LEARNING OBJECTIVES
As Community Arts is my chosen concentration area for my AAD graduate studies, I hope that this class will sustain my faith in community arts organizations as amazing catalysts for compassion, acceptance, humility and honest expression by all individuals within communities, whether they identify as artists or not. I hope to continue my work with K-12 students, and while I will be a “sponge” this first year of my AAD experience, I will likely begin to translate what I learn in this class into theory and skills I might put into youth arts “praxis” beyond graduation.
1) I hope to gain a solid understanding of why and when community arts emerged, in what ways it has been sustained throughout major social changes.
2) I’m not sure this will be a topic in this class, but I am interested in international community arts, especially Central or South American community arts. I would like to compare how arts structures in the United States differ from those abroad and see what I might learn from those differences. This might be a topic in which I supplement some of my own research, beginning in this class and continuing, perhaps, throughout future community arts concentration courses.
3) I would like to consider the ways in which “culture” influences art making and how differences in value systems and social structures influence the importance of art to the individual and a community.
4) I want to learn everything I can from my 8 peers in this course, as I’m already inspired by the skills and experience they bring to the table. I want to practice listening and communicating with those who I can speak with comfortably, so that I am better prepared for future interviews and group environments.
5) I hope to be introduced to a variety of resources (both in print and online) in community arts theory, development and practice which may help me start my own research and stay updated on the quickly growing and changing field of study.
6) I look forward to studying cases in which marginalized populations have benefited from community arts programs, and the difficulties an arts manager faces when trying to implement such an organization.
I think international structures would be an excellent topic for your research paper. I have some references in my office, which you are welcome to look at. There are also numerous papers on the CAN website related to international community arts, and a new book by William Cleveland “Artists on the Frontlines”.