2011 Space for Change Convening

"…It would be hard to talk about my practice without talking about the way that I’ve come to believe in the work that I do…operating with a muscle that is about belief…There may have been a spiritual calling, if you will…that ended up becoming an art practice, then being an executive director of an organization. But those things all start to flatline; they start to become a feeling in our bellies that we’re supposed to do a thing. And if we really choose, and listen to the things that we think we’re supposed to do, then we’ll do them very, very well."

"I became convinced that processes were as important as objects, and that sometimes processes and artists engaged in communication over an extended amount of time could be equally as valuable a ”monument”, even if there’s nothing to look at."

"Dorchester Projects was really just my studio practice…if a museum cut me a check, or my gallery gave me a check, it went to Dorchester Projects, because that’s where my studio was…in an abandoned building. Eventually Dorchester Projects had a little bit of cash [and] started doing programming on Dorchester [Street]… as if it were a not-for-profit.  Because not-for-profits are the things that do socially engaged work, and for-profits just make money…right? So the thing that I was immediately interested in is how can we start to play with the expectations that we have of these various fiscal, legal models? That in fact, artists could be more generous to the places that they live in, and one doesn’t necessarily have to have a not-for-profit to do interesting work. In fact, corporations that have great ethics don’t have to wait until they have $50 million in excess to start to be generous. But at what point do you start the generosity process? I think this thing is directly related to belief."

"[The] idea that there should be some kind of built-in stewardship of my life was something that was foundational to how I grew up. So I thought, if the company is doing good, and this is 10 or 20% I don’t really need to pay off my student loans…I found myself playing around on Dorchester and inviting folks over...it went from two buildings to three buildings…it went from Chicago to St. Louis…and every time a museum would ask me to come and do something with the museum, I would say, well, can we do something outside the museum?...Then, when I bought Perry Avenue Bookstore, this art and architecture bookstore [that went out of business], something clicked: ‘Oh! We can use these two flats for something other than what we imagined,’ and this might be a viable alternative solution to a large capital campaign…what I’m offering to you is that this all started with a very, very small gesture."

"I’m talking about artists attempting to identify problems the way that people who are really good at business try to identify problems in the world. The block, the [Dorchester] neighborhood became my problem, and I can’t really solve big problems without knowing where the resources in a city are. If there’s anything I can hope for in this conference, it has to do with: Instead of just saying that artists have the capacity to dream and cause change in communities, how can we really give artists the tools necessary to be super successful?...The way that a developer leverages a tax credit is kinda boring, and sometimes the creative work that could happen within the confines of a tax credit are limited to that developer’s creativity around what a place should be. I’m not proposing that we shoot the developer—that machine has the capacity to do amazing work—but it’s about the developer with “So and So and So” and these other forms of engagement so that we’re part of the investment structure and strategy. It’s not that the developer builds the thing and then invites an artist—I want to be part owner in this development so that fifteen years from now when it’s time for redevelopment I can say to my business partner, ‘We should continue to use this as an artist space.'"