Omari Rush has focused his career and volunteerism on education, the arts, and community development. Professionally, he works as curator of public programs for the
Ann Arbor Art Center and has also served in an advisory role for various organizations: as vice chairman of the governor-appointed Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, as a member of the Kennedy Center Partners in Education National Advisory Committee, and as chairman of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation and the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation. Outside of the office and boardroom, he enjoys leading the personal and professional develop series called, shur!, and binge-watching TV series on Netflix.
Make creativity a priority in Ann Arbor
In my new(ish) job I've been charged with conceiving a visual arts initiative in Ann Arbor to further enrich our economy and plush ecosystem of arts and culture.
Wanting to ensure I honor the ideals of this nascent initiative's founding partners — the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, Ann Arbor Art Center (my employer), and the Nisson Family — as well as embed responsiveness to the community, I began day one with a "listening tour" (inspired by Superintendent Jeanice Swift's "
Listen & Learn" tour).
Collecting insights from diverse community members about our area, the arts, and their aspirations, I encountered a startling consistency of perception and opinion. Though negative critiques were plentiful, the most salient point was that
people love Ann Arbor!
Beyond that, my conversations generated various insights useful to me, including the four below.
"Stuckness"
Opinions were consistently framed by a perception that the city feels stuck creatively. (It was often called conservative!) While at one point Ann Arbor was known as a place where
counterculture and social activism thrived broadly in practice, current representations of those movements are isolated or ephemeral.
Campaigns for support of public education, art, transit, and libraries and a public skate park have mostly been controversial, and in commerce, attendance, and patronage the city seems to tend toward experiences that reinforce tradition or convention, connect to the past, or feel safe and comfortable... sentiments often shared without negative judgment.
Interestingly, our community's restaurant industry was cited as vibrant and inspiring given the load of entrepreneurs boldly opening new establishments and expanding existing ones: crepes, coffee, Korean BBQ, Italian fare, coffee, Spanish tapas, wafels, burgers, pie, and more.
Infrastructure
Many commented that infrastructure for arts and entertainment activities feels limited in Ann Arbor, in particular perceived against the size, variety, adaptability, and accessibility of venues in neighboring and peer cities.
While the University of Michigan maintains a variety of wonderful venues, public access is understandably challenged by institutional priorities to serve students, faculty, and staff. With full respect and admiration, folks also acknowledged many other wonderful
traditional and
nontraditional spaces in Ann Arbor.
However, there was a sense that there could be more accessible public spaces, white-walled galleries, basic black boxes, and big ballrooms as well as general nimbleness to temporarily convert spaces for alternative uses. Detroit's
Dlectricity and Grand Rapids'
ArtPrize provide great guidance and models on the possibilities of converting spaces. The market would also support this infrastructure immediately and in the future (for instance, via companies relocating to Ann Arbor given the bounty of opportunities for their employees to lead playful lives).
Visual Distinction
As the city develops, people didn't think Ann Arbor was pursuing the visual distinction characteristic of great cities. Iconic nature- or human-made landmarks are few and most new development is unlikely to show up on Instagram or
attract tourists. Similarly, "public art" has temporarily become a negative phrase that elicits excited talk about "that metal thing with lights at City Hall" or add-on/afterthought art installations to public works projects.
Good design matters to a city and can be achieved here. It will just require that some organizations and individuals dare to be brave in advancing whimsical or distinctive design, undeterred by missteps, naysayers, or short-term costs. The
rain garden fish and the "Singin' in the Rain" and
Liberty Street murals have taken small steps in this direction.
Artist Engagement
The people who enliven a community creatively are artists — newbies to pros — and there was a perception that Ann Arbor could better support them, augmenting the
Arts Alliance's work. Artists are hungry to transform our blank walls, unused spaces, and empty streetscapes into temporary or permanent exhibitions of imagination realized.
While the cost of living might price out some brilliant "starving artists" in search of housing and studio space, Ann Arbor can certainly be a place that more nimbly exhibits their work, allows arts happenings to pop up in vacant storefronts, engages emerging artists in and throughout planning and development projects, and networks artists in designated workshop spaces, all facilitating for community members regular and chance interactions with the class of people who inspires us, makes us smile, and attracts visitors and shoppers.
Thank goodness for the
Violin Monster,
David Zinn,
Mary Thiefels,
Trevor and Natalie, and the
dancer in graffiti alley. (Oh, and because Ann Arbor is so great, folks I spoke with were able to name PLENTY of artists living here... some dormant, some world famous and retired professionally, some exclusively exhibiting outside of Ann Arbor, and some working here daily.)
So What?
I created for my colleagues a full, nine-page report on people's ideas about our town. Conversations revealed much more than what is in the distilled commentary above! The new initiative we're developing at the Ann Arbor Art Center — and announcing in May 2015 — aims to use all of that information to do its part in seeing that Ann Arbor remains an attractive place for businesses, families, students, and anyone looking to lead a rich and dynamic life.