Community Arts Research Articles

Operational Competence of the Visual Arts Teacher in Art Practice: Interrogating the Underlying Factors

This study is on operational competence of Visual Arts teachers’ art practice, focusing on the factors influencing their competence and its relevance in contemporary contexts of arts education. Drawing upon literature from education, art pedagogy, and teacher training, this study identifies key factors that contribute to the operational competence of Visual Arts practice, including artistic skill, proficiency and reflective practice. Through an analysis of empirical studies and practical insights, the study highlights the visual arts teachers’ own art practice factors. It also underscores the significance of research informed policies and curriculum frameworks that support the holistic development of Visual Arts education and the cultivation of a vibrant artistic community within schools and society at large. It engages qualitative research design. A sample of twelve (12) Visual Arts students and one (1) Visual Arts teacher each from eleven (11) schools within the six Education Districts of Lagos State were purposively selected. Data was obtained using Portfolio Review Rubrics. Thematic Analysis was employed in analysing data gathered. Findings revealed that Visual Arts teachers’ competence in art practice differs in nuances of scope. It also revealed that teachers’ competence in art practice is a determinant of students’ learning outcome in art practice. Based on the findings, recommendations were made that workshops and conferences on art practice and pedagogy be organised for Visual Arts teachers to improve their operational competence in art practice. It further recommended that art teachers’ training curriculum be re-packaged to include more art practice activities than pedagogy so as to adequately build their art practice competence in scope and strength for prospective art teaching career.

The Temporal Continuity: Temple, Theatre and Anthropology

Traditionally, temples have been spaces meant for religious and spiritual activities— meditation, sacrifice, devotion and worship. Historically, temples have been understood as the dwelling spaces of spirits/gods. Therefore, they were natural sites of the community socialisation and exchanges. In Hinduism, temples are designed to bring human beings and gods together in a spiritual destination. Gradually, temples evolved and represented the economy, art, belief, faith and traditions of community or communities. All of these elements of the cosmic world such as good, evil and human are incorporated in temples. Basically, these are for reflecting the powers of unknown forces that are present in nature. These elements of the cosmic world are incorporated in the temples along with the cyclic notion of time. The essence of life was represented symbolically through dharma, kama, artha, moksa and karma, and temples became naturally chosen sites to represent these aspects. However, throughout the ages, temples have undergone transformations. Due to this, temples are historical sites for understanding the historical processes and happenings around the temple structures. As time passed, temples became the surviving examples of temporal continuity. Through this article, an attempt has been made to highlight the temporal continuity around a few temples, cultures and shrines of Rajasthan. The constant—continuity and change—pushed temporality as an essential feature which needs to be highlighted for a fuller understanding of the heterogeneous nature of the Thar Desert and its society.

TUKANG RABAB DAN KABA RABAB PASISIA DALAM ACARA BARALEK DI NAGARI TALAO

The study "Tukang Rabab dan Kaba Rabab Pasisia dalam Acara Baralek di Nagari Talao, Sumatra Barat" explores the competencies and presentation of kaba rabab pasisia in baralek events. This performance reveals the richness of Minangkabau culture, from a warm opening to a meaningful core story. Through poetic lyrics and captivating music, Kaba enriches understanding of Minangkabau cultural values. Tukang Rabab, as cultural guardians, adeptly perform rabab pasisia and master Minangkabau language and literature. Social interaction is key to their competence, living within the community of rabab pasisia artists and exchanging knowledge and skills. Despite facing modernization challenges, the art of rabab pasisia remains relevant and valuable. The participation of tukang rabab in cultural events, art training, and preservation projects strengthens Minangkabau identity and cultural heritage. This performance fosters community solidarity and serves as a platform for learning life values, enriching and preserving Minangkabau cultural identity, and encouraging the younger generation to uphold ancestral traditions

Economic Shifts and Cultural Transitions: Unraveling the Complexities of Gentrification in Urban Landscapes with the Case of SoHo in New York City

With the continuously changing urban landscape since the early 20th century, influenced by various economic and social factors, this paper investigates the impact of urban gentrification on diverse community groups, especially in metropolises. Examining housing, economic, and cultural dimensions, the study explores the challenges and opportunities within dynamic urban landscapes. Focused on SoHo, New York City (NYC), once an artistic haven, the research employs the lens of gentrification to analyze disparities in housing accessibility and cultural preservation. Additionally, it assesses the economic implications of sustainability initiatives on various socioeconomic strata, unraveling their influence on urban community fabric. Through a concise exploration, the study contributes nuanced insights into the complexities of gentrification and sustainable urban development, given the impact on the original artistic community, long-time residents, and small businesses that have faced challenges or displacement in the wake of rising property values, using SoHo as a case study to deepen our understanding of economic shifts and cultural transitions in urban landscapes.

