Community Arts University Without Walls (CAUWW)
How do we perpetuate the effectiveness of cultural workers grounded in the experience of their economically poor communities?
How do we insure that community arts organizations are incorporated as an integral part of any grassroots learning experience?
Community Arts University Without Walls (CAUWW), first and foremost, seeks to engage young people who do not have access to higher education in community arts practices by initiating and supporting the design of various learning opportunities. Though inevitably a variety of programs will sprout to fit diverse needs and circumstances, the values of pluralism, participation, and equity will be a constant in each of them, as will the goals. These goals include: respect for community knowledge; a diverse faculty and student body; an economy with affordable tuition and compensation for community teachers; peer-to-peer learning; the use of new technology; job market expansion and placement; the development of the community arts field, emphasizing its roots in various social justice movements of the last century.
CAUWW programs will serve as a credential for the community arts field, which is rapidly becoming professionalized. Such professionalization must stay grounded in grassroots realities and responsive to the organizations that originated the field.
CAUWW also seeks ways to work with existing community arts programs in higher education, so that whenever possible, those programs are accessible and provide genuine learning experiences about cultural diversity.