Can Art Save a Neighborhood? The Creator of Houston's Project Row Houses Speaks
 Image: Courtesy Rick Lowe Since its founding in 23 years ago, Project Row Houses has provided arts education programs for youth, exhibition spaces and studio residencies for emerging and established artists, a residential mentorship program for young mothers, an organic gardening program, and an incubator for historically appropriate designs for low-income housing on land surrounding the original row houses. "But at its core," Lowe argues, Project Row Houses is about "the everyday, mundane things that happen—from transitional housing for single mothers or education programs or real-estate development—not only from the standpoint of the practical outcomes but also the poetic elements that can be layered into them." Lowe has initiated similarly arts-driven redevelopment projects in other cities, including the Watts House Project in Los Angeles, a post-Katrina rebuilding effort in New Orleans, and, most recently, a vibrant community market in a densely populated, immigrant neighborhood in North Dallas. Lowe's pioneering "social sculptures" have inspired a generation of artists to explore more socially engaged forms of art-making in communities across the country. His other community building projects have included the Arts Plan for the Seattle Public Library, the Borough Project for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Delray Beach Cultural Loop in Florida, among others. Rowe was in Portland on Tuesday, May 3, for an installment of the Bright Lights discussion series: Listening With Ears, Eyes, and Heart: |
