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The art of activism

Arizona Summer Wildcat

The Tucson Arts Brigade utilizes artwork as means to voice their message

In a small, low-rent art studio in the heart of downtown Tucson, a small group of UA students and local volunteers brave humid temperatures and primitive facilities to create their artwork.

The group's raw, vibrant murals and giant, life-like puppets loom over the used paint brushes and cans. Their works are examples of the feelings, beliefs and principles that flow through these artists' veins.

Still, the Tucson Arts Brigade is much more than a group of artists. They are activists who fight for, among other things, cultural renewal and workers' rights awareness. Their murals paint a picture of a society in need of change - and the volunteer members of the Tucson Arts Brigade believe they are messengers who can bring the world's needs into the open.

"Basically, we're doing community art. We're working in traditional and non-traditional settings," said Michael Schwartz, a co-founder of the group. "We've done stuff in schools, community centers, neighborhood centers, at festivals, on the streets - anywhere where there are groups of people doing things and in ways that we can bring people together in some type of creative experience."

Bringing people together is at the heart of the Brigade's artwork. The murals themselves are just the end result of weekly meetings where group members discuss human interest issues and how to express their beliefs.

"One of the main purposes is to use culture to educate and build community - to bring together people of different ages, from different parts of the community, and work on something that's cultural (like) art or street theater," said Rachael Shively, Brigade education coordinator.

Past community audience member ages have ranged from 4 to 88 years old. This multigenerational audience has added depth to the message of the group's work while blending contemporary ideas and expressions.

The Brigade's most recent mural, dedicated to workers' rights and safety violations found at the Tucson based Brush-Wellman Corporation, depicts suffocating workers and children at the hands of the company. The Brigade is protesting the use of beryllium in the factory, a dangerous element that can be fatal if inhaled.

"We have reports from factory workers who say the safety procedures are not up to standards," said Shively, an anthropology and women's studies senior. "When OSHA (the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration) comes in, (the company) makes sure the workers are in their safety suits, but when they leave, workers go back to normal. They are in danger because Brush-Wellman does not care about their safety."

According to documents provided by the Brigade, 25 workers suffer from chronic beryllium disease.

Murals like the Brush-Wellman piece can be found throughout Tucson. Six other murals have been unveiled on playgrounds and buildings which depict a wide range of activist thought.

"I'm really interested in how you can use cultural things like painting and theater - fun things - to educate and get people involved," Shively said.

One University of Arizona student has found a home in the Brigade, balancing homework with artwork.

Claire Tomkins, a bioengineering senior, said the organization gave her a better understanding of real-world policy, something that she felt was under-appreciated in the UA population.

"I think it is partly about being involved in a larger community. The university community is very insular," she said. "Once I moved here and realized that this is a really good way to get involved in the community because the Arts Brigade studio is always open to the public so that anybody can come in and do artwork."

"It was really the opportunity to do artwork and work on larger community issues that don't necessarily affect the immediate U of A population."

Rooted in art, based on neighborhood

The Brigade was the result of Schwartz's experience during the 1995 "Tucson Arts and Social Change" gathering, which saw a collection of local artists who brainstormed ways to improve the neighborhood art scene.

"I tried to identify what were some of the missing elements in building a progressive and critically thinking cultural community - a community that understood the concept of cultural democracy," said Schwartz, who earned his master's of fine arts degree from the UA.

"What we identified was the need for more after school, in-school, and weekend programming for people of all ages and all walks of life to come together and express themselves around issues of concern to them."

As with most grassroots organizations, the Brigade started with a few people who shared the same opinions.

In the case of the Brigade, the main goal was to increase the exposure of community related issues in a city known for its cultural diversity and heritage.

"The community-based culture, the house-to-house, neighbor-to-neighbor culture here in Tucson is incredibly rich - possibly one of the wealthiest areas culturally in the nation," Schwartz said. "We're really seeking to express that. Think about 'Union History' murals."

"Do you see one? No. And yet, Arizona had one of the strongest union history records in the country, and was home to some of the most radical unionists anywhere. But you have to ask, 'Where is it? There's been nothing told."

Schwartz said the Brigade has come a long way since he began holding meetings at his house. He and the other members of the group were prepared for the struggle and have been happy with their progress.

"We started in the streets and the sites where we were creating murals or temporary chalk murals and in my backyard," Schwartz said. "That's where we stayed for two and a half years."

