Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Community leaders have substantial interest in fostering the local cultural economy as the arts attract both businesses and residents. Because art and creativity are regarded as spontaneous, organic processes, most researchers recommend planning initiatives that capitalize on a community’s existing cultural economy rather than producing contrived elements of creativity. One strategy that fits the framework of such recommendations is the concept of cultural district development. These districts typically evolve naturally to some extent, due to pre-existing urban form and cultural activities. Because this revitalization strategy does not demand large public investments, it is attractive to public leaders. However, revitalization strategies may have unanticipated results at the detriment to those “urban pioneers” who initially improved the area and catalyzed the districts’ reinvestment. While such districts rely on the collaborative efforts of community members, local governments and public organizations can play a pivotal role in allowing them to address such threats with effective policies. This master’s report investigates the process and effects of cultural district development through a case study of the Crossroads Arts District in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. This illustrates how this particular district evolved, why and how planning initiatives formalized the district, what processes and players were involved, and the resulting changes to the area. As the Crossroads Arts District is becoming increasingly formalized, this report will explore the past, present, and future of the neighborhood with insights drawn from interviews and supplementary historical document review. Through a case study of planning activities, through the scope of cultural district development, this report illustrates the organic nature of creative synergy, the importance of community associations, the relationship between the arts and revitalization, the role of public planning in addressing citizen needs, and the dynamic character of communities.

Uppsatsen undersöker Vera Nilssons liv och konstnärskaputifrån hennes sociala position som kvinna och ensamstående mor. Nilsson föddes 1888 och debuterade som konstnär 1917. 1921 föder hon dottern Catharina, även kallad Ginga. Under en fjortonårsperiod avporträtteras dottern frekvent och Nilssons barnporträtt får stor uppmärksamhet. Studien har en historigrafisk ansats och undersöker kvinnors villkor inom det konstnärliga fältet. / The thesis examines Vera Nilsson's life and artistry from her social position as a woman and single mother. Nilsson was born 1888 and debutated as an artist 1917. 1924 she gives bearth to her daughter Catharina, also called Ginga. During a period of fourteen years the daughter is often seen in her work and Nilsson's portraits of children gets a lot of attention.The study has an historiographical approach and investigates women's condition within the artistic field.

When it comes to the entertainment industry and the live performers these artists are in need of valuable communication strategies in order for them to reach the consumers they would like to reach and gain the success that they want. Although this is a known fact, it is difficult for the artists to know which marketing communication strategies to use and how to use them.  The purpose is to identify international marketing communication strategies for live performers within the entertainment industry. The objective is to demonstrate how the strategies can be used to reach international success. The focus is to look at marketing communication strategies from an artist/company’s point of view and therefore feedback from the consumers will not be covered in this thesis. We have found two alternative strategies for development of international marketing communication for a live performer in the entertainment industry. In both of these strategies it is important to start with creating a valuable network in order to set up clear goals for the marketing communication. The difference between the two strategies is based on whether the live performer is adapted to the target group or if the target group is adapted to the live performer

