37 Small City Social & Cultural • Feature • William George Anisa George, arborist, on how the collaborative process being proposed is a cultural shift in our arts/city ecosystem. • How might we most effectively collaborate “cross-sector” with artists? • How might we best promote the voice of artists in the city-building work of housing, healthcare, homelessness, drug addition, etc.? • How do we move from thinking that art is a kind of expensive variation of the entertainment business or some sort of “economic engine” to a deep realization that art is, if properly applied, a sophisticated sort of “play” that allows us to better understand the mystery of being alive and how we might more harmoniously live together. In all this, what will best serve the entire community must be at the center of the conversation, and that understanding, as much as possible, is most successful when all elements of the community have their voices heard when deciding where its center resides. Not all artists are created equal. This is not to say that the effort alone, to collaborate with the arts sector, isn’t an important victory unto itself, but there
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