Arts Engagement Research Articles

Visualizing Kingship in a Time of Change

Despite artistic engagement with photography in Iran almost immediately after the invention of the daguerreotype in 1839, the field of Islamic art history has had difficulty accepting the modern period and the medium of photography as part of its discipline. Studies on painted Iranian portraiture have often stopped before the introduction of photography, and only in more recent years has photographic portraiture and its influence on painting been examined. Due to this nascent state of the field, large gaps exist even on more traditional topics, such as the question of royal portraiture. This article presents the first examination of photographic royal portraiture and the visualization of kingship during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). This topic, in comparison with earlier Iranian painted royal portraiture, has received considerably less attention. Photographic portraiture, together with printed and painted examples, from the reigns of the Qajar rulers Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-1896), Muzaffar al-Din Shah (r. 1896-1907), Muhammad ʿAli Shah (r. 1907-1909), and Ahmad Shah (r. 1909-1925), will be analysed in connection with social and political developments in order to better understand the development of royal image making during a time of political turmoil.

Creating the cultural environment of a school fostering the creative development of adolescents

The aim of the study was to determine the main components of the cultural environment of a school that contributes to the creative development of adolescents and the ways to engage the student to this cultural environment. The conducted study consisted of a standardized online survey of 1,542 school students between the ages of 12 and 18, the focus group method (involving 159 students from 15 to 17 years old) and SWOT-analysis of the creation of the school cultural environment in educational organizations from five regions of Russia. The authors argue that the cultural environment of a school is constructed based on the continuum of 21st-century art, which is understood as the spatial and temporal cultural environment that exists at the present moment and incorporates folk, classical, popular, and contemporary art. The article reports the results of a comprehensive study of school students’ interest in and motivation for engagement in art, as well as the relevance of creating a holistic cultural environment of a school that unites fragmented knowledge based on the continuum of art. The main directions of activities to create the cultural environment of a school in interaction with cultural institutions are identified.

Revisiting Rasheed Araeen's Structures: 8bS at Manufactured Art, 1970

Abstract In May 1970, Rasheed Araeen's work “8bS” appeared in Manufactured Art, a group exhibition dedicated to artistic engagements with industrial processes and advanced technology. Araeen's contribution, like many of his 1960–70s works, comprised lattice-like structures that engaged forms and techniques common to his professional training as a civil engineer. Like the Minimalist object, “8bS” deployed the grammar of productive techniques to structure artistic form, breaking with the compositional principles of formalist modernism and moving towards art beyond objecthood. Yet Araeen's contribution to Manufactured Art suggests that Araeen's structures also avoided the limitations of the Minimalist object's negative mimesis of technological infrastructure, while anticipating subsequent manoeuvres by artists such as Robert Morris. Revisiting Araeen's structures in Manufactured Art reinforces the singular importance of Araeen's structuralist modality, while provincializing US Minimalism as one of multiple trajectories working out of the stasis of modernist objecthood.

Truthiness, Alternative Facts, and Ersatz Truths

In this paper, Truthiness, a mixed-media artwork by contemporary artist Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe), is utilized as a case study to illustrate the contexts for Carlson’s repeated artistic engagement with “cultural cannibalism.” Specifically, in Truthiness, from Carlson’s Windigo Series, the artist confronts settler colonizers’ historical labeling of Native Americans as “cannibals” and their own past and ongoing cultural cannibalization in the United States. As Carlson notes, this consumption ranges from opportunistic museum acquisitions to the roles of settlers in the 1862 Dakota Uprising. To analyze Carlson’s work, an iconographical and semiotics approach centered around the concept of symbolic anthropophagy is taken; as her utilization of many layered references demonstrates, Carlson herself engages in a form of cultural cannibalism through her appropriation and use of readily identifiable symbols and artworks in her work. As a whole, this paper aims to emphasize how, in Truthiness, Carlson flips visually the historical narrative that labeled Indigenous peoples as cannibals to label settler colonizers as windigos, insatiable monsters who consume without consequence.

Associations between elementary teachers’ mental health and students’ engagement across content areas

Teachers’ mental health has been recognized as relevant to teacher effectiveness, with past work identifying impacts of teachers’ mental health on teacher, classroom, and student outcomes. However, much still needs to be understood about the extent to which teachers’ mental health is associated with students’ learning experiences, including in which learning contexts and among which student groups effects might surface most pointedly. We investigated associations among fourth grade teachers’ (N = 65) self-reported depressive and anxious symptomatology and their students’ (N = 805) self-reported behavioral engagement in mathematics, science, and English language arts and whether these associations varied for students based on their enrollment status in a Free and Reduced Meal (FARM) program, a broad indicator of economic disadvantage. Multilevel modeling revealed interaction effects such that, among disadvantaged students, teachers’ depressive symptoms were associated with decreased mathematics and science engagement. Results highlight the importance of providing mental health support for teachers, as well highlight teachers’ well-being as relevant to issues of equity in elementary STEM education.