År 1947 förutspådde konstnären Thomas Wilfred att ljuskonst inom 20 år skulle bli en självklarhet inom konstvärlden. Nu, nästan 70 år senare är ljuskonst fortfarande inte en erkänd konstform eller ett definierat begrepp. Idag skapas ljuskonst av konstnärer runt om i världen med tilltagande entusiasm samtidigt som det råder en uppenbar kunskapslucka och förvirring kring ljuskonst vilket denna studie ämnar att stilla. Studien syftar till att belysa värdet och nyttan med ljuskonst som utvecklande faktor för ljusdesignsbranschen. Att konsumera konst är ett sätt att berika den inre repertoaren och inspirationskällan. De frågeställningar som undersökts är ”Vad är ljuskonst?”, ”Vad inom ljuskonst inspirerar ljusdesigners och andra som arbetar med ljus? och ”Vilka innovationer har gått från ljuskonst till ljusdesign?”. Arbetet är fokuserat till personer som arbetar med ljus och studiens definition av ljuskonst är konst som gestaltar eller skapas av ljus. Undersökningen har ett intensivt och kvalitativt upplägg och har genomförst med snöbollsmetoden i form av intervjuer via frågeformulär, som totalt besvarats av nära femtio personer. Kompletterande datainsamlingsmetoder består av massmail, telefonintervjuer och sociala medier. Primärdatan har analyserats genom sammanställning, kategorisering och sammanfattning. Det är mycket stor spridning i hur personer som arbetar med ljus beskriver ljuskonst och vad inom den de inspireras av. Vad som är ljuskonst bestäms av vem som är kreatören, var den är placerad, vad den består av och hur den upplevs. Ljuskonst har ett stort inspirationellt värde för personer som arbetar med ljus, som applicerar influenserna från ljuskonstens in i ljusdesign. Studiens slutsatser består i att ljuskonst kan skapas av både naturligt och artificiellt ljus, kan vara allt från en liten detalj till något stort och iögonfallande, skapas till en unik kontext, har ett budskap, en funktion och skiljer sig från ljusdesign i fråga om syfte och kontext. Det inom ljuskonsten som inspirerar personer som arbetar med ljus är projekt där dagsljus behandlas eller efterliknas, dess teknik och material, ljusfestivaler och andra ljusevent, verk där betraktaren kan påverka och bli en del av ljuskonsten, verk som skapar mönster, objekt med eller av ljus, scenljussättning och friheten som upplevs finnas i skapandet av ljuskonst. Studiens resultat pekar avslutningsvis mot att accentuerad arkitektur, färgat och dynamiskt ljus, ljusprojicerade mönster, neon och att placera armaturer med klassisk design för inomhusbruk i exteriöra miljöer, har gått från att betraktas som ljuskonst till ljusdesign. / In 1947 the artist Thomas Wilfred predicted that light art will become an obvious part of the art world in the next 20 years. Now, almost 70 years later, light art is still not acknowledged or defined - neither as a art form or as an expression. Artists today are creating light art all around the world with increasing enthuiaism but in point of fact there is nothing such as light art, according to the encyclopaedias. There is an obvious gap in knowledge and confusion surrounding the field of light art which this study intends to reduce. The study aims to highlight the value and benefit of light art as developing factor for the lighting design industry. Consuming art is one way of enriching the inner repertoire and inspiration. The examined issues are "What is Light art?", "What within Light art inspire Lighting designers and others who work with light?” and "Which innovations have gone from considered as Light Art to Lighting design?". The work is focused on people who work with light and the definition of light art in this study is: art that portrays or creates from light. The survey has a deep and qualitative approach and is accomplished with the snowball method throughout questionnaires, which all together were answered by nearly fifty persons. Complementary methods of collecting data consist of bulk mail, telephone interviews and the posting of the survey at social media. The primary data has been analyzed through compilation, categorization and summary. People who work with light describes light art, and also what within light art they find inspiring, in many widely different ways. In summary light art is defined by who the creator is, where it is located, what it consists of and how it is perceived. Light art inspire people working with light who apply their influences from the field of light art into the lighting design industry. The conclusions is that light art can be created by both natural and artificial light, from small details to big and eye-catching installations, has an unique context, a message, a function, and differs from lighting design in terms of purpose and context. The specific parts within light art that inspire people working with light are projects where daylight is involved, the technology and materials of the pieces, light festivals and other light events, light art pieces where the viewer can influence and become a part of it, works that create patterns or objects by light, stage lighting and the expressive freedom in the making of light art. The results indicates that accentuated architecture, colored and dynamic light, light patterns, neon and the placing of fixtures with classic design for indoor use in exterior environments, has gone from being considered as light art to lighting design.

