Social circus and health equity: Exploring the national social circus program in Ecuador

Spiegel, Jennifer Beth; Breilh, Maria-Christina; ̃a, Arturo Campan; Marcuse, Judith; Yassi, Annalee

doi:10.1080/17533015.2014.932292

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Spiegel 2014 and JB. Spiegel et al 2015 ). Nonetheless, we believe that ensuring that all questions in interviews and survey are posed in a manner that avoids being judgmental is an ethical imperative.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethics in Community-University-Artist Partnered Research: Tensions, Contradictions and Gaps Identified in an ‘Arts for Social Change’ Project

et al. 2016

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Academics from diverse disciplines are recognizing not only the procedural ethical issues involved in research, but also the complexity of everyday “micro” ethical issues that arise. While ethical guidelines are being developed for research in aboriginal populations and low-and-middle-income countries, multi-partnered research initiatives examining arts-based interventions to promote social change pose a unique set of ethical dilemmas not yet fully explored. Our research team, comprising health, education, and social scientists, critical theorists, artists and community-activists launched a five-year research partnership on arts-for-social change. Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council in Canada and based in six universities, including over 40 community-based collaborators, and informed by five main field projects (circus with street youth, theatre by people with disabilities, dance for people with Parkinson’s disease, participatory theatre with refugees and artsinfused dialogue), we set out to synthesize existing knowledge and lessons we learned. We summarized these learnings into 12 key points for reflection, grouped into three categories: community-university partnership concerns (n = 3), dilemmas related to the arts (n = 5), and team issues (n = 4). In addition to addressing previous concerns outlined in the literature (e.g., related to consent, anonymity, dangerous emotional terrain, etc.), we identified power dynamics (visible and hidden) hindering meaningful participation of community partners and university-based teams that need to be addressed within a reflective critical framework of ethical practice. We present how our team has been addressing these issues, as examples of how such concerns could be approached in community-university partnerships in arts for social change.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethics in Community-University-Artist Partnered Research: Tensions, Contradictions and Gaps Identified in an ‘Arts for Social Change’ Project

et al. 2016

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“…Building from grassroots circus and theatrical initiatives already underway, Circo Social Ecuador materialised in April 2011 through an agreement between the then Vice-President, Lenin Moreno (now President) and several municipalities in Ecuador, followed a month later by an accord with the giant Montreal-based transnational circus company, Cirque du Soleil (Spiegel, in press-b;Spiegel, Breilh, Campana, Marcuse, & Yassi, 2015). 1 While Cirque du Soleil's branding as well as the 'services' it offers communities have been frequently problematised (Hurley & Léger, 2008;Leroux, 2012;Leslie & Rantisi, 2016), it remains the world's largest diffuser of social circus pedagogy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social transformation, collective health and community-based arts: ‘Buen Vivir’ and Ecuador's social circus programme

Spiegel

Choukroun

Campana

et al. 2018

Global Public Health

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Worldwide, interest is increasing in community-based arts to promote social transformation. This study analyzes one such case. Ecuador's government, elected in 2006 after decades of neoliberalism, introduced Buen Vivir ('good living' derived from the Kichwan sumak kawsay), to guide development. Plans included launching a countrywide programme using circus arts as a sociocultural intervention for street-involved youth and other marginalised groups. To examine the complex ways by which such interventions intercede in 'ways of being' at the individual and collective level, we integrated qualitative and quantitative methods to document relationships between programme policies over a 5-year period and transformations in personal growth, social inclusion, social engagement and health-related lifestyles of social circus participants. We also conducted comparisons across programmes and with youth in other community arts. While programmes emphasising social, collective and inclusive pedagogy generated significantly better wellbeing outcomes, economic pressures led to prioritising productive skill-building and performing. Critiques of the government's operationalisation of Buen Vivir, including its ambitious technical goals and pragmatic economic compromising, were mirrored in social circus programmes. However, the programme seeded a grassroots social circus movement. Our study suggests that creative programmes introduced to promote social transformation can indeed contribute significantly to nurturing a culture of collective wellbeing.

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“…Because prior research suggests that youth psychosocial experiences in sport-based physical activities vary based on activity characteristics (Evans et al, 2017), it would be useful to extend this investigation to non-sport activities. Youth circus has been increasingly integrated into education (Kiez, 2015), recreation and social services (Sugarman, 2001), and therapeutic contexts (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008;Spiegel, Breilh, Campaña, Marcuse, & Yassi, 2015), thus further study of its impact on youth development is warranted.…”

Section: Circus As a Youth Development Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Determination Through Circus Arts: Exploring Youth Development in a Novel Activity Context

Agans

Davis

Vazou

et al. 2019

JYD

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Youth development takes place in many contexts, with different resulting participant outcomes. Broadening the scope of research to include non-traditional contexts such as youth circus arts programs, which are both similar to and different from other out-of-school-time contexts, may promote better understanding of the ways in which these programs impact youth development. The present study examined the prevalence of support for basic psychological needs and positive developmental outcomes among youth circus program participants. Single time-point quantitative surveys were completed by 111 youth members of the American Youth Circus Organization (62% female), ranging in age from 10 to 21. Results indicated psychological need support predicted positive developmental outcomes. Relatedness was the strongest predictor of intrinsic motivation, affect, and positive youth development. This study illustrates a novel way in which physical activity and youth development can be integrated in youth programs. It contributes to the understanding of youths’ self-determined motivation in physical activities and points to the importance of examining under-studied youth activity contexts such as circus arts.

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Social circus and health equity: Exploring the national social circus program in Ecuador

Cited by 21 publications

References 13 publications

Ethics in Community-University-Artist Partnered Research: Tensions, Contradictions and Gaps Identified in an ‘Arts for Social Change’ Project

Ethics in Community-University-Artist Partnered Research: Tensions, Contradictions and Gaps Identified in an ‘Arts for Social Change’ Project

Social transformation, collective health and community-based arts: ‘Buen Vivir’ and Ecuador's social circus programme

Self-Determination Through Circus Arts: Exploring Youth Development in a Novel Activity Context

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