In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a slight name change for CRADLE. It’s still CRADLE, but what the acronym stands for is different. It is now the Center for Rooted Arts Development in Local Economies. This doesn’t symbolize a major change  for CRADLE — we are still primarily focused on small and rural communities — but more of a shift acknowledging that the ideas we are developing here are applicable in other contexts.

I’d like to take this opportunity to break the name down a little, so that the meaning is clear.

CENTER: Of course, this is used in its traditional meaning of a place devoted to a particular subject. But metaphorically, the center as the  middle of things is, in this case, reversed. Most of the times the periphery serves the center, but here the center serves the periphery. CRADLE exists eventually to serve the arts organizations located acroos the nation, providing service, funding, development, information and communication.

ROOTED ARTS: A plant draws sustenance from the soil in which it is planted, and is shaped and affected by the composition and location of that soil. Similarly. rooted arts are nourished, shaped, and harvested in a specific place. Instead of mass media, rooted arts tells stories (through words, images, movement, sound) that are homemade, handcrafted, and community inspired.

LOCAL ECONOMIES: The Business Alliance for Living Local Communities is the source for this phrase. BALLE is focused on creating self-sufficient, joyful local economies that rely, as much as possible, on small, locally-owned businesses who use locally-produced materials. This is the TINA/LOIS split that was mentioned in this post. Similarly, CRADLE wants to create locally-owned and staffed arts organizations that are self-reliant and joyful. We believe that, like money, creativity has a multiplier effect — the more creativity taking place in a community, the stronger the community is and the more likely the people are to imaginatively solve problems and build social capital.

We hope that you will endorse of renaming, and see it as a refocusing that enhances our mission.

In many ways, Wendell Berry is the guiding light for CRADLE. He demonstrates through his glowing short stories that the particularism of place holds a deep well of meaning and resonance.

Berry recently wrote a letter to a class of student writers that, in Berry’s inimitable style, says a great deal in a small number of carefully chosen words. He concludes, “But you must never forget that the purpose of all this effort is to become capable of knowing and telling the truth.”

Has our culture, and our artists, forgotten this in their focus on style and form?