Master of Arts in Fine Arts - Fine Arts / A Community Partnership Art Event, resulting from curating and facilitating an educational collaboration was held on the 23 March 2004, ten years into South Africa’s democracy. Through a Masters in Fine Arts coursework entitled “Creating, Curating and Critiquing” offered at the University of Witwatersrand, I attempted to test the boundaries of the Arts and Culture Learning Area and explore alternatives to the current definition of “outreach”. The grade six learners from The Ridge School, an independent boys’ preparatory school and Salvazione Christian School, an assisted government school, were brought together over a period of ten weeks during regular school art lessons. Through the guidance and expertise of various artists, workshops were cocoordinated with the collaborative ideas of the learners coming to the fore. The process and dialogue established between learners, artists and educators was intended to shift my own parameters of teaching primary school art. Focusing on people rather than the final products points to a readiness to view knowledge not as a commodity owned b#31;#31;the expert teacher, but rather as something which can be constructed and developed with the learners. Originally the collaboration was intended as a celebration of the opening of new premises for Salvazione Christian School. The public art happening was held in a tent next to the informal settlement where a large majority of the children from Salvazione Christian School live. 3 Rather than what might be described as a modernist approach to art education, where the focus seems to be on the artist and artwork, the focus was on linking art to social interaction, and it was through the discovery of a form of hybridity that a number of differences between the two communities were challenged and exposed. This resulted in an approach that seems similar to the manner in which the Indian writer, Salman Rushdie writes of hybridity: “Hybridity, impurity, intermingling, the transformation that comes of new and unexpected combinations of human beings, cultures, ideas, politics, movies, songs.” (Coombes, 2000:39) Through this hybridity tensions were created and explored rather than a ‘rainbow’ or melting pot created, where differences are glossed over as in a multicultural approach. The primary research methodology was participant observation in which directly observed data was analyzed and interpreted. Data was gathered from the interactions in the workshops, setting up the exhibition and the art event. As intended, a link between art and ‘outreach’ was established. In order for this link to change into a community partnership, it must be seen as part of a much longer process. The process as a whole did become a different kind of primary school art space, preparing the way for possible positive transformation of the visual arts in the arts and culture learning area at primary school level.

You could only bury a body so deep before the seasons decided you would join it . Topsoil so desperate for affection it shakes to remind me that I was once and am loved . I linger in the southwestern sky , burgundy to violet , with Neil Young playing faintly in the distance as my father calls me home .

This thesis is a personal journey examining the applications of Ritual Poetic Drama Within the African Continuum as developed by my mentor Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, to the profession of the dramatic artist whether they are actor, director, educator or producer, to the training of the dramatic artist as a means of empowering generative, self defined, self validating artists, and as a means of developing community specific dramas in the hopes of facilitating individual and personal revelation. Using the author’s personal experiences as evidence, it intends to affirm Ritual Poetic Drama Within the African Continuum as an emergent methodology for theatrical practitioners.

This thesis provides an overview of Moritz Daniel Oppenheim's portraits of the Rothschild family with attention paid to the artist's training and personal artistic pursuits, as well as participation in Gentile and Jewish discourses. Oppenheim's knowledge of art history and use of style in creating the identities of his Rothschild subjects are the focus of this study. Oppenheim's methods and use of art historical styles are discussed with deference to the public or private nature of the portraits, and the resulting works' engagement of both German and Jewish issues. Methodologies used include the history of style and identity theory.

This thesis focuses on an African-American female artist, Valerie Maynard, examining how she synthesizes African and American elements in her works. It provides detailed formal and iconographical analyses, revealing concealed meanings and paying special attention to those works with which the artist mirrors the Black experience in the United States and Africa on the other side of the Atlantic. In the process, the thesis sheds new light on the significance of Valerie Maynard's work and how she has used some of them to embody the Black quest for freedom and social justice during the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s and 1970s and beyond.

This art historiographical study focuses on African American artist Elizabeth Catlett’s linocut series I Am the Negro Woman, composed of fifteen images and executed in 1947 while Catlett was a visiting artist at the Taller de Graphica Popular in Mexico City. The series was exhibited shortly thereafter at the Barnett Aden Gallery in Washington, D.C., only to be largely marginalized by the art historical discourse of the following twenty-five years; however, during the Civil Rights Movement, a renewed interest in Catlett and her works began to develop. Later Feminist and Post-colonial art historians, seeking to widen the narrow mid-twentieth century canon, incrementally began to address these images in accordance with their respective interests, expanding the scholarship and increasing the exhibition of the series. The reputation of these images continues to grow, moving I Am the Negro Woman out of the margins of the art historical discourse into a more valued and recognized position.