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Inclusivity is an underlying principle of community arts, particularly for learning disabled and autistic people for whom the arts can create spaces of equity and inclusive participation. The Covid-19 pandemic required practitioners to find ways of replicating this sense of inclusivity through online delivery. This "digital turn" raised two recurring concerns. First, the accessibility and inclusivity of online activities; second, the quality of alternative digital provision. This paper examines these themes in the specific context of the Creative Doodle Book, which modelled inclusive online practice with learning disabled participants. Drawing on over 20 interviews with learning-disability focused community arts groups, the paper explores barriers to access, but also issues surrounding support and expectations. However, the focus is equally on the benefits once within an online "space", including new skills, widening networks, the development of inclusive capital and the opportunity to enable greater agency and self-advocacy both during Covid and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initial teacher education programs regularly engage students in service-learning programs, providing an additional pathway to personal, professional and pedagogical transformation in their learning journey. One of those pathways is through service-learning placements in community arts projects. This paper reports on a study of arts-based service-learning programs at two universities. Eight initial teacher education (ITE) students were interviewed after their placements and a number of key themes emerged. These include the importance of productive discomfort as part of the service-learning experience and transformative pedagogy resulting from the art-based experience. This paper also explores some critiques of traditional service-learning models that have opened spaces for critical service-learning approaches. The analysis of ITE students' narratives led to findings about the path of transformation from traditional to critical service-learning approaches through arts-based projects, an area which has been largely unexplored in previous research. The paper concludes with discussion of future avenues for related research that orientate service-learning in the arts towards social and creative justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author was invited to participate in the 5th Biennale of Sydney 1984: Private Symbol and Social Metaphor. Since then, she has continued the artistic development of her private symbols and has examined their meanings in wider social and cultural contexts. The manner of her research is both creative and academic. She looks into the Chinese folk craft as a source of creative and innovative inspiration. At the same time, within this frame of reference, she also tackles the issues of dramatic changes in human behavior arising from the digital reasoning that has challenged our analog perception since the last decade. The cognitive issues include the tension between old and new, ritual and virtual, global and local, modern and postmodern. In the paper, she will begin by illustrating how humble materials such as bamboo splits and rice paper have traditionally been transformed into sculpture and community art. From this understanding of how clever hands implicitly made decisions about the appropriateness and use of these materials' properties, she explores the transformation of the traditional Chinese craftsmanship into an explicit knowledge-database, which allows art projects of large scales in terms of flexibility and sustainability, dimension and security, and impacts on cultural practice and economic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper stems from a community-based art and design project entitled 'Shifting Ground,' which was developed in 2019 and involved newly arrived and second-generation migrants, now living in the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Based on participants' cultural heritage, the project addressed the creative process as a vehicle for dialogue and as a means of finding a sense of place in the new culture. The initiative started with a ludic interaction with the migrant citizens, followed by two ceramic sculpture workshops, and ending with an exhibition that brought together the participants and their families as well as some local artists and representatives of public authorities. The research is focused mainly on the methodology used for the development of the co-creation work with the participants, particularly in the notion of action as a way to interact and develop the ceramic sculptures and to promote the participants' social and cultural integration. In this context, the concept of action is analyzed as a central characteristic of the artistic practice and as a political tool for the empowerment of a displaced community. Some theories are taken into account, such as Hannah Arendt's concept of action and Bruno Latour's concept of thing, to deepen the notion of action. The paper begins by providing a brief summary of the immigration process that has occurred in the United States, followed by the presentation of a case study by the refugee Vietnamese American artist Tiffany Chung to contextualize the theme addressed in this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Electrónica de Psicología Política is the property of Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Community arts have been in evidence in Ireland for over three decades; however, this form of artistic practice has been largely overlooked from social studies perspectives. There is a dearth of social studies scholarship on community arts within the Irish context, which may be explained in part by participatory arts becoming the more dominant practice in recent years. Therefore, this article works to introduce youth work, community development and social studies students and practitioners to community arts and to try and spark interest in this type of arts-based practice. The paper seeks to provide an understanding of community arts and to differentiate community arts (focused on and emerging from communities) from participatory arts (focused on individuals and groups and emerging from organisations and/or institutions). The history of community arts in Ireland is outlined and the