A Lesson in Tribal Values -- Artists promote learning by creating classroom tribes

November 18, 1999

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By Ken Gewertz
Gazette Staff

Aisha Wiley has been an enthusiastic volunteer ever since she worked in a soup kitchen as a Boston University undergraduate and discovered the profound personal rewards of community service.

Now 26, she works as a staff assistant in Harvard’s Office of the Governing Boards, but holding down a 9 to 5 job has not detracted from her volunteer activities.

For the past year she has devoted between two and 10 hours per week to an organization she feels is unique in what it offers to the Boston community – the Cooperative Artists Institute (CAI).

Founded in 1970 by a small group of African-American artists, CAI began as a think tank devoted to finding ways to use the performing and visual arts to break down racism and build community. It brings teams of volunteer artists to schools, colleges, community centers, and businesses to conduct programs that employ the arts as a catalyst to promote positive change.

Wiley, who serves as volunteer coordinator for CAI, was attracted to the organization because of the way it combined community service with the arts. After working there for a while she realized that the job also offered great personal rewards.

"It’s given me a love for the city and its people, and it’s taken me to places I wouldn’t ordinarily have gone. It’s also stretched my artistic talents and my writing ability, and it’s made me look at how I spend my time. It’s been good for my whole person," she said.

Creating a ‘Learning Tribe’
CAI is one of 27 nonprofit groups funded by Community Works, a cooperative partnership of grassroots organizations helping ordinary people to come together and effect change in their lives and in their communities.

One of CAI’s most successful initiatives is Tribal Rhythms, a violence prevention program for children ages 5 to 12. CAI currently offers Tribal Rhythms in partnership with 15 afterschool programs. The program has also been published as a curriculum guide and has been adopted and applied successfully as far away as Verona, Ore.

John Curtis Jones, one of CAI’s original founders and a member of the group’s executive management team, said that Tribal Rhythms "helps teachers create a learning tribe. It’s a strategy for creating a safe learning environment in which children can make decisions, learn about one another, and communicate with the entire class."

Artists from CAI introduce the learning-tribe idea with a participatory performance in which children make music on drums and other handcrafted instruments. The exhilarating experience of music-making is followed by lessons in self-control, inclusivity, and a discussion of the tribal values of caring, cooperation, and respect.

Jones, a musician and storyteller who grew up in Roxbury, sees the societies created through the Tribal Rhythms program as providing a positive version of the sense of belonging that children and adolescents often seek in gangs.

"The need to belong is a powerful drive," he said. "It’s so strong that we’ll do it in negative ways if there are no alternatives available. What separates these groups from street gangs is the presence of caring adults who serve as role models."

In addition to Tribal Rhythms, CAI also offers a number of other programs. These include:

• The Teen Peace Drum Project, designed to help teens develop artistic talents and entrepreneurial and life skills, earn income, and learn to work together as a team during a critical time in their lives.

• Urban School Parnerships, helping inner-city schools achieve excellence through innovative programming and support for students, teachers, and parents. Current partnerships include schools in Boston, Chelsea, and Somerville.

• 2000 Flags, bringing diverse groups of people together though the creation of a monumental installation of community-created art that will ‘wave in’ the new millennium on First Night 2000.

Jones says that everything CAI does is based on the idea of community. In his view, the skills that promote community have to be carefully taught and nurtured.

"That sense of caring for others is something we often take for granted, but you have to know how to do it. I learned music mostly for my own pleasure. Then I realized I could use it to teach people how to create community."

To make a donation to Community Works, the Cooperative Artists Institute, or any other charity, simply designate the charity on the green charity-of-my-choice pledge card contained in the Community Gifts Through Harvard package and return the card to your local keyperson.