Informal arts engagement programs in disadvantaged schools: student aspirations and creative limits

ABSTRACT It is widely argued that the arts have a range of cultural, economic, and educational benefits. However, under state austerity arts curricula are devalued in favour of industry skills. To address this gap in arts education, a new type of student focussed informal arts engagement program has emerged. This article draws on a qualitative study of disadvantaged Australian secondary students’ experience of an arts engagement program and explores their experiences through Bourdieusian concepts. We observe how students’ homologous position allowed an immediate appreciation of the arts and note how their habitus frame the arts as ‘work’ and as a technical accomplishment. An illusio in the arts as career emerged from these understandings. We suggest informal arts programs act as a collective gift within a weak cycle of reciprocity, but without expanded in-school opportunities fall short in offering students new ways of understanding the place and value of the arts.

Parents' Perspectives of an Arts Engagement Program Supporting Children with Anxiety.

Arts engagement programs (AEPs) are non-clinical, structured programs led by artists and educators to support mental health and wellbeing. While evidence demonstrates positive mental health outcomes in adult AEPs, studies of childhood AEPs remain sparse. We created a gallery-based AEP (Culture Dose for Kids) for children with anxiety based on a successful arts engagement pilot for adults with depression. We questioned whether our tailored-for-children adult program would effectively and feasibly support children's mental health. Through parents' perspectives and feedback, this study tested the program's acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness with children with anxiety. Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to determine whether the program was an effective and acceptable mental health support for children with anxiety. Our findings revealed that the program positively and significantly impacted parental perceptions of their child's anxiety. Our findings illustrate depictions of improved mood, confidence, and sense of empowerment in the child, qualities associated with resilience and mental wellbeing. Open-ended activities provided opportunities for connection, creativity, and experimentation-sources of strength for improving mental health. This study adds to the small but growing evidence base supporting the role of arts-based community care in youth mental health and wellbeing.

The Interactive Creativity of the Digital Era: Exploring How Media Art Redefines the Relationship Between Audience and Artwork

This paper explores the transformative landscape of interactive media art, shedding light on its historical evolution, theoretical foundations, and contemporary manifestations. Through an in-depth analysis of key principles and case studies, the paper delves into the redefinition of the audience-artwork relationship, examining co-creation, shifts from spectatorship to participation, and the empowerment of audiences as collaborators. It also investigates the technological innovations driving interactive creativity, challenges faced, and the profound impact on art, technology, and audience engagement. By navigating this dynamic intersection of art and interactivity, the paper uncovers the potential for a more inclusive, participatory, and transformative artistic landscape.

Receptive and participatory arts engagement and subsequent healthy aging: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

RationaleArts engagement is associated with prolonged longevity, but it remains unclear whether it is also associated with increases in the portion of people's lives for which they remain healthy. We investigated whether receptive and participatory arts engagement were associated with healthy aging two and four years later. MethodWe included 1269 older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal study of individuals aged 50 and above in the United States. Participants who completed the HRS 2014 Culture and the Arts Module and who were alive in 2016 and 2018 were eligible. We measured the number of participatory arts activities engaged in (e.g., crafts, dancing) and frequency of receptive arts engagement (e.g., going to a gallery or performance) in the past year. Healthy aging was a binary outcome, conceptualized as no major chronic diseases, no cognitive impairment, good physical functioning, and good mental health. ResultsIn logistic regression models, doing receptive arts once a month or more was associated with higher odds of healthy aging four years later compared to never engaging (odds ratio [OR] = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.10, 2.96). However, this evidence was attenuated after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic covariates (adjusted OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 0.84, 2.46). The number of participatory arts activities engaged in was not associated with healthy aging two or four years later. In sensitivity analyses, there was some evidence that receptive engagement was associated specifically with higher odds of good physical functioning four years later. ConclusionsThe lack of consistent associations between receptive and participatory arts engagement and healthy aging was unexpected given previous evidence for links between arts engagement and each of the four domains of healthy aging. Our findings highlight key methodological issues that should be explored in further research with larger nationally representative samples, longer follow-ups, and more detailed measures of arts engagement.

