Mapping our work in the arts
Connecting individuals and institutions
Overview
The Society of Jesus has mapped many of its works worldwide. There are maps for social centers, for migration related apostolates, or for education. There is no map however for the institutions or individuals that work with art. Whether they be art centers, cultural centers, or just personal projects, such mapping is missing and the lack of it impoverishes the mission of the Society: Jesuits are not aware of the importance of connecting faith to art, funding for these apostolates is more difficult, and networking can only happen based on word of mouth.
Mapping the Jesuit institutions and individuals that work in the field of art can provide a useful tool for our common mission. The Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies has over the last few years worked on a number of different maps that can be used as examples of what one can achieve with this project. On this particular instance, once this map is underway it can be used to know for instance who is working with contemporary painting, or what institutions dealing with arts can be found in one Assistance, or what collections is the Society responsible for worldwide. It is an endeavor that requires little effort from collaborators, with high promise in terms of helping Jesuits connecting dots.
Main objectives
To publicize the activity and contact of individual Jesuits and of institutions involving the Society of Jesus in the field of arts thus facilitating the connecting for collaborative work, for common grant applications, or for benchmarking good practices
To learn about what the Jesuits on a global scale are up to with regard to the arts
Expected Outputs
A map of the main Jesuit institutions and individuals working in the field of arts
A publication collecting essays from some of the most relevant works the Society of Jesus has throughout the world regarding faith and arts
A Symposium with participants from all major works around the world
Methodology
Three key resources will be used on this first stage of the project:
Based on the responses received and after consideration on how to group them, cultural centers and their relation with the arts is split in seven options. While the distinction may be a bit arbitrary, it reflects some unity amongst those in that category. As the map grows, these seven categories should be wide enough to accommodate future institutions with their peculiarities.
No triage was done regarding the quality or the degree of investment of each particular Jesuit who responded to the survey. The only criterion to add a name to the list was self-assessment. Due to the existence of several Jesuits involved in more than one discipline, the map gives the possibility of selecting two categories per individual.
Based on the responses received and after consideration on how to group them, individual Jesuits and their relation with the arts is split in nine options. While the distinction may be a bit arbitrary, it reflects some unity amongst those in that category. As the map grows, these nine categories should be wide enough to accommodate future institutions with their peculiarities.
Two different criteria were adopted for the geolocalization, creating a distinction between individuals and institutions. For institutions, the geolocalization adopted was its very location – given the fact that institutions are public and their address easily known. For individuals, the geolocalization adopted was the city where the latest catalogue of the Society of Jesus has them residing – therefore offering some privacy to communities and residencies.
Data Gathering
Mapping these works finds challenges, one of them being the fact that there is no previous map one can use as a guide. There are also difficulties related to who makes the cut: do we only accept works dealing with contemporary art? Or institutions owned by the Society? Or works currently active but not those which may have closed? These and other examples will be part of the research that will set the parameters for the map, and will become clearer in the course of the initial survey.
Data gathering may address but not be limited to these categories:
Initial References
For the survey starting in May 2024, the plan is to collect names and places of institutions and individuals dealing with art as a generic field. The following institutions can serve as an example of what the map is looking for (though not exclusively looking at institutions such as these):
Development Team
Project Editor
Francisco Mota, SJ
Development and Visualization Team
Alessandro Corsi, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies
Mané Peixoto