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Executive Summary
"Before The Barbeque: An Ethnographic Examination of Use of Space, Community Formation, and Arts Involvement in Near North and North Town Village"
Research Intern: Deirdre Pfeiffer, Northwestern University
Community Partner: North Town Village (NTV)
The Question(s):
 In 1999, the Chicago Housing Authority instituted "The Plan for Transformation," a contract to rebuild or rehab 25,000 units of public housing by 2009. Under its guidelines, all properties that are too expensive to repair will be replaced by new mixed-income housing developments. Currently, residents of vastly different social, economic, and racial backgrounds are living beside one another in the five developments that already skim the edges of Cabrini-Green. What are the informal arts assets in and around North Town Village that could bring residents of North Town Village together and forge a homogeneous community of multi-income residents?
Methods:
The researcher set out to identify local assets through participant observation and interviews.
Key Findings: The following ethnographic report examines use of space, community formation, and informal arts activities in North Town Village, a mixed-income housing development, and Near North, its neighborhood context.
- 1) NTV has an abundance of planned activities for children, but few events for adults.
- 2) Even though the development has two community rooms and a large garden with walking space, both amenities are not easily accessible to the public.
- 3) Residents talk to one another as passersby on the streets and form their own community space both in townhome stairwells and on the south side curbs.
- 4) Public space in the community is occupied geographically along racial, social, and economic lines. However, the Near North Library and Seward Park serve as integrative spaces where all residents are welcomed to meet, play, and 'be.'
- 5) While structured communities are formed around diverse groups of residents, unstructured groups tend to be composed of similar residents. Most art activity was observed in groups of adults and children interacting in a structured framework, such as a tutor mentoring or summer program, rather than informal arts projects.
- 6) Half of all interviewed artists consider their work visual arts. While there are an abundance of educational, spatial, participatory, and spectator art opportunities in the neighborhood, the majority are oriented toward visual arts.
- 7) Most residents perceive their community in terms of the changes happening to it. While some fight or support the transformations, others seek to document the restructuring of the neighborhood. All residents hope that people will try and connect with one another in the coming years.
- 8) Even though some advocated for community meetings, centers, barbeques, and sit down dinners, most residents stressed that true community building lies within the choice residents make to say "hi" to one another and invite each other over for dinner.
Findings in Action:
 The dissemination proposal and recommendation of the findings of the research was to create a local community bulletin board for news, programs and events happening in the community.Although Holsten has made a big step toward community building by distributing an arts-interest survey to its residents, management needs to work toward planning more adult-oriented social events and creating publicly accessible space. Barbeques and wine and cheese gatherings could bring residents together, while benches could open up the garden to social use. In addition, a bulletin board near the benches could serve as effective notification of neighborhood events and build community through 'residents of the month' displays.
In the surrounding area, a Near North Neighborhood Guide would inform residents about events and groups in the community, while forming neighborhood identity through geographic definition. In addition, Cabrini-Green walking tours would not only be a step towards creating a connective present, but also in preserving and understanding a rich past. Deirdre here proposes a local community guide to be distributed to all surrounding mixed-income communities that would clarify geographic placement and provide pictures and descriptions of all community spaces, groups and events. Walking tours of the former Cabrini Green, were also proposed to inform a new sense of community identity with respect for the former residents of the area.
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