Participatory and Receptive Arts Engagement in Older Adults: Associations with Cognition Over a Seven-Year Period

ABSTRACT There is growing evidence for the impact of arts engagement on later life cognition. However, confounding by socioeconomic factors may have led to an overestimation of this association. We analyzed data from 4,344 older adults in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We measured participatory (e.g. painting, making music, crafts) and receptive (e.g. concert, play, museum) arts engagement separately. Participants completed six neurocognitive tests measuring two distinct domains of cognitive function (episodic/working memory and executive function/language) concurrently and seven years later. We used inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to remove confounding by a range of demographic and socioeconomic factors. Engaging in participatory or receptive arts for up to one hour per week (but not more frequently) was associated with better subsequent executive function/language. Similarly, engaging in receptive arts activities for up to three hours per week (but not more frequently) was associated with better subsequent episodic/working memory. These effects were of similar sizes to doing vigorous physical activity for up to one hour per week. However, our findings also highlight key methodological issues when exploring the relationship between arts engagement and cognition that should be considered in future studies, including measurement bias, life-course stage, length of follow-up, variation in outcomes, attrition, and missing data.

CREATE Resilience Through Science, Art, and Community Engagement

AbstractResilience, specifically community resilience, has a range of definitions but several core elements, including social cohesion and collaboration. Importantly, community‐driven goals and approaches tend to be more effective. The CREATE Resilience project centered on co‐creating a community vision of resilience, specifically as it relates to natural hazards and climate change by focusing on a positive narrative. By engaging youth, artists, municipal officials and community members in a variety of activities, including surveys, story‐gathering and photovoice exhibits, forums, artist‐created murals, and ripple effect mapping (REM), the project increased knowledge of weather and climate, risks from local hazards, and strategies for mitigation, while leading the community in thinking about what resilience means. This article describes the project, its use of science, art, and community to co‐create a vision of resilience for three communities, the components of engagement and their intent, and the evaluation of impact for participants. As determined through surveys and REM, the CREATE project was effective due to the mixture of art, science and community engagement, which provided a range of opportunities for personal connection and learning related to the science and priorities around hazards and mitigation, helping participants with meaning‐making about local hazards and assets, and allowing for a sense of familiarity and interconnectedness. Creating a shared vision of resilience is an effort that engages, connects, and motivates a community around common values and goals, and the approaches implemented through the CREATE project may offer ideas other communities can adopt in efforts to improve resilience.

The Artist as Contemporary Philanthropist

AbstractArtists can have a remarkable impact on the rejuvenation of city districts and blocks, both through their own presence and through community artistic engagement. American writer and curator Kathy Battista shows us a number of ways this type of engagement has helped in differing areas of the US, and the creative and social benefits it has brought with it.

Associations between extracurricular arts activities, school-based arts engagement, and subsequent externalising behaviours in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study

Adolescent externalising behaviours are associated with numerous long-term negative outcomes, although most research is intervention-based as opposed to risk reduction. Arts engagement has been associated with numerous beneficial factors linked to externalising behaviours, yet direct evidence linking them in longitudinal studies is lacking. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study were used, with baseline at 5th grade and outcomes measured at 8th grade. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to examine individual-level associations between extracurricular and school-based arts engagement with externalising behaviours. OLS regression was also used to examine associations between school-level arts classes and facilities with an administrator-reported index of externalising behaviours in the school. All models were adjusted for sociodemographic factors. Individual-level analyses were clustered by school. At the individual level, engaging in a greater number of extracurricular arts activities was associated with fewer externalising behaviours, although there was no association for school-based arts engagement. There were no school-level associations between arts classes or adequate arts facilities and externalising behaviours. Our results suggest extracurricular arts activities may be beneficial in reducing the risk for externalising behaviours, but the relationship is seen at an individual-level of engagement rather than based on school-level provision or facilities.

The role of arts engagement in reducing cognitive decline and improving quality of life in healthy older people: a systematic review.

