Kelly Writers House hosts panel on newly published anthology on democracy as a creative practice

The Kelly Writers House held a discussion on the connection between creative arts and civic engagement, featuring 2000 College graduate and Drexel University professor Andrew Zitcer  and two Philadelphia-based artists on Oct. 31. 

The discussion was sponsored by the Creative Writing Program, Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, and #VoteThatJawn. It was inspired by the recently published anthology “Democracy as Creative Practice: Weaving a Culture of Civic Life,” which Zitcer co-edited. 

Moderated by Creative Writing Program Director Julia Bloch, the panel drew around 30 people. Zitcer was joined by Lisa Jo Epstein, the founder of Just Act in Philadelphia, and Kirsten Kaschock, a Drexel’s Writers Room Fellow.

During the talk, the panelists focused on the connection between creative arts and the need to take action against ongoing social issues. 

“Every single person in the world is implicated in this struggle, and we all have a creative and generative role to play,” Zitcer said. “Whether you’re an artist, a non-artist — maybe you don’t think of yourself as an artist — your creativity is called for in this emergency.”

Panelists discussed issues such as public education, housing inequality, voting, and community engagement. The speakers shared their own insights and experiences with advocacy and the pursuit of creative arts as a means of enacting change and raising awareness. 

Epstein spoke about her experience running Just Act, an organization that uses “theater and story as a catalyst for relational healing, working for cultural equity and justice and to build a just world.” 

“[Art] is about activating new imaginations and pathways and then making those very much based in community practice,” Zitcer said. 

He said that Drexel’s Writers Room is the “leap” from writing to taking action in issues like “housing justice, police keeping, and preserving affordability and home ownership for communities that have been marginalized and pushed out.”

“We have to really think about, when we talk about democracy, who's really fighting for it? Our teachers are fighting for it,” Zitcer said. “We know this in the newspapers, our librarians are fighting for it, our communities are fighting for it, but it is a fight, and we all have a call to action.”

Kaschock discussed the meaning of the name of the Writers Room and its significance to other writers.

“It started as the Writers Room doesn't have an apostrophe, because it is not a place where that writers own, but it's a place that they are,” Kaschock said. “Any place that writers would gather was the place for the Writers Room. And that has continued as we shift and as we travel.”

The event ended with a 30-minute question and answer section with audience members.

College sophomore Isabel Schickler said that she found the panel insightful, adding that she gained a lot from the discussions on creativity. 

“It especially hit me as a STEM major where I feel like I can’t always be creative,” Schickler said. “I know that the topic of the conversation was more about democracy as a creative practice. I kind of took it into my own life as how can I make my life more creative.” 

Participants asked questions related to the topics of individual privilege and creative arts in public education. 

College sophomore Kate Wong reflected on the connections between the discussions on public education and her experiences learning about them in her urban studies class. 

“When they started talking about defunding in public schools, and how public schools have a role in creating citizens who are civically engaged, it tied into what I’m learning in class,” Wong said. “It’s really neat to see how people right now are practicing these things we’re talking about.”