Page 14 RAIN September/October 1984 Bringing Life to Communities: Cultural Animation by Bill Flood Bill Flood is a community development specialist and anirna- teur in Portland. He works with groups to bring about needed organizational change or to stimulate the development of community services and activities. He says, "I use the disciplines of research, organizing, planning, and management to accomplish my work. In 1980,1 heard about a European model of socio-cultural community development called cultural animation. Since 1980, much of my time and energy has been spent researching and writing on cultural animation as it is used in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. Cultural animation explores the cultural perspective of community life that traditional American community development has long overlooked.” He will be teaching a course on cultural animation at MaryIhurst College, in Marylhurst, Oregon, beginning fanuary 1985. You can reach him at 625 NW 20th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209; 5031248-0939. Animation comes from the Latin anima, meaning life or breath. Cultural animation describes a way of bringing vitality and local control back to communities. American concepts of empowerment and cultural pluralism are closely related to this European concept. The following examples illustrate activities that do and do not have the qualities of cultural animation: A "town walk"—residents walking together and discussing the future of their town, versus an aerobic exercise class; a theater group of elderly persons, content focused upon their life experience, versus a ballet performance in a community that has virtually no interest in ballet; a locally controlled radio station scheduling community- oriented programs, versus ABC, NBC, and CBS scheduling solely on the basis of commercial appeal; children painting their own designs that tell the story of their town, versus laying colorful bricks in a street to beautify the street; unemployed persons organizing for mutual support, employment opportunities, or changing the status of unemployment benefits, versus unemployed persons receiving a monthly benefit check. Cultural animation emphasizes the power of public participation. The arts, recreation, education, communication processes, social services, community planning, and community development can all be a part of a cultural animation process. The central force, however, must be the community residents and their visions for
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