contribution of community arts to youth work and community development is focused on. Drawing from international empirical research the paper highlights the beneficial role that community arts can have, in the contexts of youth work and community development. To conclude, the article argues that community arts can play an important role in youth work and community development because this type of arts-based practice facilitates collective community expression and can help stimulate social change from the ground up. The paper encourages youth work, community development and social studies students and practitioners to examine any preconceived ideas they have, that might inhibit them from helping facilitating community arts projects and set these aside; in order to, explore opportunities to foster cohesive magic and creative collective expression to bring about social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Geographical Sciences (0286-4886) is the property of Japanese Society for Geographical Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

At the heart of this paper is an analysis of a policy initiative in ‘Citizen Power’ promoted by a city council, which began with apparent consensus and widespread support but quickly became embroiled in conflict and recrimination. The theory developed to explain these paradoxical outcomes focusses on the policy narratives which shaped those actors’ thoughts and actions before and during the crucial period. A conceptual framework is derived from the literature which highlights the constraining and performative characteristics of policy narratives. A detailed analysis uses a dramaturgical approach to present the case study and show how processes of narrative constraint and performance produce a particular ‘mix’ of conflict and consensus in each of three Acts. The conclusion to the paper suggests that political actors often find it so difficult to communicate with one another, because they do not share a common narrative base which goes so far back in time, that it is practically inaccessible to the other party. Hence, long, drawn out battles over meaning may be fought out, not consciously or necessarily with malicious intent, but because the two sides simply do not understand each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Marketing (0354-3471) is the property of SEMA - Srpsko udruzenje za Marketing i Ekonomski fakultet Beograd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between artistic interventions in the public space and their impact on urban cultural commons. We focus on the case study of the Muri Liberi street art project in NoLo, a semi-peripheral neighbourhood of Milan traditionally characterized by a multi-ethnic, low-income resident population and now witnessing the early signs of socio-economic transformation. We propose a comparison with a case of art-based regeneration in another semi-peripheral neighbourhood of Milan, the Ortica district, specifically the Or.Me project. We study how the analyzed street art projects functioned, in the NoLo case, as a symbolic appropriation of the public space of the neighbourhood that bypassed its longtime residents and undermined their local urban commons, as a likely premise to future gentrification of the neighbourhood; in the Ortica case, we show instead how a community-based public art project in a similar context can foster social cohesion and improve a functional relation between the local community and its commons. We comment on how disregarding the political implications of artistic 'beautification' projects negatively impacts the social sustainability of art-driven urban renewal projects and delegitimizes the social credibility of public art as an anti-hegemonic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the author's experience teaching a course on the global history of science in a prison classroom. The course was offered through the Prison & Neighborhood Arts/Education Project (PNAP) at Stateville Prison in Illinois. The author aimed to provide incarcerated students with access to science education and to deepen their understanding of the subject. The students were receptive to non-Eurocentric perspectives and inspired the author to expand the course's geographic coverage. Despite challenges such as limited resources and frequent disruptions, the classroom environment became cohesive and supportive, allowing for personal stories and discussions on topics like environmental racism. The author emphasizes the value of creating a just and global history of science through inclusive pedagogy. [Extracted from the article]

This paper draws from theories of 'situated learning', 'collaborative teacher communities', and analysed data from six case studies, and discusses how engaging in community arts activities caters for the needs of diverse learners. Emerging themes from analysed data reveal parallels to Elwyn Richardson's observations published 56 years ago. He describes a pedagogical approach that is still able to inform teaching and learning in a contemporary setting. The findings and themes in this paper are particularly pertinent today as primary school teachers are confronted with decreased curriculum support and a recent emphasis on the national testing of numeracy and literacy standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on and challenges existing paradigms around movement and mobilisation in and with the city. This focus is provoked by a community arts project called ‘Flat Out’, in which the researcher collaborated with the Drum Intercultural Arts Centre and Birmingham Royal Ballet, on a dance project with members of the community in the Lozells and Newtown areas of the city. The paper pushes for more deeply embodied and more highly politicised versions of place ballet and urban vortex, introducing a concept of choreography that comes from dance practice, and working through decolonial and postcolonial theories. A brief auto-ethnography of the author’s Birmingham childhood illustrates that movement repertoires are diverse, historically and spatially conditioned, and, in the case of Birmingham, located within an ongoing ‘decolonial churn’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the foundation competencies for social group work, an art therapy group for eating disorder patients, and a community arts exhibition which uses mental health services.

