At the Crossroads of Intersecting Ideologies: Community-Based Art Education, Community Engagement, and Social Practice Art

Abstract

In this article, I examine the intersecting ideologies and practices of community engagement, social practice art, and community-based art education through social interaction and cooperation. Using a case study of art education courses I have taught, I make connections between these three practices, focusing on the democratic concepts of civic responsibility, social justice, common themes of human experience, and meaning-making with and through art in schools, museums, and communities. Providing preservice and in-service art educators with access to empowering community-engaged experiences that holistically integrate their artist/teacher/researcher identities can be personally, professionally, and socially transformative. Modeling curricular practices for students that account for their personal artmaking; the learners’ cultures; and the tenets of social practice art, engaged pedagogy, and community-based art education can better prepare art educators to reconceptualize curriculum in response to community and social engagement concerns.