Online and Remote Community-Engaged Facilitation: Pedagogical and Ethical Considerations and Commitments

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many community-engaged practitioners struggled with how to meaningfully and ethically build, maintain or sustain relationships, partnerships, or community-engaged projects, amidst mass upheaval, loss, and uncertainty. Prior to the pandemic, workshops, meetings or community events happened in community drop-ins, social service organizations, or in neighbourhood meeting places. Due to social distancing restrictions, these physical environments abruptly changed to online meeting and messaging applications, phone, and even postal mail. This drastically impacted how community-engaged practitioners approached their facilitation work with communities. This rapid shift also amplified many ethical complexities, like privacy and confidentiality, equitable access, and safety, for those facilitating workshops or programs in non-profit, community-based and participatory research contexts. This article explores findings from a participatory study on how community-engaged practitioners (i.e., community artists, community facilitators, participatory researchers, and participatory visual methods practitioners) across Canada adapted their facilitation approaches to online or remote platforms in the context of COVID-19. We briefly describe our process of doing participatory research online during a pandemic and share findings on how community-engaged practitioners articulated the ethical commitments they brought to their facilitation practice as well as pedagogical and ethical considerations identified for online or remote (i.e., phone, mail) community-engaged facilitation. We conclude by offering reflections on what might be gleaned about online and remote community-engaged facilitation for the present moment. We hope that this article - and the illustrations enclosed - will serve as a guide for emerging and established community-engaged practitioners to reflect on their ‘how and why’ of facilitation when working with and alongside communities for social change.

Indexing for Fine Arts Monographs: A Comparison Between User Queries and Controlled Vocabularies

ABSTRACTPrior research suggested the empirical approach to indexing for fine arts based on users' search queries. This study examined the characteristics of user queries submitted to the library catalog of a fine arts academy, and compared users' search terms with controlled vocabularies to assess their levels of matching. Based on search‐log analysis, this study identified eight categories of user queries and 10 subcategories, indicating that the information needs of the fine arts community are diverse in language and culture and focus on named entities, disciplines, and various types and levels of fine arts. The mapping between user queries and controlled vocabularies found that around 20% of user search terms were non‐matching. Based on the findings, this study provided suggestions for improving the search functions of library catalogs and enhancing controlled vocabularies to support the retrieval of fine arts monographs.

Arts Community Resilience in Malaysia during the Time of COVID-19: Five Arts Centre’s Open House Initiative

The intrusion of COVID-19 in Malaysia had resulted in the disruption of many art projects for the whole year of 2020. Due to the country’s countermeasures to combat the disease’s ongoing spread, several art groups and art projects were facing mass postponements, cancellations, and uncertainty—arts communities were vulnerable to economic losses, social and environmental limitations during the volatile period. However, there were few art groups that managed to adapt their practices and work around the pandemic constraints they’ve encountered. Five Arts Centre arts collective was sampled and interviewed for this year-long study which looks at the preliminary impacts and responses of COVID-19 on the arts communities in Kuala Lumpur. The results indicate Malaysian arts communities were able to remain resilient against the pandemic mostly due to their social connectedness across the arts practitioners and institutions within the arts ecosystem. Added with their intuitive instrumentalisation of existing resources to meet the environmental limitations that the COVID-19 presented. The research findings are analysed through the utilisation of an adapted resilience framework to help explain the sampled art groups’ experiences through the pandemic period.

From meme-making trolls to feminist artists: digital feminist art activism in contemporary South Korea

ABSTRACT This article explores the activism of Silent Megaphone, a Korean feminist artist group. By examining the experiences of Silent Megaphone members, their artworks, and exhibitions, this study argues that the sexist regulations of online platforms drove the meme-producers to enter the realm of feminist art, transforming them from anonymous women to feminist artists with authorship. This transition allowed them to rearrange the aims and styles of their activism, appropriate the practices of online and offline realms, and connect with the broader feminist artist community, establishing a network encompassing both their online feminist group and an unexpected cohort of feminist artists spanning generations, and creating a safe space for their fellow feminists.

