ART-LED COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION:THE CASE OF KUDEEJEEN NEIGHBORHOOD, BANGKOK

Niramon Kulsrisombat, Pornsan Vichienpradit

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Chulalongkorn University

CIS-ASIA, Interim report, 150810

Context and rationale: art and revitalization

• Art and the artist playing roles in revitalizing old neighborhoods

• They bring about cultural, • They bring about cultural, physical and economic changes to old, neglected urban communities

• Capital follows culture, which in turn leads to revitalization and gentrification

• The artist is effectively the change agent that initiates such a process a process

• This phenomenon usually occurs without direct involvement of the state

Context and rationale: art and revitalization

• Public policy that utilizes arts as a way to revitalize old neighborhoodsneighborhoods

• From cultural flagship model(economic focus/large-scale/intensive public funding by state) to community-based art-led revitalization model(revitalizing social and cultural meaning, creating local vitality, meaning, creating local vitality, social cohesion, and enhancing active citizenship in long term)

• Need effective institution to support collaboration of collective actors i.e. communities, artistic groups, organizer and government

Context and rationale: art and revitalizationTaipei Yokohama Kanazawa Osaka

National

level

- The Community Renaissance Initiative

- None - None - None

Local

level

-Taipei’s cultural

policies

-The Dalongdong

Cultural District Plan

(DCDP)

- The Dept of Cultural

Affairs (DCA)

- The Local Cultural

Heritage Conservation

Commission (LCHCC)

- Creative City

Yokohama

- Creative Cities Council

- Monozukuri Ordinance

- Creative City of Art

and Culture” Policy

-The Arts Commission

- None

Commission (LCHCC)

- The Cultural Industry

Development

Commission (CIDC)

Community level

- The Bao-an temple neighborhoods

- Artist Village

- Kanazawa Citizen Art Village

- Creative Core Districts - The New World Arts Park Project

- Oten’in Temple

- Creative City Osaka Citizens Council

Case study of 3 creative cities in Asia

Bangkok, with its long history and diverse culture

• Old neighborhoods going through significant changes

– Changing social structure

– Decay of physical environ

– Lack of investment from the private and public sectors

– Though still lively, compared to most American cities, they are in the cities, they are in the decline

Recent policies

• The 11th national plan emphasized the creative-economy policy and the role of art and culture

• Thai-Kem-Kaeng Mission 2010 under Ministry of Culture • Thai-Kem-Kaeng Mission 2010 under Ministry of Culture emphasized the significance of culture diversity and a role of art and culture in community development

• Establishment of Local Culture Council at district level (BMA) and municipality (other provinces)

• Bangkok Creative City

Our questions

• How has art-led community revitalization project been planned and implemented?

• What are the impacts of art-led project on the communities?

Research Methodology

• The Case Study of Kudeejeen Neighborhood and Kudeejeen-Silptamtrok Kudeejeen-Silptamtrok (KS) Art Festival (27-28 March 2010)

• Action research

• Questionnaire survey

• Interview

• Participatory observation

Site Context

• Long history since late 17C• Cultural diversity from 3

religions and 6 ethnic groupsreligions and 6 ethnic groups• Wat-Baan urban structure• Cultural Heritage Mapping

Project by Association of Siamese Architects (ASA) since 2008

• Problems:- Lack of investment from

public and private sectorspublic and private sectors- Changing community

structure- Physical decay- Limited awareness of

cultural heritage - Limited participation in

public issues

Cultural map of Kudeejeen neighborhood

Kudeejeen-Silptamtrok (KS) Art Festival

• Objectives- Increase community

participation through artsparticipation through arts- Raise awareness in the cultural

heritage among community members and other stakeholders

• Various art forms and light installation by professional and amateur artists

• Valuable cultural heritage of 3 religions were highlighted and linked

• Valuable cultural heritage of 3 religions were highlighted and linked

Kudeejeen-Silptamtrok Art Festival map

Festival preparation by community members and volunteers

All religious establishments were highlighted and linked

Also, old alleys, canals and residences

Participated by professional artists

And local amateurs…

Impacts on community participation

2.9

Elementary

Age

17.5< 20

Education

19.6

13.3

35.8

28.3

Elementary

Highschool

Professional

diplomaUndergraduate

Master or higher

17.9

19.6

22.9

10.8

11.3

17.521-30

31-40

41-50

51-60

>60

Income

30.810.0

8.3

< 5000

Length of Stay0.42.1

8.8

Less than 1

• N=240 (from 1,273 HH), random samplings in 4 communities

29.6

21.3

< 5000

5001-10000

10001-15000

15001-20000

> 20001

23.8

65.0

Less than 1

year1-5 years

6-10 years

11-20 years

More than 20

year

Impacts on community participation

Form of participationLevel of participation in previous activitiesand the KS art festival

