoral candidate n Hispanic American iterahrre,conducted

a new project with a group ofpublic schoolstudentsbetweenxges

elevenand tlrirteen. Studenrswere refemed o us by thei r school

counselor sbeingeither disadvantaged,problematic, r having

specialneeds." n addition to the workshopsprovided by Aula

Verde's ducators, erezoused iteraturedisc'ussionroupsand col-

lective uriting activities o assist tudentsn developing eamwork

skills hrt would prepare hem to work asa group n buil ding a

small bunerfly gerden n their own school.The replication of thebutterfly grrden took six months to complete. Recently I ioinedCerezo n the opening ceremonyofthe new bunerfly houseat dre

participating school. I waspleasedo hear,among many positivc

observations made bv teachers, how the project had positively

affected hildren, both academicelly nd



A I . ' L A L HD } :9 :

Aula Verdehasservedasa platform for the creation of new and

creativecommuniw-basedprojects,As I draft this rticle, Oerezo

is preparing,with the assistancef doctoralcandidaten psychol-

ogy OdetteEscobar, second nd differentprojectwith childrcn.!'ellou'professors nd friendsMavra tga andMarirr'lacher ar calso preparing o undertake heir own projects n Aul a !'erdc

Mayra,who teaches ommunicat ions t the Schoolof Puhl icI{ealth of the University of Puerto Rico, s preparingan inter-ventionwith adolescentso addresshe oint problemof scxualiryanddrug use.Mario, a wholehearted umanist eachingbiology

at the Universiryof PuerroRico, s preparinga science urricu-lum specializingn communiry nterventions n urban cnviron-ments.All ofthem and will besharing he process nd outcomes

of theseprojecs and will laterengage n tle evaluationof rny pilotproject'.sindings.Someof these indingswerebrieflv discussedthroughout this article and are surnrnarizcd elow as proposals or

further validation:

. Cultural interventions har are n()t part of the culnrre heing

intervened il l not ruake ensen the ife of participanrs nless

the interventionand it s productar e inled by participants o

their needs ndvalucs.. Although a personlsneedsand valuessystcmare not static , he

system annotbe taught or imposedasnormscan,only clari6cdr Wlile values larification s not antlshotrldnot benormadve.

tle ecosystemmodel canassist articipantso place hc discourseofthe selfin coordinrtionwith thatofthe others.

o Cultural interventions icing the existence f human valuesbeingexpressed

ndermarginalized r oppressiveultural or,matinns nav6nd resourcesn the ecosystemmodel to elaboratea creative csponseo countermarp;inalization r oppression.

r Cultural interventions n which normativecommitmentsar eestablishednder he ecosystem odelmust ake nto lccountpastexperiences{ participants sheing oundational



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new directions for youth development

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