In recent years, arts engagement has been proposed as a non-pharmacological approach to reduce cognitive decline and increase well-being and quality of life in specific populations such as the elderly or patients with severe disease. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effects of receptive or active arts engagement on reducing cognitive decline and improving quality of life and well-being in healthy populations, with a particular focus on the role of arts engagement in the long term. A comprehensive search strategy was conducted across four databases from February to March 2023. Ten studies with a total of 7,874 participants were incorporated in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Active and receptive arts engagement was found to be an effective approach to reduce cognitive decline and improve well-being and quality of life in healthy populations. The role of the positive effects of arts engagement could be determined by the combination of several factors such as exposure to cultural activities and the group effect. There is limited evidence of the protective effects of active arts engagement over a long period of time. Given the increasing demand for preventive programmes to reduce the negative effects of population ageing, more research on arts engagement should be conducted to identify its mechanisms and long-term effects.

The material kept the score: media and material practice in Jennifer Bloomer’s constructions, 1985–1992

Recent scholarship has highlighted the significance of media — photographs, drawings, magazines, and exhibitions — for late twentieth-century architectural production. The proliferating media of the period, however, has presented problems for historians. Does this expanded media sphere confirm the views of dominant period actors that the era was concerned with representation rather than materialisation? This paper challenges the characterisation of media as an agent of de-materialisation by highlighting the projects of Jennifer Bloomer, a practitioner and theorist who worked with new physical media derived from Conceptual Art. Architectural interest in Conceptual Art was prompted in part by the intense engagement of Conceptual artists with space in performance, land, and installation artworks. After 1975, architects on both sides of the Atlantic utilised Conceptual Art forms to move away from established architectural media. This essay begins by outlining the architectural turn to the physical media of Conceptual Art and uses the broader context of Conceptual Art to illuminate three installations produced by Bloomer over the period from 1985 to 1992. Borrowing from Conceptual Art’s particular spatial typologies and material interests, Bloomer used physical matter to confront the ideals and idealising functions of architecture and representation. To contest idealisation founded on significant exclusions and erasures, Bloomer used materials to embed architecture’s margins within her work, from marginalised building technologies and transgressive matter, to repressed histories. These installations, to borrow a phrase from Dominic Rahts, produced a ‘material continuity with the world', rather than a dematerialised media. Recovering Bloomer’s projects and framing them within a larger body of Conceptual Art-Architecture projects, this paper intends to expand the terrain and terms of late twentieth-century architectural production. It highlights those who worked with physical media and within a Conceptual Art tradition that asserted the materiality of the representational medium. Media could be material and representational.

Interdisciplinarity, art and immaterial labour in the creative economy: Maurizio Lazzarato and the production of value in ArtScience practice

Sociological deployments of Radical Italian theory have offered insight into the changing role of art in light of the generalised valorisation of creativity in post-Fordist societies. Less has been said about the increasingly useful character of art, as exemplified by artistic engagement with interdisciplinary forms of problem solving. This article focuses on the field of practice commonly known as ArtScience. I argue that Lazzarato's theory gains new relevance in this novel field of cultural practice, where material production is an increasingly minor element of artistic labour. I draw on two case studies from artists practising ArtScience in Berlin as speculative provocations for thinking about the ways in which social life today becomes implicated in the production of value, via processes of subjectivation, collaboration and communication.

Art engagement and psychological well-being among community-dwelling older adults in Japan: an observational cross-sectional study

ObjectivesArt engagement, which includes individual art activities and museum and gallery visits, potentially contributes to improving psychological well-being. However, there is insufficient evidence of its effects on the older population, and few reports are from Asia, including Japan. This study examined the association between art engagement and psychological well-being among older adults in Japan. Study designAn observational cross-sectional study design was used. MethodsCommunity-dwelling older adults aged ≥60 years were recruited from the visitors to public facilities (including community centres, sports centres and cultural centres) in Aichi, Japan, in 2022, and completed questionnaires. The psychological well-being assessment included five domains according to Seligman's PERMA framework: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaning and Accomplishment. Regarding art engagement, the frequencies of active art engagement (e.g. activities by individuals and participation in groups, such as music and painting) and receptive art engagement (e.g. visiting museums, galleries and the theatres) were assessed. ResultsA total of 522 participants were included in the analysis (mean age = 74.1 years; 78.0% females). Results from the multivariable linear regression analysis, which adjusted for demographic and socio-economic factors, revealed that higher frequencies of active art engagement were significantly associated with higher scores in all five PERMA domain scores. Higher frequencies of receptive art engagement were significantly associated with higher levels of Positive emotion, Engagement and Meaning domain scores, but were only marginally associated with the Accomplishment domain and were not associated with the Relationships domain. ConclusionsThis study indicates that art engagement has the potential to enhance psychological well-being among older adults. National and local government strategies to increase accessibility to art and cultural activities for older adults are recommended.

