ART 343 - Arts in Community: Integrating Artistic Practices for Social Justice

What is the role of the artist and the arts beyond the studio? How can artists engage authentically and co-creatively with communities in addressing social issues? Arts in the community can sometimes be an imposition on a community when it is based on a deficit idea of “doing good” and “fixing issues”. In this course, we move away from this approach. Instead, we will position the artist as a community partner who interacts co-creatively with community members to understand, support, and amplify ethical community goals. Using an assets-based approach, we will work with a selected community to understand and develop a process for community-engaged artistic practice that realizes a vision or action by the community and for the community. In this project, we work in multidisciplinary teams to synthesize artistic practices and methods across different art forms in developing a common language and approaches for community-engaged art and a deeper understanding and appreciation of a diversity of arts practices.
Units: 4
Course Type: Practicum