by Piper Anderson

In my search for a definition that accurately describes what an artistic community should be I found myself looking to an indigenous ideology. My search came to an end when I found the Dagara peoples' definition of community. The Dagara are a tribe in the country of Burkina Faso located in West Africa. The Dagara believe a community is a group of individuals living together who make it their duty to insure that each of the members of the commune fulfill their individual purpose or destiny. To be distracted from fulfilling ones' destiny can have a detrimental impact on the entire unit. The Dagara ideology of community affirms my belief that fulfillment of our individual purpose is essential to the evolution of us all.

Artists especially have a major role in our evolution because the power to create is the greatest gift we possess. In Dagaran thought artists are seen as priest or priestess of the sacred. They possess the power to see into other worlds and communicate with Spirit. That's why in many indigenous societies art is viewed as a functional commodity. Its purpose is to please Spirit, never to simply entertain people.

There have certainly been periods in my three year residence in Austin when I felt the sense of community that the Dagara speak of. I give thanks for the family of individuals I am to depend on as community. They have been instrumental in helping me reach this point in my artistic journey.

A year ago a group of young poets, including myself, were led through a weekend writing workshop by poet and playwright Sharon Bridgforth. The experience was like a ritual for the development of an artistic community. Sharon is a powerful facilitator, an elder who understands the indigenous definition of community. She made it her responsibility to gather a group of young poets together in order to teach us the challenging responsibility we garner as artist. I left the retreat center that weekend with a focused mind, intent on fulfilling what I felt was my newfound duty as an artist: to speak the truth given to me to please the Spirit. Over the months since the retreat that group of poets kept in contact, meeting on a regular basis with Sharon and her partner Luz', to relearn our history and ourselves.

An artistic community maintained with the purpose of developing artistic gifts of each individual involved is a powerful entity capable of overcoming any injustice. But artists must be truly willing to take on the responsibility of their title has connoted since antiquity: to be creators, manifesting a more peaceful, balanced world. It is extremely difficult to create an artistic community that will thrive when individuals are faced with living in a very individualistic, consumer society that worships technology. Only a strong artistic community can save the many gifted artisans whose talents are needed to move a western world to the indigenous ideology of communal living.