The Art of Sculpture in Public Space in China: The Wasteland Art Project

With the development of public art in China, artists have been experimenting with the artistic form and means of expression of public sculpture. Previously marginalised by public sculpture, wild non-urban areas have also begun to attract the attention of Chinese artists. The Wasteland art project, implemented in Guazhou, Gansu province, is very indicative in this regard. Sculptor Dong Shubin, a professor at Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts, is the initiator of this project and an experimental artist who aims to create a sustainable artistic community in the Gobi Desert in the northwest of the country. He believes that an artist should draw inspiration from a natural environment that is familiar to them, rather than simply imitate others or emphatically separate themselves from the general mass of people. After creating works such as Children of the Earth, Infinity, and Wind Talkers, Dong Shubin and his colleagues are gradually creating a Wasteland Art complex in the Gobi Desert.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian performing and creative artists: An interpretive descriptive study using the social-ecological model.

Public health restrictions during the Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Canada have substantially reduced the work and income of performing and creative artists. We aimed to understand how factors at the public policy, community, organizational, interpersonal and individual levels affected Canadian performing and creative artists' health and livelihood during the pandemic. We interviewed 14 creative and performing artists from an academic hospital-based healthcare center in Toronto, Canada. In addition, we conducted secondary data analysis on an existing set of 17 transcribed interviews from a quality improvement study that included relevant information to answer the present study's research question. We applied an interpretive descriptive approach to our qualitative inquiry and used the social-ecological model (SEM) as our analytic framework. We identified factors at all levels of the SEM that tended to synergistically affect the health and livelihood of artists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health restrictions and government financial assistance programs have downstream effects on other levels. During the pandemic, many artists sensed an overwhelming loss of community, financial instability, and limited access to healthcare; which in turn affected their health. For those who accessed financial assistance programs, the stability of income afforded time for rest without the stress of food insecurity or housing instability. Use of the SEM as an analytic framework reflects the multidirectional intricacy and dynamic interplay among factors operating within and across all five levels, bringing to light potential areas of improvement at various levels to strengthen resilience and reduce risk factors associated with artists' health and healthcare access. Findings also accentuated the fragility of precarious work that inundates the performing arts industry, which emphasizes the need for interventions and policies to address this issue. Such interventions might include financial support programs for artists, access to affordable healthcare services, and efforts to strengthen social support networks within the arts community.

‘Soft Rebellion’: Flow art, critical play, and wellbeing in the city

This article discusses the intersections between flow art, critical play, and wellbeing in urban contexts in Finland. Flow art as an art form sits at the intersection of several movement-based creative disciplines, including contemporary circus, dance, and the underground electronic music scene. It is based on DIY in terms of making one's own props and choreographies and peer teaching/learning. The flow artists make use of several props familiar to the circus arts, including contact sticks, poi, hula hoops, diabolos, dragon staffs, and fans. The article explores how urban artistic take-overs can be understood as critical play, including the potential for political subversion and changing the meanings of urban spaces. Further, the article discusses how wellbeing is understood holistically, relationally, and interconnected to the concept of flow. The article is a result of ethnographic research conducted with flow art communities in 2021–2023.

Sonic Electromagnetism

The author describes their sound art practice, which uses the electromagnetic field (EM) to explore concepts of the body toward a feminist and pro-trans future. This practice stands in contrast to hidden consumer “black box” culture and mediated digital telepresence. Three specific art projects are explored that fuse visual design, printed circuitry, and interactivity to build critical space for participatory exploration. The author explores concepts of the body in relation to spatialized sound and queer phenomenology of sound. Lastly, the author suggests that the creative exploration of sonic electromagnetism is a larger movement by a disparate community of artists who aim to challenge existing systems of power. In their exploration of the electromagnetic field, the author argues that these artists strive to harness a new source of empowerment and spirit.

Literacy learning and changing social practices in a community art project for women with experience of the criminal justice system

ABSTRACT This article seeks to understand what a group of women with experience of the criminal justice system learned through taking part in a community art project, particularly in terms of their literacy. It draws on an ethnographic study of a community art project carried out by the Collectif Art Entr’Elles which took place in a halfway house in Montreal (Canada) where prisoners can apply to complete their sentence and prepare for their social reintegration. Using a non-linear narrative structure, the collaborative sound work produced sought to break down prejudices by making these women’s voices heard in public space. Drawing on Lave’s (2019) theory of social practice, we explore in more detail the experience and learning journey of one of the women involved. Our analysis indicates that non-formal education, especially when it takes the form of community arts projects, can play a positive role in the diversification and enhancement of literacy practices that are key to the social reintegration and wellbeing of women with experience of the criminal justice system. As such, non-formal community arts education can be an important vehicle for social justice.

Does arts and cultural group participation influence subsequent well-being? A longitudinal cross-country comparison of older adults in Japan and England

IntroductionArts engagement is a positive health behaviour that could support the mental and social well-being of ageing populations globally. However, research is predominantly from Western countries, leaving it unclear whether...

