Here’s another sign of the weight the arts pull in Miami-Dade: the Human Services Coalition is pretending to be an art gallery for a night. Sure, artists are always banding together to support worthy causes from musicians playing benefits for farmers and earthquake survivors to visual artists and art collectors donating work for auction, with the most notable local example being the annual gala and art auction at the Margulies Warehouse in support of Lotus House, the holistic shelter for homeless women in Overtown. Then there is the argument that the arts play a role in revitalizing neighborhoods, as artists attract people with money to new urban hot zones a la Soho, Sobe, Wynwood.

What’s funny about HSC’s take on “the arts meets social justice” is that the group is presenting its work in the community itself as artwork. Yes, there will be live music, pieces on auction by visual artists including Jacqueline Falcone, Dogan Arslanoglu, Liz Atzberger, and George Danelli — and what may be the biggest draw of gallery nights: free wine! But the connection between art and human services goes deeper. Hoping to draw a crowd for an open house at the nonprofit’s new digs, HSC is sending out invites for something they’re calling The Open Door Gallery, advertised as “a housewarming party where art meets social justice in an exhibit of our programs, creative endeavors, and partners.”

This is an interesting idea and one I wish I’d come up with (I did not, even though, in the interest of full disclosure, I must point out that I’m on the HSC board). Especially since I’ve been rereading the great British critic Raymond Williams‘ classic Culture and Society lately, which traces the way “art” was split off from politics and everyday life and put into s a super special category that belonged to an elevated spirit and rare genius shortly after the Industrial Revolution. Romantics like Shelly, Wordsworth, and Keats, started making claims that in a world fueled by profit, art was the last refuge for humanity. That’s nice for art, Williams argues, but not so nice for humanity because all the creative energy, the power of the imagination for imagination’s sake, got cordoned off into the realm of the arts. What would happen, Williams wondered, if we insist on having as much beauty, deep thought, and creativity in the way we work, live, and love as we find in great art? HSC’s Open Door Gallery might be a cute gimmick in a community where art inspires more passion than just about anything else — but it doesn’t have to be just that.

Human Services Coalition presents the Open Door Gallery on Thursday, March 25, from 6 – 9pm at 1900 Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 200, Miami; 305-576-5001; www.hscdade.org. Admission is free.