Urban Regeneration

The word connects with the civitas, the city. At the start of the new millennium mankind has become, quantitatively, an urban rather than an agrarian creature. Our time has seen a significant uprooting and movement of peoples. There are acute problems concerning migration, homelessness and refugee communities as more people cluster in or around the cities.

ArtVenture is concerned with the regenerative social and economic effects of art, artwork, artists, art institutions and activities in the life of cities. We are especially interested in opportunities for investment in the slum cultures of Africa, India, Latin America and South East Asia. These will include bringing music, theatre and dance to the slums and favelas.

The traffic will in no sense be one way. Congregations of people, even in poor conditions, spawn lively art forms and cultural innovations. Jazz, the 20th Century's songs, needing little outlay in terms of instruments, conquered the airwaves of the world when they mutated into rock'n'roll.

ArtVenture exists to enable. Examples of the living arts making a real difference are as diverse as a project in northern Brazil in which children from favellas attend ballet classes after school instead of being drawn into gang life; the artistic refurbishment of a school for the children of migrant workers in Beijing; and the establishment of an artistic childrens club to reintegrate Phnom Penh's street children into the community.

© (Photograph) Copyright Barefoot Artists, Inc.