Men's mental health and the arts: perceived benefits and dynamics of engagement.

Arts engagement is gaining recognition as a non-clinical approach to promote mental health and well-being. However, the perceived utility of the arts to promote mental health among men with low socioeconomic status (SES) and how to best engage them is underexplored. This study explores the lived experiences of men with low SES who engage with the arts in Northern Ireland (n = 41). Data collected via focus groups (n = 5) and interviews (n = 11) were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to inductively derive four themes. Theme 1 highlights how the arts facilitated friendship, a collective identity, peer support and a reason to socialize. Themes 2 and 3 explore how the arts enhanced self-esteem and emotional regulation by developing a routine, purpose, sense of mastery, a sense of catharsis through immersion in a soothing endeavour and an alternative outlet for self-expression. Theme 4 covers strategies that facilitate male engagement in the arts such as using a familiar space, delivering to an existing male group, framing the programme around male interests not health or creativity, building on existing strengths and capacities, enabling ownership, using tangible action-orientated activities, and being non-authoritative and flexible with delivery. This is one of the first studies to highlight the gendered dimensions in which men with low SES engage with and experience mental health benefits through arts engagement. This study points towards relevant theories to further understand the pathways between the arts and improved mental health among men which can inform development of tailored arts programmes for men.

University student-led public engagement event: increasing audience diversity and impact in a non-science space.

There is a wealth of innovation in microbiology outreach events globally, including in the setting where the public engagement is hosted. Previous data indicate an underrepresentation of marginalized ethnic groups attending UK science-based public engagement events. This project engaged our student cohort, encompassing a diverse range of ethnic groups, to create an integrated art and science event within an existing series of adult education evenings. The study's objectives were to increase the proportion of visitors from marginalized ethnic groups and to gain a greater understanding of the impact of the event on the visitors' reported science capital. The participants' demographics, links to our students and University, and detailed impact on participants' science capital of the event were determined through analysis of exit questionnaires. There was an increase in the proportion of marginalized ethnic group visitors compared to similar previous events. A higher proportion of visitors from marginalized ethnic groups had links with our students and University compared to white/white British visitors. Elements of the exit questionnaire were mapped to the science capital framework and participants' science capital was determined. Both ethnically marginalized participants and white/white British visitors showed an increase in science capital, specifically dimensions of science-related social capital and science-related cultural capital, after the event. In conclusion, our study suggests that a student-led blended art and science public engagement can increase the ethnic diversity of those attending and can contribute towards creating more inclusive public engagement events.

Lifestyle Enrichment in Later Life and Its Association With Dementia Risk

Lifestyles enriched with socially and mentally stimulating activities in older age may help build cognitive reserve and reduce dementia risk. To investigate the association of leisure activities and social networks with dementia risk among older individuals. This longitudinal prospective cohort study used population-based data from the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) for March 1, 2010, to November 30, 2020. Community-dwelling individuals in Australia aged 70 years or older who were generally healthy and without major cognitive impairment at enrollment were recruited to the ALSOP study between March 1, 2010, and December 31, 2014. Data were analyzed from December 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023. A total of 19 measures of leisure activities and social networks assessed at baseline were classified using exploratory factor analysis. Dementia was adjudicated by an international expert panel according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) criteria. Cox proportional hazards regression examined dementia risk over 10 years, adjusting for education, socioeconomic status, and a range of health-related factors. This study included 10 318 participants. Their median age was 73.8 (IQR, 71.6-77.2) years at baseline, more than half (52.6%) were women, and most self-identified as White (98.0%). In adusted analyses, more frequent engagement in adult literacy activities (eg, writing letters or journaling, using a computer, and taking education classes) and in active mental activities (eg, playing games, cards, or chess and doing crosswords or puzzles) was associated with an 11.0% (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 0.89 [95% CI, 0.85-0.93]) and a 9.0% (AHR, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.87-0.95]) lower risk of dementia, respectively. To a lesser extent, engagement in creative artistic activities (craftwork, woodwork, or metalwork and painting or drawing) (AHR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.88-0.99]) and in passive mental activities (reading books, newspapers, or magazines; watching television; and listening to music or the radio) (AHR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.86-0.99]) was also associated with reduced dementia risk. In contrast, interpersonal networks, social activities, and external outings were not associated with dementia risk in this sample. These results suggest that engagement in adult literacy, creative art, and active and passive mental activities may help reduce dementia risk in late life. In addition, these findings may guide policies for geriatric care and interventions targeting dementia prevention for older adults.