This study focuses on art projects that reflect human rights violations committed by the Guomindang (KMT) government on Taiwan during the Republic of China's (ROC) White Terror Period between 1949 and 1991. It starts with a brief introduction to this historical period in Taiwan, followed by a discussion of artwork that seeks to preserve personal memories in the absence of official records. The paper contrasts official art projects initiated by KMT and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administrations in recent decades that aim to address the difficulties of transitional justice, such as the silence of victims, fading memories, and misapprehensions between generations, with spontaneous artwork that responds to the official narratives of past injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the new generation of community based natural resources management (CBNRM) should involve the arts, and particularly the community arts, to better enable success in engaging communities in land rehabilitation and ecological sustainability. The paper is based on insights gained from a five-year research project which examined the role of the arts in affecting environmental behaviour. About 200 informant interviews were undertaken, and eight case studies were analysed to provide qualitative and quantitative data. The case studies presented in this paper show that a culture of landcare is gradually evolving and there is a general overlap, and perhaps even convergence, between the community arts and community environmental initiatives such as Landcare. There are now many community arts events that have an environmental focus, and increasingly CBNRM is using the arts to encourage greater community involvement in the issues and to provide an artistic voice of those involved in CBNRM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In "A Long Poem: Take Time to ...", I relate how the people on one city block engaged in a community based "long poem" art project during the Covid-19 pandemic. Arranged in two parts, this paper first looks at the literature on community art and its impact on personal and social health and wellbeing. Second, I describe how a street community art and poetry project led to social engagement, dialogue, healthy interaction, and good memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present one specific case study of the inter/trans-disciplinarity and inter/trans-mediality in Macedonian contemporary art - a project of the young Macedonian artist Kristina Pulejkova. The project, titled Wedding Route, is an immersive installation that deals with the overlapping of knowledge gained from the natural sciences and arts, while also questioning politics, ecology, technology. Wedding Route deals with the life cycle and migration of the critically endangered European eel. No matter where they live, once sexually mature, they turn into a silvery color and make their final arduous journey back to Sargasso Sea, driven by their instinct. Lake Ohrid (the largest in Macedonia) is currently being artificially populated with eels, as this animal has been unable to migrate into the lake's waters since 1962 when the first hydroelectric dam was built. Globally, the European eel population faces rapid declination, and its story is very much that of man-made borders, overfishing and death caused by habitat decline and climate change, hence preventing its millions of years old migration back to the Sargasso Sea. Through an inter and trans-disciplinary approach that combines art, science, and technology, working with moving pictures, sound, and installation, Pulejkova aims to build subjective narratives relying on scientific data and principles. The project and its outcome is a pure example of speculative pragmatism, since through theoretical exploration and artistic visual simulation of the location and the appearance of the act of eel spawning (since scientists have so far only speculated on the occurrence of this mysterious event) she offers a pragmatic discussion on ecology, migration, and politics in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how and whether people with severe and enduring mental health problems experience belonging through their participation in a range of contemporary artistic practices and spaces. The paper draws on qualitative evidence from in-depth interviews with artists in two Scottish community arts-for-mental-health projects in order to show how such spaces engender geographies of creative recovery, social connectedness and cultural inclusivity. Set against a history of insane ‘outsider art’ and art therapy, ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ positions in relation to the supposedly inclusive cultural city are critically examined. Experiences of artistic belongings are shown as ones constituted by ambiguous and contingent social processes that only partially disrupt ascriptions of difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests a new model for artist engagement by analysing challenges independent visual artists face in Serbia due to the shift to neoliberal capitalism. The aim is to address the alienation of independent visual artists from broader socio-political issues and to improve their social status through a socio-emancipatory mission of artistic practice. The methodology involves analysing international working conditions for artists, different cultural policy models, and alternative modes of artistic engagement, as well as case study of a community art project in Stara Pazova (Serbia). The significance of studying Serbia rests in its historical experience of self-management when culture was considered an integral part of the socialist society, fostering emancipation and creative freedom. The proposed model emphasizes the horizontality of decision-making and the need for progressive cultural policies that foster experimentation, autonomy, and freedom from bureaucratic requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses visual engagements with the refugee issue in Greece and beyond from 2015 to 2017. Drawing mostly, but not only on visual art works, I investigate the extent to which contemporary art can operate as a means of criticising stereotypes and clichés concerning the refugee crisis and its representations, as well as the extent to which it can intervene and act subversively. Since most