CWP
COMMUNITY WRITING PROJECT
1. Mission Statement
The Community Writing Project offers adult writing and publishing workshops to residents of poor and immigrant neighborhoods in Chicago and in some other areas. We believe that every person is a thinker and an artist, that the stories people tell about their lives contain important insights for themselves and their neighbors and that the seeds for change can be found in the artistic and intellectual renderings of ordinary people. Our goal is to provide a forum for creative expression in which people can share their experiences, examine their lives, and become recognized within their communities as writers and leaders. By encouraging the workshop writers to communicate their thoughts to others and reflect collectively on the meaning of their everyday experiences, the Project strives to increase the participation of ordinary people in civic life. In past community writing groups, members have started larger discussions within their neighborhoods of themes raised in their writing and in some instances have taken action to change the conditions of their lives.
The Project publishes writing from the workshops in a magazine, Real Conditions, and distributes it to families, friends, and neighbors. We see the writing as part of a larger flow of popular art that emanates from the communities where the writers live and work. It has been our experience that the simple, profound truth in people’s written stories has wide appeal. Children and youth are among those who are most moved by these stories. They invariably express great pride in their elders who have written, and are often moved to write.
The Community Writing Project aims to strengthen the link between locally produced art and community building by making the workshops and publications self-sustaining programs within the communities. It does this by supporting writers in becoming writing workshop teachers, and by working with neighborhood schools and community organizations to incorporate the writing project into existing adult programs.
2. The Method
The writing workshops meet in community sites where the creative work of the members is the primary content of the sessions. Participants read and discuss each others’ work and collectively help develop pieces that eventually appear in Real Conditions. The atmosphere in the workshops is cooperative, comfortable, and friendly. All are welcome. Some workshops meet weekly and are ongoing; others meet more often for shorter, predetermined lengths of time. We make the publications available to community institutions such as schools, churches, businesses, libraries, social service agencies, and food banks. Following the release of a magazine, the writers often host a public event where the writing can be discussed more widely with families, friends, neighbors and interested others.
3. Affiliation/Support/Funding
The Community Writing Project is affiliated with the “Community Writing and Research Project” (CWRP) of the UIC PRAIRIE Group in the College of Education, and the UIC Great Cities Neighborhoods Initiative.The CWP is supported in great part by the voluntary efforts of participating writers and trained writing teachers. We also receive funding from community partners, private foundations, corporate contributions, and individual donations.
4. Contact Information
For more information, contact Janise Hurtig, PRAIRIE Group, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1640 W. Roosevelt Road, Suite 613, Chicago, IL 60608, Ph. (312) 413-3367, e-mail jhurtig@uic.edu
