Heidelberg Project

I am involved with the arts community in Dayton, Ohio. I am lucky enough to teach at a unique learning space called ArtStreet Village, and because of this opportunity, I get to meet and work with artists of all kinds. Over the fall, I kept hearing buzz about these painted houses in Detroit. So, I decided to investigate them myself. It is entitled The Heidelberg Project. Below is a link about its origination. On Heidelberg Street, artists has turned abandoned houses into living sculpture. This is really invigorating parts of the city and bringing art into the everyday experiences of Detroiters. Kids are learning about art in their own world.

There is talk of trying to do this kind of project in Dayton also. Lord knows that there is no shortage of abandoned houses in America of the present. If cities are not going to tear these down, then the residents will use creativity to try to bring life to neighborhoods.

Economist Richard Florida has been arguing for years about the emergence of "The Creative Class" in America, even prior to the 2008 recession. He argues that we are headed into a two-tier class system of a post-materialistic world: the Creative and the Service Classes. Pundits argue daily over the disappearing middle class. Maybe Florida's reality is truly coming into being.

The two-tier system will not be about money though, like the current class, or caste, system in America is. It will be about meeting the ever-changing and complex challenges of our world today with creativity. Only through creativity can America dig itself out of this gigantic hole that we are in today. It was creativity that made America great in the first place. At one time, Dayton had 500 patent lawyers. Today, there are none in town. We need to revitalize creative juices to bring Detroit and America back. And, projects like the Heidelberg Project are doing exactly this!