of the art projects I discuss here use specific objects as a visual means of approaching their subject matter, I also examine the ways in which these objects operate in representing the refugee crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper locates glitch art as a critical and creative mode of protest against sexual surveillance. With reference to my art project Queer-Alt-Delete, and by drawing on the affirmative philosophies of Rosi Braidotti and Gilles Deleuze, I argue that glitch art interlaces algorithmic uncertainty with subjectivity in ways that facilitate an experimentation with new political becomings. I question the characterization of biometrics as a foreboding and impenetrable cloud of networked computational control and suggest that glitch art has the capacity to expose and exploit the inherent vulnerabilities and fallibility of recognition technologies. Making a case for a consideration of the virtual dimensions of protest, I emphasize the unexpected and indeterminate potentials of glitch art to corrupt binary cis-tems of surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of On the W@terfront is the property of University of Barcelona, Centre de Recerca POLIS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper is to explore (a vocabulary for) the potential effects of urban artistic interventions on the configuration of city space. It engages with a particular art project that took place in Vienna, Austria, in the summer of 2000. Through juxtaposing descriptions of the particular time space of the intervention with reflections on how the ensuing excess of spatial trajectories disrupts urban orders, I seek to illustrate the potential of art to reorganise what is visible and expressible, and ponder the question whether such 'provocations in situ (...)' can 'recompose political spaces, or if they must be content to parody them' (Ranciere). Constructed as a dialogue between empirical narratives and conceptual reflections, the form and the style of this paper attempt to embrace the ambiguity and openness unleashed by the performance/installation in question and 'to stay within the compass of [its] force and imagination' (Taussig). Resisting interpretative closure and exacerbating spatial multiplicity, or so I will try to show, constitutes a powerful effect of politically engaged urban art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of two fashion-centered exhibitions organized by non-museum studies college students in collaboration with a university museum and a community arts center and historic house. The work was the result of a new course, 'Museum Issues in Historic Clothing and Textiles,' offered in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors at the University of Georgia. The department holds a large historic clothing and textiles collection, but has limited exhibition space. This paper describes the steps involved in the collaborative project, the active learning process in the classroom, the exact nature and process of the collaboration, and provides information on the final product - the two exhibitions created by the class. The paper aims to encourage similar collaborations between museum and fashion design, or fashion merchandizing programs housing historic clothing and textiles collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 20 years, public art has become an increasingly important factor in the development of public projects that strive to create or expand the identity of towns and cities around the globe. Some of the most extensive public art projects have developed through the expansion of light-rail systems in urban areas. This paper explores not only the development of some of these projects, but also the components that function in combination to generate a sense of place-specificity for the daily users of these art-enhanced public transport systems. The emphasis of this paper is the human experience in relation to these extensive projects and whether those experiences in relation to a sense of place, constitute the final measure of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a phenomenological case study on ecological artist Lynne Hull by investigating the connections between ecological art, nature, and education. The research examines Hull's ‘positive gesture towards the Earth’ as conceptualized in her work of creating habitats for wildlife (Hull, 2004, para 1). It illustrates how she seeks to inspire changes in human behaviour through her artwork in addition to developing action steps based on her works. Through an examination of Hull's work, the researcher explores how ecological art can inspire environmental education by presenting innovative ways of thinking about existing concepts. The paper discusses how educators can incorporate inquiries about ecological art into the school curriculum. Furthermore, it considers ways in which educators can adopt Hull's art-making processes and integrate these into the curriculum. It argues that educators can help students to interact with these artworks and develop their own creative processes in a meaningful way that involves art, aesthetics, and nature – all of which may raise students' consciousness about the environment in themselves and others. Ultimately, appreciating the elements of nature and their connection to the aesthetic can become a vehicle for raising awareness about broader [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of arts in encouraging participation and community development is increasingly recognized. This paper centres on a large-scale community arts programme in the Speke/Garston area of Liverpool, UK. This sought to increase community involvement though a variety of participatory arts initiatives within a single, unifying project known as ‘Closer’. Evaluation indicated that the project had met its aims of increasing participation (Carey and Sutton, 2002a). What was also apparent was that the experience of working on the project had been challenging, enlightening, enriching and frustrating for those involved. The lessons learned from this project are of value to communities, practitioners and policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public visual spaces, populated by a blend of community murals, unauthorised street art, and historic painted mercantile signs, are often the mark of an urban environment that is both