The City of Hart presents: The H-Art Project community culture initiative

Project Description

The City of Hart has had a group of volunteers create a group named the H-Art Project. The HArt Project now functions under the Hart Economic and Redevelopment Team a non-profit organization supported by the city and focused on economic and community development goals. In the past year, the HArt Project has established a goal of beautifying Hart and enhancing local cultural opportunities through its ambitious initiative of bringing 25 works of art to Hart by 2025. The 20 by 25 initiative began last fall with the inaugural HArt Prize which allowed the public to vote on three commissioned murals. This past weekend, at the 50th Annual National Asparagus Festival, the HArt Project dedicated another art piece, in a 24-foot-tall Tin Man sculpture. (At that time, the tin man found his heart in Hart, Michigan.) The HArt Project has grown from a handful of people to hundreds of volunteers that are working together to make our community special. This initiative is gaining steam and bringing our small town together in new ways that are both exciting and heartwarming.

Is your project easy to replicate in other communities (clear in its impact and execution for other communities)?

Yes

What is the Community Wealth Impact (based on one or more of the categories you selected) of your project?

Diverse art and culture are quickly lost in rural areas, leading to a loss of opportunity to significant portions of our population that don’t have the means or desire to travel. Bringing culture to enrich the lives of local residents, their children, and grandchildren has shown to improve overall physical and mental health and contributes to lifelong learning opportunities. The auxiliary benefit of this initiative is the financial security and sustainability that comes with drawing new and diverse groups of tourists that have an interest in seeking culture while traveling.

Describe the creativity and originality of your project.

The project was developed by a small group of community stakeholders, with an interest in providing new opportunities to long-time residents of our small rural community. The creativity of establishing the Tin-Man sculpture as the first large installation is key due to the tin man’s historical representation a logger and teaching that deforestation is what drove our local economy in the late 1800’s and led to the creation of the Silver Lake Sand Dunes, just adjacent to Hart. The Tin-Man also was used as a political figure in the early 1900’s as a representation of the industrial growth in the country and how new machines could be used to replace older agricultural standards that were represented by the scarecrow figure. Future project goals include developing more education through art on how our agriculture-based area closely connects with global needs and how its sustainability is key to the future of our society. Other new and coming works of art will continue to build on our community’s agricultural heritage as well as its historical integration with area Native American Indians and strong migrant populations that make our small city quite a melting pot of different backgrounds. Our Historic District Museum includes one of the largest Native American Indian Artifact collections in the country. These pieces are all being brought together by the H-Art Project!