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Mon, 07/12/2021 - 08:30
It's good program am so proud of this massage
This starter kit is useful for all young people looking to learn more about how the arts can be employed in community development. Art can impact communities by creating social capital among members, influencing politics and policy, generating civic engagement, and providing a medium through which to express personal and community trauma. In this kit, you will find information about what community art projects look like, why they are useful, how to implement one yourself, and examples of other individuals and organizations doing this work.
The basics: These resources will help acquaint you with the very basics of what the arts are, what community development can look like, and how the two can effectively work together.
- What exactly are “the arts”? - This list shows the varied forms art can take (hint: it’s not just painting and music!).
- Community Engagement: How arts and cultural strategies enhance community engagement and participation - This brief explains how creative tools (including visual art techniques, storytelling, social-networking technology, exhibits, music, performances, festivals, and community gatherings) can be utilized to increase civic engagement.
- What is Social Capital? - This TEDx Talk discusses what social capital is and how it can be developed through community programming- including arts programming. Once developed, social capital can be leveraged to benefit community members by providing them with connections to their neighbors.
Why use art in community development?: These resources offer explanations for why the arts are a valuable addition to community development work.
- 5 Ways Arts Projects can Improve Struggling Communities - This article outlines five specific positive outcomes art projects can have in communities with specific, real-life examples of each.
- Civic Engagement and Inclusion Through Art - This article explores how art projects can create inclusive spaces and facilitate dialogue about divisive issues.
- Social Change - This webpage defines social change, civic engagement, and how the arts can be a catalyst for both.
- Peace Through Art - This webpage offers a collection of resources explaining how the arts can build bridges between diverse groups of young people to foster feelings of belonging, coexistence, and empathy on a global scale.
- Healing Personal and Community Trauma Through Art - This article explores how art can be used to heal from personal and community trauma, specifically that derived from instances of trafficking and slavery, with examples from organizations in India, Nepal, and Cambodia.
- The Power of Expressive Art Therapy - This webpage defines expressive art therapy and explains how it can be beneficial for survivors of trauma. Other pages on this website explore how this has been successfully implemented in several communities in Southeast Asia.
How to use art in community development: These resources focus on how to assess what project might be right for your community, implementing that project, and seeking additional resources to support your project.
- Community Mapping to Identify Assets and Resources - Rather than focusing on the needs or deficits of a community, this video explores the importance of pinpointing community assets and resources and how to document these in the form of a map. For example, if your community has a tradition of crafting, this strength could be built upon in community art projects. Likewise, if your community has a central public square that members tend to gather in, perhaps this could be the site of a participatory art project.
- Planning & Designing Arts-Based Civic Engagement Projects - This 22-page guide takes users step by step through how to imagine, plan, and implement a community arts program.
- Creative Engagement - This article discusses how leaders can engage their communities creatively, develop partnerships, seek funding, and successfully implement arts programming.
- Photovoice 101 - This resource explains what photovoice is, when it might be used in communities, and how to implement a photovoice project. Here is an example of a photovoice project from Myanmar where underrepresented community members used the arts to defend their natural resources and promote women’s leadership and political participation.
- Participatory Cinema - This Tedx Talk explores how participatory filmmaking, a method of filmmaking where community members participate in all stages of the filmmaking process, can be used to give voice to previously unheard members of communities and empower them to shape their own narrative. Examples from participatory film projects based in India and Guatemala are discussed.
- Writing Poetry - This resource offers examples of different styles of poetry, tips for first time writers, and prompts to get you started. Here is an example of how young people in India, Nigeria, the U.S., and New Zealand are utilizing poetry to cope with the effects of climate change.
Get Inspired: Take a look at these examples of organizations and individuals successfully implementing art for community development.
- International Child Art Foundation - The International Child Art Foundation is a non-profit that aims to cultivate young people’s creativity in order to build a better world through the arts. Their website explains the value and worth of using the arts for social change, provides examples of programs being run around the world, and how art work is making a difference globally.
- 7 Art Initiatives that are Transforming the Lives of Refugees - This list compiled by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees documents seven arts-based projects that are engaging with youth affected by forced migration.
- ArtGlo - ArtGlo is a Malawi-based nonprofit that aims to harness the power of the arts to nurture creative leadership, ignite bold conversations, and spark action. ArtGlo engages in a variety of types of participatory art and mentorship programs.
- Jana-Sanskriti: Theater for the Oppressed - Jana Sanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed is an India-based organization that gives a voice to marginalized groups through participatory theater programs.
- Free Write: Arts and Literacy - Free Write Arts & Literacy engages incarcerated and criminalized youth and young adults in the performing, visual, and literary arts so that they become the narrators of their own stories and the authors of their futures.
- Dancing to Connect - Dancing to Connect engages participants in creativity and team-building through the art form of dance. The Dancing to Connect program has been used to bridge divides, unite communities, empower youth and the disabled, combat bullying and xenophobia, and provide access to dance to all people regardless of socio-economic status.
Now what? Putting the starter kit in motion:
- Read through the resources in this starter kit and, where applicable, share with team members.
- Explore arts-based projects other YouthLead members are involved with here.
- Assess your community’s assets, needs, and how the arts could contribute to community development. How can you build off of community assets to create further positive change? What can you do to address the needs of your community?
- Utilize the resources in this starter kit to incorporate arts into your community development work. It is okay to start small! For example, try drawing your life’s story on a piece of paper. What was it like to see your experiences manifested through visual art? Or, consider asking friends and neighbors to contribute scrap items to make a community collage. You could also try writing a poem or short story about a strength or challenge in your community.
- After getting a feel for how arts can be used in community development work, begin to expand your practices into a larger-scale project. In doing so you may need to fundraise, advocate for your project, lead others, and manage project logistics.
- Evaluate your success using the SMART Goals: A How to Guide rubric, making adjustments accordingly.
- Provide your feedback on this site! Which tools are working and what is missing? How else can we support you?