progressive and eclectic. Changes in the aesthetic and cultural value of these urban mural forms have led to an increase in the appreciation and, in some instances, promotion of their artistic merit and cultural significance as examples of public art. However, examining the significance of these works, with a view to implementing a conservation approach is problematic. This is due to a number of practical and theoretical considerations that are primarily a result of the ephemeral existence of urban murals outside conventional exhibition spaces, and issues associated with their often fragmented ownership and uncertain authorship. Consequently, larger thinking on the interpretation, conservation assessment, and advocacy for the conservation of urban murals are required. Key to defining and implementing such strategies is contextualising the public visual spaces that these murals occupy and, as part of this, the local and wider communities’ perception of these murals as culturally significant objects as well as fostering awareness and understanding of appropriate measures aimed at their conservation. This paper examines the role of citizen science, or crowd-sourcing, of local community members in establishing a conservation dialogue and generating conservation- relevant data on urban murals. It looks specifically at a project involving a collection ofin situhistoric painted mercantile signs — also known as ghost signs — in the City of Port Phillip, Melbourne, Australia. The project fostered the establishment of an informed and open dialogue between conservation specialists and participants from the local community on the significance of local ghost signs whilst transferring knowledge on conservation processes and assessment methods. Working directly with community members, a programme was designed in which conservation and community knowledge of these urban art forms, could be collected and exchanged across digital platforms. This enabled researchers to examine how citizen science can be utilised as a research tool as well as a means to advocate for the conservation of collections of urban murals. It created the opportunity to consider the role of non-specialists and shared authorities in the collection and collation of conservation- relevant data and how information generated from what we call citizen conservation projects, can inform the way in which conservators evaluate and prioritize the conservation of urban cultural heritage. The data gathered and interpreted proved to be the most effective means of ‘conserving’ these often ephemeral forms of cultural material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the activist method and motivation of Up Against the Wall Motherfucker (UAW/MF), an art-political collective formed on the Lower East Side in the late 1960s. Exploring a series of actions, organizational alliances and community-orientated programs, it argues that the group’s project was informed by a critique of the social and political disengagement of postwar American art practice. In examining these themes within their neighborhood context, the paper makes an ancillary argument for addressing the local within histories of the radical American 1960s. While 1968 stands as a symbolic moment of political and social upheaval, the actions of UAW/MF – and its forbearer, Black Mask – illustrate the local dimensions of the so-called “protest era,” and highlight anxieties and concerns that promoted social revolt at the grassroots level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal stories have been utilised in a variety of ways in Applied Theatre practices. The author problematises their use when the teller's safety is at stake within a given context. Inspired by neuro-anatomist Jill Bolte-Taylor's process of enlightenment through observing her stroke from the inside out, the author uses her personal experience of sharing and staging her narrative to ask questions of ethics, representation, autonomy, and agency for the teller; all of which are intrinsic elements necessary to an ethical approach to community-based theatre practices. A number of other projects and reflections by various practitioners are mentioned in this article to examine the different progressive stages inherent in relaying and staging personal narratives. This paper concludes with proposing protocols to help the teller glean the benefits of empowerment through sharing and staging their personal narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we reflect on the development of community-based arts and cultural (CBAC) practices to promote psychosocial, group/organisational and community changes from the perspective of empowerment. We draw on findings from an initial exploratory phase of an ongoing action-research project in Spain about creative tools that empower artists and communities. The study sought to explore community-based art practitioners’ and academic/researches’ understandings and perceptions about empowerment in order to shed light on how people make sense of the benefits of the practice through the empowerment lens. Data were gathered through 20 semi-structured interviews with artists, social educators, cultural workers and researchers/academics. Thematic analysis of the data with reference to the empowerment theory suggests parallels between the discourses used in the theory of empowerment and the CBAC practices described by the interviewees. Three key themes reflect that multilevel empowerment is promoted when site-specific capacities to gain control over resources and the direction of one's life are achieved. Empowerment is promoted when actions to influence the public sphere come from group, organisational or community settings, and when CBAC practices are articulated with broader efforts aimed at social change, thus becoming a vehicle through which other community development and organising can occur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we critically reflect, through the lens of liberation psychology, on our experiences of using participative community arts in work with young people and intergenerational groups in inner-city Manchester, UK. We used mixed methods to examine the impact of and engagement with community arts in two projects. One study was quasi experimental in design and used questionnaires developed by the researchers to compare Higher Education aspirations with levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy, as a result of participating in creative music sessions. The other study was a multi-media action research project, using qualitative methods to explore participant experience and the impact of the activities. Our methods included observations, interviews, the creative products and the creative processes. Through our critical reflections, we examine the role of power and powerlessness in participative arts, as well as ways in which participation had the potential to enable ‘conscientisation', which in turn had the potential to lead to self-empowerment and motivation for action. Both projects demonstrated the importance of forming ‘communities of practice’ with a diverse range of stakeholders in order to gain maximum impact from the projects and move towards a position of collaborative governance. We found that this approach was a useful starting point for facilitating ‘collaborative governance’ for wider social and political change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In his workPast beyond memory: Evolution, museums, colonialism, Tony Bennett asks how museums can ‘shed the legacy of evolutionary conceptions and colonial science, so that they can contribute to the development and management of cultural diversity more effectively’. This question is of particular pertinence in the South African context where for a long time the material found in public or government-funded museums on those not from the dominant sectors of society presented these marginalised people as ‘objects rather than citizens and individual actors in their own right’. Issues of inclusion or connection and exclusion are central to democracy – who feels connected to civil society, who does not, and why? Who feels their voice is heard and who does not? Over the past few decades a number of community embroidery projects have been initiated in formerly marginalised areas. These projects have made a name for themselves in terms of their artistic merit and have participated in exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Proponents of these initiatives claim that they go beyond connecting these craft artists with a wider audience. This paper will discuss how these collections of embroidered story cloths can contribute to a more inclusive society by combatting disadvantage, empowering communities and developing social capital so that people can have an informed involvement in the creation of an inclusive South African national memory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Radical political activism in the 1970s and 1980s had a huge impact on documentary photography in Britain. Community organisations and photography collectives emerged and endeavoured to democratise the arts for those who would not otherwise have come into contact with them. Community photography used the technology to break down the barriers between artist and audience. It involved participation in the production of ideas and meanings, the active transference of skills and the acquisition of technical and aesthetic skills within communities in the hope that arts techniques/activity would become an integral part of everyday lives. For many of the projects the central objective was about learning – enabling an understanding of how events, ideas, and social relations are made meaningful through the promotion of visual literacy. This paper will document the emergence of the community photography movement in 1970s and ’80s Britain, the learning strategies developed and the arguments around the fragmenting of alternative photographic practice in the 1980s with the movement away from putting cameras into people’s hands towards greater engagement with cultural theory and the politics of representation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports that the Art Gallery, artists were invited to be inspired by the convention center's public art collection, by the broader concept of public art today, through the lens of new media that creates learning through ingenuity and exploration. Examines that artists were encouraged to submit fusions of art and technology that contemplate what role public art projects and artists play in the shifting ecological, political, social and global-relations climates and reports that video installation explores ecological preservation and connectedness through the imperiled freshwater species in the Appalachian region.

In this contribution to the special issue on adult education, inclusion and justice we discuss how an inclusive pedagogy can foster a more just way of inhabiting litter polluted living environments, in which the interests of both human and non-human dwellers are taken into consideration. More precisely, we theorize how arts can function as study material and enable a collective sensitivity for the ways in which (non-)human entities (e.g., fishermen, seals, birds, litter pickers, tourists, plastic producers) constitute a 'sick' habitat. Based upon our theory-driven participatory action research with adult inhabitants of the litter polluted Belgian coast, we conclude that a study pedagogy has the power to constitute collective events of emancipation in which inhabitants of damaged living environments can start to inhabit these places, i.e., they become (more) attentive to the reciprocal relationships with other human and non-human entities and respond accordingly with care towards these entanglements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes a critical and intersectional feminist analysis and methodological approach to debates about creative city policies and practices. Through a narrative description of community-engaged arts interventions based on action research with the Toronto Free Gallery, an artist-run centre and activist space, I demonstrate how feminist arts activism uncovers the multiple exclusions that creative city policies and practices entrench. In some ways, community-engaged arts interventions can be complicit in exclusionary gentrification dynamics, particularly the production of spaces of white privilege and heteronormativity. But neoliberal imperatives are not always over determining. Feminist artists and activists are also finding ways to performatively and playfully push back at this highly regulated, gendered, and raced regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]