In 2003, Understanding Neighbors brought together nearly 100 citizens in Anchorage, AK, in a month-long series of dialogues to address one of the community’s most contentious civic questions: “What is the social, moral, and legal place of same-sex couples in our society?” Understanding Neighbors, a collaborative project sponsored by Out North Contemporary Art House, in partnership with the Interfaith Council of Anchorage and Alaska Common Ground, aimed to foster respectful dialogue and mutual understanding among community members holding divergent views on this question.  Artists Peter Carpenter, Sara Felder, and Stephan Mazurek created eight performance-based video works derived from interviews with community members to serve as dialogue catalysts. Using a dialogue approach based on a Public Conversations Project model, the project trained 25 community volunteers to facilitate dialogues. To engage a mix of Alaskans with socially conservative, moderate, and liberal viewpoints on the topic, the project implemented a broad-based recruitment and media strategy.

This case study reveals project organizers’ discoveries in relation to employing art with a “point of view” in dialogues, as well as in relation to tensions between creative autonomy and civic intent in creating the artistic work. In addition, given Out North’s activist-oriented leadership and previous work, the case study also examines the benefits and pitfalls of Out North’s effort to position itself as a more neutral space in order to encourage diverse participation, and also endeavors to answer the key questions that this prompted about civic dialogue as a means to achieve Out North’s vision for social change in its community.

In 2003, Understanding Neighbors brought together nearly 100 citizens in Anchorage, AK, in a month-long series of dialogues to address one of the community’s most contentious civic questions: “What is the social, moral, and legal place of same-sex couples in our society?” Understanding Neighbors, a collaborative project sponsored by Out North Contemporary Art House, in partnership with the Interfaith Council of Anchorage and Alaska Common Ground, aimed to foster respectful dialogue and mutual understanding among community members holding divergent views on this question.  Artists Peter Carpenter, Sara Felder, and Stephan Mazurek created eight performance-based video works derived from interviews with community members to serve as dialogue catalysts. Using a dialogue approach based on a Public Conversations Project model, the project trained 25 community volunteers to facilitate dialogues. To engage a mix of Alaskans with socially conservative, moderate, and liberal viewpoints on the topic, the project implemented a broad-based recruitment and media strategy.

This case study reveals project organizers’ discoveries in relation to employing art with a “point of view” in dialogues, as well as in relation to tensions between creative autonomy and civic intent in creating the artistic work. In addition, given Out North’s activist-oriented leadership and previous work, the case study also examines the benefits and pitfalls of Out North’s effort to position itself as a more neutral space in order to encourage diverse participation, and also endeavors to answer the key questions that this prompted about civic dialogue as a means to achieve Out North’s vision for social change in its community.