Doing Arts-Based Educational Research for the Public Good: An Impossible Possibility?

In this special issue, each author addresses how arts-based educational research (ABER) work connects with and/or directly addresses society's need/s and the public good as perceived by the researcher. As there are many construals of the "public good" and the relation to art-making and the arts to this "public good," each author will conceptualize her/his vision of the "public good" and its relationship to ABER. While the invitation to "address how ABER work connects with and/or directly addresses society's need/s and the public good", seems, at first, straightforward, on reflection, it is complex and complicated in nature. The nature of this invitation, then, is the subject of this paper. The paper is speculative in nature. Donal O'Donoghue argues that this invitation should be both cautiously welcomed and keenly resisted. Two questions of importance to consider as to how ABER might function as a public good are: (1) How are arts-based educational researchers prepared to do ABER work; and (2) How are conditions created for diverse audiences to access the work of ABER and build meaningful relations with it.