Rodney Camarce

“I enjoy ideation as much as I enjoy execution of a project.  Sometimes I am the driver and I choose the route, but just as often I am a passenger helping someone else navigate the creative journey.”

Rodney Camarce is an artist and community arts leader with an intensive focus on creating possibilities through the arts. In his past work, that has meant building solidarity between people, providing entrepreneurship opportunities for artists, and developing careers in the arts for youth. With Philadelphia Assembled, a program in conjunction with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he helped facilitate a collective project to take over parts of the institution. He was the Youth Development Manager at the Mural Arts Program and most recently, Rodney is focused on helping bring Asian American voices into the spotlight as the Senior Programs Manager at the Asian Arts Initiative. By sharing stories that don’t always get seen or heard, he believes, we can be catalysts for solidarity and change. Although his roles and strategies have shifted, his passion for finding creative solutions for racial justice and equity have persisted.

what big ideas have propelled your career?

“The big ideas that have propelled my career isn’t always so clear cut, my work running an entrepreneurship program at Mural Arts led me to a project that I could give to educators to teach them a small part of the mural process that we packaged and called Mural In a Box. Or some of the work I did with Philadelphia Assembled through the Philadelphia Museum of art where we facilitated a collective project to take over parts of the institution. My favorite projects revolved around the bigger goals of a community and that’s where I think true genius lives. Most recently I am excited to bring Asian American voices to the spotlight and share stories that don’t get seen or heard as often and to be a catalyst for solidarity and change.”

How do you define creativity? What does leadership mean to you?

“When I think of myself as an artist I think about the things I am trying to communicate or a problem I want to solve and what is the process I want to take to get there. I enjoy the ideation as much as I enjoy the actual execution of the project. Sometimes I am the driver and I get to choose the route we are taking but sometimes I am just a passenger helping someone else navigate through their creative journey, during the trip I can give direction or just play music and encourage everyone to sing along but each role is important and healthy to create a sustainable future. My roles have always shifted in different positions I hold and at different organizations I am a part of but what remains is always my passion for creative solutions for racial justice and equity work.”

Biography:

Rodney Camarce is an artist and community arts leader. He serves as the Senior Programs Manager for the Asian Arts Initiative. Throughout his career he has worked with various non-profits as an artist, educator, community organizer, and administrator. Camarce has facilitated Racial Equity workshops for the National Guild for Community Arts, spoken at various panels about exploring the Model Minority Myth, and has worked with the Asian American community on numerous social justice issues. He is a graphic designer, comic book illustrator, graphic facilitator, and a maker space tinkerer