Arts as Dialogic Practice: Deriving Lessons for Change from Community-based Art-making for International Development

Abstract

Communities around the world struggle with weakening social bonds and political, racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural divides. This article argues the arts can be a means of raising public consciousness regarding such concerns by catalyzing conscious, thoughtful dialogue among individuals and groups possessing diverse values and beliefs. Change can only occur when people become aware of and actively reflect on the ontological and epistemic-scale norms and values that so often underpin their divisions, and the arts can help them do precisely that. We examine the dynamics of participatory performing arts and mural-making in diverse contexts to contend that the dialogic character of community art-making can be valuable for practitioners and scholars in a variety of efforts in international community development. We conclude by sharing lessons that we believe will aid artists and practitioners in devising more inclusive and participatory approaches to their international community change or development projects.

Dialogic Intentions: Social Practice and Moral Character in Contemporary Arts and Education

“…My purpose has been to take a personality-based approach to socially engaged art-making: to understand why some artists engage in social practice and the implications for arts education. The turn from an abilities-centric artistry toward developing social practice is certainly in the air, from the rise in somatic studies to the democratization of performance across the globe (Kirakosyan & Stephenson, 2019). The educational implications of moral character can thus move us in new and different directions.…”

Art Therapists as Activists in Social Movements

“…The aforementioned descriptions of activist art with an aim to have a social impact emphasize intertwined mechanisms of expressing, reflecting, questioning, and relating – all, of which, parallel mechanisms that constitute art making as peacebuilding tactics (Kirakosyan & Stephenson, 2019). In addition to informing, persuading, and inspiring, activist art also has interpersonal and communal pursuits as it connects activists and aims to connect with bystanders.…”

The Role of the Artist in a Communal Art Project

“…Literature review on community art, its goals and characteristics have been analysed by Lawton (2019), Carpenter II (2019), Kirakosyan and Stephenson (2019), Raarup In the Western culture countries, especially USA and Great Britain, community arts to support communities have been the centre of not only culture, but also cultural politics for almost three decades. However, only in the 2000s of the 21 st century these forms of expression were looked at from a theoretical point of view, especially looking for evaluation aspects and naming methodological access points (Vitkienė, 2015).…”

“…All implemented community art projects should promote and include the following aspects: social equality, active participation, creative cooperation community and collective control, transparency, clear processes and fairness, clear expectations, understanding of the project being implemented, respect and trust; they should enable all participants, educate abilities, provide knowledge and opportunity, and, most importantly, it should create a shared understanding that everyone has rights, duties and responsibility for the project being carried out (Kirakosyan and Stephenson, 2019). Successful participation processes ensure safety and respect for people, and create a space where one can share ideas, analyse, listen to others, share, discuss, support and develop further mutual activities, pay attention to all opinions, even those that one does not agree with, encourage people to contribute and participate in their own way and not necessarily throughout the duration of the entire project.…”