Nat Creole: How did Violence Transformed come about? After so many years of advocating for the rights of women and children, what led you to the use of the arts as a vehicle for spreading your message?

Mary Harvey: The idea for Violence Transformed began with two events: one, my taking a monoprint class at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and, in that class, seeing the work of three printmakers whose work spoke powerfully to the intrapersonal, intergenerational and community-wide impact of violence on human lives; and, two, my preparing to step down as Founding Director of the Victims of Violence Program of the Cambridge Health Alliance in order to “semi-retire” and pursue a life-long interest in art and art-making. In stepping down, I had this idea of organizing a small (emphasis on the word “small”) art exhibit to coincide with the Annual Victim Rights Conference held annually by the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance (MOVA) which, over the years, has provided needed Victim of Crime Act (VOCA) funds for the VOV Program. In other words, I thought of the exhibit as a small way of saying “thank you” to MOVA.

The idea caught the imagination of artists, arts administrators, curators, human service providers and social activists throughout the state and led to “Violence Transformed: An Exhibition of Selected Works” held at the Massachusetts State House in April 2007 with contributions from over 200 artists and an unforgettable evening of music, dance, and spoken word performances. I don’t think the State House had ever experienced anything quite like it! As a result, we are doing it again . . . hoping to launch Violence Transformed 2008 as the first in what we hope will be an annual celebration of the transformative power of art and art-making.

NC: So you found a natural link between violence prevention advocacy and the arts?

MH: I think many things led me to connect with the arts community in Boston and to the idea of mobilizing its creative energy in the service of community development and violence prevention. I know, for example, that my own increasing involvement in the world of art-making has made it possible for me

to envision different realities for the human community. Art and art-making contribute mightily to the health and vitality of our communities: allowing us and our children to express horrific pain, channel understandable aggression, grieve terrible losses, imagine alternatives to violence and literally transform the landscapes of our lives. It is not an accident, I think, that in some of our cities’ most beleaguered communities, churches, schools, and violence prevention organizations stress over and over again the desire to get art programs into the city and the power of creativity into the hands of our children. I guess I want to be part of bringing that transformative power to bear on the “ecology” of life in my world. Very few of those who are victimized by violent crime ever see a therapist, and while I love doing clinical work, I believe that art has the power to reach so very many more lives and to contribute to the health and well-being of our diverse communities. We need to support and celebrate that power.

NC: You have mobilized a great deal of the Boston arts community behind this effort. How did you get such a diverse coalition to coalesce
around your vision?

MH: Interesting question. I don’t think I did pull this coalition together. And I’m not sure that I provided any “grand vision”. I think I had one good idea and was able to enlist the help of really key people: Janet Fine, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance (whose sister is an artist, by the way) liked the idea of associating an art exhibit with the Victim Rights Conference. She got us Doric Hall at the State House! Gail Bos, one of the printmakers I mentioned earlier, embraced the idea and reached out to Barry Gaither who is the Director of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and who agreed to curate a portion of the exhibit. Another artist friend linked us with Kathleen Bitetti, Director of Boston’s Artists’ Foundation. She agreed to serve as another curator and to connect us with The Cloud Foundation whose Teen Curators agreed to curate the contributions of urban youth and whose Spoken Word Performance Group agreed to perform at the State House. We learned of the “Life Worth Remembering: Images of Four Street Shrines” being organized by Anne Tobey, Director of Wheelock College’s Juvenile Justice and Advocacy Program. We were blown away by the exhibit and by Anne’s and her colleagues’ willingness to bring part of that exhibit to Violence Transformed.

In other words, folks who knew folks and artists who knew artists spread the word and reached out to one another; and, community organizers and agency administrators joined in the search for a new way of working together. As our working group grew and the vision expanded, I was fortunate enough to remember that my daughter Maggie is married to Jonathan Shirland who is a British Art Historian and, who, before moving to Boston, was the Director of Public Programs at the Royal Academy of Art in London. When he agreed to become involved, all of us involved in the fledgling stages of Violence Transformed breathed a huge sigh of relief. When Marshall Hughes, Director of Visual and Performing Arts at Roxbury Community College, agreed to help us organize the Opening Reception, we knew that something very unique was going to happen. So, the coalition grew rather naturally.

What I think is important is to note that the diversity of the players in Violence Transformed is a direct reflection of the diversity of our communities. While this diversity often means segregation and isolation in so many aspects of our lives (i.e. the neighborhoods we live in, the places we worship, if we worship, the schools we attend, and the places we work)—it seems that in the world of art, we can come together—i.e. we can work together, we can play together, and we can accomplish something important together in ways that are enriching and authentic.

NC: What are the future plans for Violence Transformed? Is there a plan to replicate the model for other communities?

MH: This is the big question, I guess. Right now we are trying to make Violence Transformed 2008 a success, and to incorporate new events and venues into the program. So, this year, for example, we will had an exhibit open at Roxbury Community College on April 13 which will move to the State House on April 28; and, Wheelock College and the Cloud Foundation are co-curating a Wheelock-based event “Ubunto: Youth Transforming Violence” that will open April 21, with portions of that exhibit moving to the State House on April 28. These exhibits will be joined by those curated by Barry Gaither and the Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists and representatives of the Artists’ Foundation. Jon Shirland is serving again as our Artistic Director and Marshall Hughes as our Director of Performing Arts. At Cambridge Health Alliance, my colleague and successor Barbara Hamm, Director of the Victims of Violence Program, has organized a series of performances called “Transforming Violence” spanning the period February to June, 2008. So we have a lot going on, and more people who seem to want to become involved as the exhibit date nears.

We want to see Violence Transformed become an annual event in Boston. The creative energy and will is here. What will be crucial is to see what kind of financial support we can amass for the event. Right now, we have a small amount of grant money (better than the zero grant money we had last year, but still not a lot) and are largely dependent on donations. We hope to put some kind of development strategy together once we get past this year’s event.

In terms of moving to other communities – it looks like a DVD of our exhibit will be available and will travel, at least throughout Massachusetts and possibly elsewhere. I would love to see the idea of Violence Transformed travel to other communities: there are so many artists doing important work in so many communities and there is a great need for artists and activists to come together to enrich the lives of individuals, families and communities at risk of violence. So, my hope is that the idea might take off as it took off here. It is an important idea.