Not Your Average Art Communities by Lily Viola


I Creativity and Community: Getting Started


“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.”


~ Carl Sagan


Why people engage in creative opportunities in their communi- ties is a question that has long been debated. In 1998, the Urban Land Institute conducted a study to uncover the answer. According to participants, people’s primary motivations include:


1. celebrate heritage


2. support community events or organizations


3. learn something about another time or culture


4. learn more about a particular form of art or cultural expression


5. experience the high quality of an art


6. support a family member or friend


7. participate in a religious service, ceremony or ritual


8. get together with friends or family for social reasons


In every case, the phenomenon of inspired community enhances our individual and collective quality of life.


n Walking in this World – The Practical Art of Creativity, well-known author Julia Cameron condemns our cash-conscious culture for its mythology that says we must be full-time artists to be real artists. “We hear this to mean no day jobs,” says Cameron, who believes that in fact, we all qualify as full-time artists, simply because our life is supposed to be our art. If what Cameron sug- gests is true—our art is something we do in our life, and with it—then living “the artist’s way” means we need community, no matter its size or form, to flourish and express ourselves creatively.


A Tango Community


Buenos Aires native Pablo Rapun expresses his creativity as a dance instructor within a thriving Naples Tango com- munity. Teaching Argentine Tango lessons since 1993, this man with fluid artistic movements thrives on being able to transmit a feeling of the music to his partner. He special- izes in improvisation, the cornerstone of Tango. “Unlike ballroom dancing, which uses structured steps, improvisa- tion means that you can’t prepare for anything, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he explains. Rapun and his wife/dance partner, Alicia, have built a Tango community that extends from Miami to Sarasota. He began offering private instruction in Miami in 2004, but gradually, an interest in Argentine Tango emerged in Naples. Now, he offers private lessons and group instruction at the Naples Bath & Tennis Club and the Naples Italian American Club. He also hosts a monthly Milonga, an event where dancers can show off their Tango or Milonga steps, which are similar to the basic elements of Tango. “My ar- tistic creativity is expressed in my teaching and improvisation,” notes Rapun, who marvels at his ever-expanding community of people, now numbering 80, who travel from Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Sarasota to be together, share fun and prowess, and dance the night away.


A Real Estate Community


While an eye for market trends, price point fluctuations and short sales might not be considered a traditional art form, it’s the art of the deal that Realtor Wil Bedard practices every day within a burgeoning Naples real estate community of 5,000 licensed Florida Realtors.


“Not many people realize that every time a Realtor sells a home, a community of people goes to work to help repair our local economy,” advises Bedard, whose license hangs on the wall at his Naples Coldwell Banker office. Generally, the community includes two Realtors, attor- neys, legal assistants, home inspectors, an appraisal expert, loan officers and staff and a pest inspector, as well as painters, tile installers, plumbers, electricians and other professionals associated with home renovations. “And that doesn’t include the people in my office who touch the stack of paperwork,” laughs Bedard, who arrived on the real estate scene in 2006, only to watch the market slide downhill. “It takes creativity to do business in this kind of economy, and I get to use my mine daily.”


Pablo Rapun, 239-738-4184, PabloRepunTango.com. See ad, page 10.


Wil Bedard, WBedard.com, 239-961-2710, William@wbedard.com. See ad, page 27.


natural awakenings September 2010 35


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