Legal Protection Against the Use of Brand Names for Geographical Indications on Trusmi Cirebon Batik

The importance of conducting this research is because there is an allegation of violation of the law against the object of Geographical Indication registered as a brand name by an entrepreneur using the name "Batik Trusmi" because it contains things related to geographical indications such as the place of origin of goods, production area, type of goods and character owned by a place. The purpose and purpose of this study is to research an alleged violation in the naming of a registered trademark because it uses a name that is identical to a geographical indication with logical legal reasons and grounds based on a legal perspective, analyzing the certainty of legal protection for the name "Batik trusmi" which is used as a trademark through legal discovery based on the perspective of existing legal regulations, and provides important information to see the facts through the legal science possessed by the author. The method used in this study is normative juridical to examine the problem of trademark infringement with normative research, and the material collection technique used is a literature study including laws, scientific articles, doctrines, etc. The study's results elaborated on the problem that, based on the legal sources collected, the naming of trusmi batik as a registered trademark is contrary to a general naming and a geographical indication naming. It was found that the trusmi batik artisan community has sought a form of protest against the naming of trusmi batik through trademarks in familial ways but has not met maximum results.

Burdens and Opportunities of Tradition in Artistic Communities: Listening to Narratives of the Arts in Siamsa Tíre’s "Sounds Like Folk" Podcast Series

Burdens and Opportunities of Tradition in Artistic Communities: Listening to Narratives of the Arts in Siamsa Tíre’s "Sounds Like Folk" Podcast Series

A Case Study on the Community ART Group Model of Care: Does It work for People Living with HIV and Healthcare Service Providers in Lesotho

The Community ART Group (CAG) model is a community-led model implemented to support people living with HIV to address barriers to HIV treatment continuity which remain a challenge in Lesotho. This study sought to explore the perspectives of people living with HIV and that of the healthcare service providers, regarding the CAG model in selected health facilities in Lesotho. An explorative descriptive qualitative study was conducted among purposively selected 20 people living with HIV and 8 healthcare service providers at 3 healthcare facilities. Qualitative data were collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews using semi-structured interview guides. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used following an inductive approach and sub-themes and themes were developed. The CAG model was relevant and acceptable to most of the respondents. They felt that it provided support to people living with HIV, promoted good adherence to treatment, improved treatment access, reduced transport costs, saved time, and reduced stigma. Good retention, favorable clinical outcomes and decongestion of health facilities were identified as key achievements linked to the CAG model. Age, proximity to the health facilities, readiness to disclose positive HIV status, availability of a variety of differentiated service delivery models, family support, and the level of trust emerged as factors affecting the acceptability of the model. Conflicts arising among members of the groups compromised service delivery quality and insufficient resources emerged as challenges. The results confirmed that the Community ART Group model can deliver intended peer-led support to People Living with HIV, resulting in the achievement of favorable clinical outcomes. It is therefore recommendable to consider investing in this community-led model for a sustained HIV response in the country.

The Positive Impact of The Artist Residency Program on the Inheritance, Protection and Development of Jingdezhen's Ceramic Cultural Heritage: A Case Study Of Taoxichuan Art Community

The Positive Impact of The Artist Residency Program on the Inheritance, Protection and Development of Jingdezhen's Ceramic Cultural Heritage: A Case Study Of Taoxichuan Art Community

When Black Women Speak

How are Black women surviving the current climate in theater practices across the field? I asked several leaders in education, professional directors, actors and facilitators to chime in on how they are coping in an industry that has often neglected or overlooked our excellence. I asked them about their mental, physical and spiritual lives in relation to the work they are doing. I was interested in knowing if they were having better experiences now as opposed to when the social uprising after George Floyd's murder rallied the arts community. In their truthful and at times scathing reflections about the "state of the theater union", through it all there are glimpses of hope for a better future and an unbridled hope for joy in the making of art that speaks to us as Black women in The Arts.

Exploring the Real-World Applicability of an Intercultural Music Engagement (ICME) Framework

ABSTRACT As our societies become increasingly multicultural, our collective ability to understand and tolerate differences is critical for social cohesion. Music has been used by many organisations to help foster connection across cultural divides, yet research suggests it is not always a simple exchange. This paper tests the feasibility of a framework formerly proposed by the current authors for helping people navigate the intercultural music experience, specifically when facilitating Intercultural Music Engagement (ICME). Interviews and observations with community artists working in ICME test the real-world applicability of the framework. Results support all elements of our existing framework and add both nuance and detail to our understanding. The findings also strongly indicated that efforts in this area should focus on supporting artists already embedded within communities, rather than solely supporting external organisations. Ultimately, we argue the need for further community-engaged research to identify how a framework in this area can best support existing practitioners.