Conclusion: Affective Practice

From Passion to Compassion: A Caring Inquiry into Creative Work as Socially Engaged Art

“…Social practice art, moreover, has long represented a distinct art form that is explicitly predicated on relationships of care and is aimed at ‘repairing broken communities’ and mending the world at large. Socially engaged artists ‘care about and/or care for the communities they are working with’ (Shaughnessy, 2012: xiv; see also Brodzinski, 2010).…”

“…Artists’ self-organization in non-governmental civil society arts institutions has been on the rise in South-East Europe of late (Barada et al, 2016), while arts activities across Europe are increasingly being supported by funding from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and philanthropic charities that pursue a pro-active social/political agenda (Bishop, 2012; McRobbie, 2016a; Serafini, 2018). Within non-profit civil society organizations, creative work is explicitly and purposefully framed and practised as fully fledged social care work oriented towards disenfranchised, vulnerable and marginalized groups and thus practised as socially engaged ‘applied performance’ (Bishop, 2012; Shaughnessy, 2012). Here, creative work was increasingly executed under a non-profit umbrella within primary institutions of care such as hospitals and nursing homes, though also in prisons and brothels: It’s easy to give up around here.…”

“…The ‘applied performers’ cared for the participants in their participatory projects and act with ‘conscience, integrity and commitment’ within their communities (Shaughnessy, 2012: xvi). This is not to say, however, that the character of care work is not commodifiable.…”

“…Simultaneously, social care scholars alert attention to the grave consequences arising from the rapprochement between social care and art as artists are called upon to ‘cheaply’ fill the void left by social workers retreating from public spaces of social change and emancipation (Rutten et al, 2017). In conditions of economic austerity, dwindling public arts subsidies, fierce labour competition exacerbated by rapid digitization and the proliferation of non-profit funding schemes, the field of social care has become a highly attractive employment option for artists (Bishop, 2012; Harvie, 2013; Shaughnessy, 2012). Creative work is increasingly being conflated with care work, while at the same time care is becoming commodified and onerous.…”

A participatory action research study to explore adolescents’ experiences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through creative workshops: a protocol

“…The ‘discovery’ data for the ATTUNE project refers to first person experiences and narratives explored through creative practices and resulting mixed media. The design of the methods to explore lived experience is in the context of participatory and socially engaged arts (applied drama, dance, music, filmmaking and amination) and practice research in arts based disciplines 25 26 . Creative practices are often used as an accessible way of engaging marginalised groups in participatory research, offering diverse and flexible modes of communication and representation through visual, auditory, digital, and non-text-based media (drawing, music, movement, photography, film).…”