Art & Creativity Quote by Jim Hodges

Connection is doing double duty here: it reads like an artist’s credo, but it also plays perfectly as a politician’s mission statement dressed in the softer clothes of creativity. Hodges frames art less as a finished object than as a social technology, something engineered to reduce distance between people. The key verb isn’t “express” or “invent,” it’s “connect” - a word that smuggles in public-facing ethics: accessibility, empathy, coalition-building. In a political register, connection is currency; it’s what turns a private conviction into a shared agenda.

The second clause sharpens the intent. “Bring them into the process” suggests a deliberate refusal of the lone-genius myth. This isn’t art as pronouncement from on high; it’s art as invitation, a kind of participatory governance in miniature. The subtext is quietly strategic: if people feel included, they feel invested. That’s as true for civic life as it is for a gallery opening or a community project. Participation doesn’t just create meaning; it creates buy-in.

There’s also a defensive edge beneath the warmth. In a culture that often treats “art” as elite, ornamental, or politically suspicious, Hodges preemptively answers the common charge: What’s this for? His answer is relational rather than decorative. He’s positioning creativity as a public good - a practice of assembling people, not merely impressing them. That’s an argument for art’s relevance, and for leadership that borrows art’s best trick: making strangers feel like stakeholders.