"Here we were, this grassroots, neighborhood-based group, and we couldn't find a studio, and we had a hard time finding support partly because what we were doing was so new. People didn't understand if we were an arts organization or an activist organization or education organization."

Elder community members have also been a strong influence in both the creation of the Brigade as well as its purpose, Schwartz added. The Brigade's contemporary artwork is always rooted in the past, depicting the struggles of past community members while celebrating their advances.

"We're all different stripes of people because we are reaching out to people's history," he said. "The big projects that we're working on right now are the popular education and we have a union history mural - 100 years of Arizona labor history - and another large mural, 'The Spirit of the Wolf,' with the center for biological diversity."

In terms of giving back to the community that has supported the group's efforts, Schwartz said he has seen past members carry on the tradition of using art for activism purposes.

"A couple years ago, we fell into a space and we started to fill it up very quickly and that really helped to focus in terms of doing more popular education work and sharing what we're doing," he said. "People have taken the work that they've learned here - the mask making techniques, the collaborative mural techniques - and have gone out into the community and done this work. That is very important to us because we want to be a breeding ground for that. We want to support and foster the community artwork."

Another aim of the Brigade involves increasing effective education through creative means. Not only does the group create murals and other artwork, it writes street theater and poetry.

"We are using education in a democratic way, trying to get everyone involved as participants - but we focus on the arts," Shively said. "For example, we have somebody from the community who has been involved in activism and they come and give a presentation and storytelling. After that, the participants, who are mostly younger, listen to the presentation and respond."

"For the first three classes, we did an issue with a corporation that is in Tucson who has abused a lot of environmental (resources) and has done a lot of environmental degradation. We did presentations on that and then made a banner."

As a community-minded group, the Brigade usually works with other progressive organizations. They try to add a new element - murals and theater - to the efforts of other groups.

"We work with other progressive organizations in town to create artwork for them," Shively said. "For example, there was a march on July 4 for Derechos Humanos to help raise awareness about border issues. We worked with them to create artwork and brought our large puppets and banners. We brought our large puppets and banners to add another element to the parade."

The work with other organizations have helped the Brigade recruit members. Because the group is open to the public at all times, its membership varies weekly.

"I think part of the way people get involved in the Tucson Arts Brigade is the fact that we do so many collaborations with other groups," Tomkins said. "I was previously a member of Amnesty (International), and we were an organization that did a collaborative effort with the Tucson Arts Brigade. We do so much with other organizations that it is easy to draw in other members from other supporting causes."

Tomkins added that the UA is usually well represented during the meetings.

"We have several university students who are involved. A couple of them are involved in Amnesty and Students Against Sweatshops," she said.

Goals for the future and the struggle for funding

As a non-profit organization, the Brigade has felt the financial pressures affecting most organizations that depend solely on donations.

"This month, we're looking at rent - how are we going to pay it, we're not sure," Schwartz said. "People come through and chip in each month."

The Brigade relies heavily on contributions from progressive businesses, as well as Tucson Arts organizations. Tucson Pima Arts Counsel and Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, 1730 E. Speedway Blvd., are among the many entities that have donated funding.

"We've received a couple very small grants, but nothing substantial. Yet, we've managed to offer between four and 16 hours a week in programming for four years now," Schwartz said.

He added that much of the money the Brigade has raised comes from "everyday people dropping in a couple of bucks."

The Brigade has become an international success as well, with people throughout the world visiting its Web page and sending letters of support.

"About 30 percent of our support comes from outside the state - from as far away as England. We've had (communication) from New Zealand, Germany and Brazil," Schwartz said. "People have heard about us through the Internet, through articles - our neighborhood has been a major support.

"We're really reaching out to everybody, and we unexpectedly became a model just by doing something unique and going on our own and without having the strings of worrying about a grant and things like that - having a really firm foundation of all the cultural work done in the community arts movement in the 50s, 60s, 70s and so on. We had so much to build on and a lot of those people, our elders, have served as advisors."

Shively said that while each member supports the group morally and financially, the return is greater than the investment - which can be seen in her dedication and preparation for her future.

"I'm actually going to end up going to graduate school for popular education, but first, I'll be going to Guatemala and staying there for seven months," she said. "I have a volunteer position at a women's health collective in Guatemala City."

Where they are located or how they are paying the Brigade's expenses are not the issues that concern this band of innovators. Their goal is to have the art fill the void where capitalism displaces compassion.

Ty Young can be reached at city@wildcat.arizona.edu.