74.6

18.825.4

81.3

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

Before After

Never

participatedParticipated

Form of participation

5.417.5

5.8

72.5

0.80.0

10.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.0

Plan

ning

Prep

arin

gDi

spla

ying

art

wor

ks

Sigh

t-se

eing

Oth

ers

Frequency

and the KS art festival

Before After

Disp

layi

ng a

rt w

orks

• Number of people who participated in community revitalization activities increased from 25.4 % in previous activities to 81.3 % in KS• Most of respondents participated in various ways from sight-seeing (72.5%), preparing (17.5%), displaying art works (5.8%) and planning the activity (5.4%)

Impacts on community participation

88.1%

77.8%

88.5%

81.8% 80.9%

72.1%

81.3%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%80.9%

83.7% 81.3%76.6%

85.7%81.3%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

Age Education

14.3% 14.8%19.2%

27.3%

38.3%

30.2%25.4%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

< 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 >60 Total

Before

After

30.9%

22.1% 21.9%25.5%

28.6%25.4%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

Elem

enta

ry s

choo

l

High

scho

ol

Prof

essi

onal

Dip

lom

a

Unde

rgra

duat

e

Mas

ter o

r Hig

her

Tota

l

Before

After

86.5%

78.9% 78.4%

66.7%

95.0%

81.3%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

100.0%

90.5%

100.0%

120.0%

Income Length of stay

17.6%

28.2% 29.4%

20.8%

40.0%

25.4%

66.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

< 5000 5001-10000 10001-15000 15001-20000 > 20001 Total

Before

After

0.0% 0.0%

9.5% 10.5%

34.0%

25.4%

60.0%

78.9%81.4% 81.3%

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

Less than 1

year

1-5 year 6-10 year 11-20 year More than 20

year

Total

Before

After

• The KS Art Festivals has increased the participation of various community groups especially young and low income groups.

Impacts on community participation

• Most of respondents agreed that the KS art festival has brought positive impacts on communities by improving local image and identity (4.5), enhancing social cohesion (4.39), empowering community (4.37) and inspiring imagination (4.23)

Analysis city innovation: Impacts on community participation

The 2nd KS art festival Form of participationThe 2nd KS art festival Form of participation

• The number and intensity of community participation in the KS art festival tends to increase

Analysis city innovation: The institution of collaboration partnership

Communitymembers

Financial /IdeaTechnical

Temples-Church-Mosque

Association ofSiamese Architects

(ASA)

The KS Art Festival

CommunityLeaders

consulting

Mobilization of Art and Cultural Network

UniversitiesPrivate

CompaniesThailandCreative & Dsgn Center

Artist Network

Community mobilization networks in the cultural festival

NPOs

Artworks / labour

Artworks/labour

Devices /material

PR PR

Analyzing the systems of city innovations

• KS Festival has been successful as community revitalizing tool by: - Increase level community participation through art and cultural - Increase level community participation through art and cultural

activities - Increase awareness of community members towards their

cultural heritage - Increase awareness of potential partners towards the value of

Kudeejeen Neighborhoods • Key actors:

- ASA (core organization)- Community leaders (community mobilizer)- Community leaders (community mobilizer)- Abbots / Priest / Imam (community mobilizer)

• Interaction among actors:- Community level and traditional social structure (Wat-Baan)- Less involvement from city government, local government and

Thonburi District Cultural Council

Government

Office of Permanent Secretary

Dept of Religion

National

Bangkok MetropolitanGovernment

Min.of Cultureelected

Tourism Office

Dept of Religion

Dept of Fine Arts

Office of National Cultural Committee

Office of ContemArts

Anthropo Center

Dept.of City Planning

City RevitalizationOffice

20,000 BTH/Y

Secretary

National

Culture Office

District Office assigned

Dept. of Culture,Tourism and Sport

Flagship projects

Community

District Cultural Council

Subsidy 20

Secretary

Local

Community

Community

Community

Community

Community

Community

Community Dev Office

The KSArt Festivals

Public works Office

Environment Office

Other community-based art-ledelected

Flagship projects

Analyzing the systems of city innovations

• Challenges in the sustainability of the project: - Lack of effective institution to merge community-based project

into formal planning system into formal planning system - Strong top-down in cultural policy- Different notion on “art and culture”

Next step

• Interview with community leaders and other stakeholders • Questionnaire survey after the 2nd KS art festival in November, 2010

Thank you very much