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| from city of Grand Rapids, MI newsletter, January 12, 2024 |
This morning the city council's newsletter came by email and included the following text.
55 special events on tap now through mid-summer
The City Commission approved $209,085 in General Fund sponsorships for 55 events planned in Grand Rapids now through June 30. The special events sponsorship awards are allocated from budgeted event support/reactivation dollars made available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). These 55 events are being put on by not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations or people who have applied for funding through the Special Events Sponsorship Program and confirmed their dedication to holding open, free, and accessible events on public property in Grand Rapids that support the City’s mission, vision and strategic priorities.
By making a screenshot and then color-coding the kinds of things worth city financial support, a sort-of mirror shows the aspirations of the elected officials and the perspiration of the community organizations and businesses dedicated to bringing residents and visitors together. Although this typology of events is based purely on imagined content, based on the title of each, it may not be entirely accurate, but does distill some of the ways that modern society can still bring fragmented attention spans and unbalanced work-life conditions temporarily in repair through face-to-face mingling and meeting of others seen in the neighborhood or in other city contexts.
TYPOLOGY OF CITY-FUNDED EVENTS IN 2024
visual, performing art
charity, fund-raising
physical activity
mental wellness
food-centric
parade, visibility
neighbor/community gathering
ethic celebration
market/crafts
One way to appreciate the value of these many kinds of happenings is to imagine a city lacking such semi-structured public opportunities to interact with others in civil society: not work pals nor kin folk, but strangers who share a few basic facts of common environment and shared geography of cultural landmarks and annual cycle of events around the city.
Social observers and commentators describe "social fabric" usually in the sense of wearing thin, breaking or tearing. This metaphor is close to people's skin; it is personal and tangible. But as a metaphor, it points to the intangible layers of recognition, admiration, blame or praise - tacit or outspoken among people of a particular place and time. Social fabric that is strong or well woven can withstand stress and sudden shock, but weaker stuff unravels or breaks altogether. In this sense, the budget allocated for these 55 public happenings encourages participation and spectating by the great and the ordinary. It is a way to expand, deepen, and add detail to previous relationships to add conversations and possibly names to what previously might only consist of passing visual recognition of some of the people around the city. Although difficult to measure or even to give indirect indicators of the net effect of public events like these, surely there is more gained than lost by hosting so many kinds of things in and around the city.
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