For the first time on public display, the completed “Art Cube” by Chords and Oil will be seen at the Topeka Home Builder’s Association 2010 Home Show, “Home is Where the Art Is.” The six and a half foot “Art Cube” was started by Chords and Oil as a live art interaction at the Arty Party (Arts Connect) in October, 2009. The cube is a celebration of Topeka, a great arts town.

“We are committed to partnering with other groups to accomplish our progressive vision for Topeka,” said said Andrea Engstrom, Chords and Oil board member.

Chords and Oil is an art collective consisting of 100 members, of which the average age is 28. The Chords and Oil Board of Directors consists of visual artists, musicians, poets, filmmakers, arts advocates, social activists, active volunteers, students and young professionals. The group formed in December, 2008 with the mission of effecting positive change to the Topeka arts community and, in doing so, to better the city of Topeka as a whole.

“We have a fundamental belief that people who are involved with the arts and given a chance to have an outlet for their creativity become better citizens,” said Chad Manspeaker, founding member of Chords and Oil.

Chords and Oil initiatives include public murals, community gardening and downtown revitalization. The group believes that a vibrant downtown would help the arts in Topeka by providing a setting for cultural progress. Chords and Oil members hope to create positive change through public service, by focusing on community beautification, environmental protection and education.

Since its debut event in Januray 2009, Chords and Oil has received positive feedback from the Topeka community.  “We have seen an absolute outpouring of support for what we are doing,” said Engstrom. “It is giving us momentum and motivating our group to dream bigger dreams for Topeka.”

You may know that I am a founding member of Chords and Oil, so my choice was a bit selfish.  The community garden was an idea that many of us in the group had some months ago about affecting real lasting change in our community and I’m proud to announce we went through with it-unlike so many good ideas that are born of impassioned conversation and quickly die from the reality of the work it takes to make them materialize.

My friend and fellow founder of the group, Ashley Laird was responsible for finding us the land and helping to coordinate with the Chesney Park Neighborhood Improvement Association .  She has also guided much of the work done thus far.  Before this weekend, it had been a project supported by a few community activists.  Today, it is something larger.  The neighborhood opened their doors, came outside and got involved.  We got many smiles and waves from the folks driving by.  When I would tell people what we were up to their eyes lit up.  The excitement of taking a blighted corner and turning it into something productive was contagious.

But this is bigger than a singular weekend of community spirit.  Over the last few months I have become more and more interested in how we fix our communities.  The fix, as I see it, is easy.  We teach each other how to be communities again.  This garden is about feeding a neighborhood.  It is about showing others how to feed themselves including those that started the garden.

If we, as Kansans, are to survive and prosper in this world we live in we must start turning our focus back home.  We must look to what we eat, what we grow, what we produce, who our neighbors are, what their hardships are and how we can change.  Food is a good first step.  It feeds the soul.  It feeds the body.  And when it’s produced by community hands, it feeds the spirit.

My new focus has become how we can look at the resources that are available to us and make them produce returns that make us more reliant on ourselves.  In these caustic political times my advice to my friends is to look at your neighborhood, look at your city and look at your state.  These are things we can fix.  I cannot make President Obama do what I want.  I cannot make Glenn Beck be rational.  But I can make a difference with my hands, my muscles and my sweat in the place I call home.  These are brave and amazing times and we must harness what works without neglecting the most simple of ideas.

By Chad Manspeaker for Forward Kansas.