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.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ An artivist is an artist and activist whose creative work is a form of sociopolitical protest.

² Community-based art education “is diverse and multi-faceted in its approaches but includes art education experiences that occur outside of schools, or involves partnerships between outside organizations, communities and schools” (O’Connor, 2014, p. 1).