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Pushing the Boundaries: A Look at Visionary Approaches to the Arts

American Artscape | 2018 No. 3
An image designed using the Processing computer language
Geometric Shapes by Saskia Freeke, using the computer programming language from the Processing Foundation. Photo courtesy of Saskia Freeke
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About this Issue

“Art is always visionary. Art always disturbs present realities, however satisfactory they may seem to the rest of the world.” —Visual artist Ben Shahn

While it may be true that all art is visionary, some visions are more expansive than others—pushing the boundaries of what’s seemingly possible, and in some cases, permanently changing the artistic landscape. In this issue of NEA Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts explores organizations and individuals who have impacted artistic fields through their bold approaches and by refusing to limit the scope or daring of their imagination.

We’ll learn how the Processing Foundation seeks to break down barriers to digital art by making coding more accessible, and we’ll show how Meow Wolf has created a new frontier for how art can be presented. We’ll see how director Richard Linklater has experimented with cinematic techniques to make movies in new ways, and how the Martha Graham Dance Company has maintained its status as a groundbreaking company not just through dance but through technology. We’ll be introduced to Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum, where self-taught artists are celebrated, and meet playwright Luis Alfaro, who transmogrifies classic plays into dramas for contemporary audiences. And we’ll look at how the new initiative Sound Health explores the impact of music on health through an innovative partnership of musicians and scientists, while Byron Sanders, CEO of Big Thought, shares his own vision for introducing creativity to education to overcome the opportunity gap.

We hope you’ll be inspired by the innovation and imagination you find in this issue to see how your own creative vision might similarly impact our world. 

Included in this Issue

People sitting at computers

Muse in the Machine

The Processing Foundation Makes Code-Based Creativity More Accessible
Two actors sit on the stage and look at the sky

Bringing What Is in the Dark to Light

The Power of Luis Alfaro's Plays
The interior hallways of the American Visionary Art Museum

Not Your Average Art Museum

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland
Man standing while holding onto red theater seats

Realism on the Reel

The Cinematic Vision of Richard Linklater
Acrobat standing atop another acrobats shoulders

Investing in Creativity

Meow Wolf's New Vision of Artistic Space
An older man playing a guitar next to a woman singing

Music and the Mind

The Music-Science Handshake of Sound Health
A little boy painting a mural

Igniting the Imagination

Using Creativity to Overcome the Opportunity Gap with Big Thought
A dancer wearing virtual reality headgear performs with other dancers in a green room

A Legacy of Innovation

The Martha Graham Dance Company's Embrace of Technology
A large sculpture of a neon man

If You Burn It, They Will Come

A Look at Burning Man
Audio Available
Schematic for a housing development design

The Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative

Bringing Social Impact Architecture to Indian Country
Audio Available
A man playing a violin stands next to a woman speaking into a microphone

We Need Darkness to See the Stars

Vijay Gupta on Street Symphony
Audio Available

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