This book presents twenty-seven successful arts-based efforts to respond to social problems experienced by disadvantaged communities. The arts are a powerful means of fighting discrimination, marginalisation, neglect, even poverty. The educational programs described in these chapters help stakeholders find solutions are research-based, adaptable, repeatable and sustainable. Social problems that are addressed in the book include children living with physical challenges, suffering from financial and educational poverty; elderly women suffering from solitude; migrants facing a strange and not always welcoming cultural context; Roma youth fighting negative stereotypes, and many more. Revealing the interconnectedness between social, economic, and cultural exclusion, contributors planned interventions to develop skills, strengthen identities and build communities. The book will be of interest to scholars working in the visual arts, art education, design education, drama and theatre education, and museum pedagogy. The Open Access version of this book, available at http: //www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

This book presents 23 successful arts-based efforts to respond to social problems experienced by disadvantaged communities. The arts are a powerful means of fighting discrimination, marginalisation, neglect and even poverty. The educational programmes described in these chapters help stakeholders find solutions which are research-based, adaptable, repeatable and sustainable. Social problems that are addressed in this book include children living with physical challenges; suffering from financial and educational poverty; elderly women suffering from solitude; migrants facing a strange and not always welcoming cultural context; Roma youth fighting negative stereotypes and many more. Revealing the interconnectedness between social, economic and cultural exclusion, contributors planned interventions to develop skills, strengthen identities and build communities. This book will be of interest to scholars working in the visual arts, art education, design education, drama and theatre education and museum pedagogy. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

An intellectual history of contrasting ideas around the power of the arts to bring about personal and societal change - for better and worse. A fascinating account of the value and functions of the arts in society, in both the private sphere of individual emotions and self-development and public sphere of politics and social distinction.

This book examines research using anti-oppressive, arts-based methods to promote social change in oppressed and marginalized communities. The contributors discuss literary techniques, performance, visual art, and new media in relation to the co-construction of knowledge and positionality, reflexivity, data representation, community building and engagement, and pedagogy. The contributors to this volume hail from a wide array of disciplines, including sociology, social work, community psychology, anthropology, performing arts, education, medicine, and public health.

Art as an Agent for Social Change explores through original research, experiences, and personal narratives the role of the arts in bringing forth social change within three interconnected themes: community building, collaborations, and teaching and pedagogy.

Over the past two decades, there has been a major increase in research into the effects of the arts on health and well-being, alongside developments in practice and policy activities in different countries across the WHO European Region and further afield. This report synthesizes the global evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being, with a specific focus on the WHO European Region. Results from over 3000 studies identified a major role for the arts in the prevention of ill health, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness across the lifespan. The reviewed evidence included study designs such as uncontrolled pilot studies, case studies, small-scale cross-sectional surveys, nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies, community-wide ethnographies and randomized controlled trials from diverse disciplines. The beneficial impact of the arts could be furthered through acknowledging and acting on the growing evidence base; promoting arts engagement at the individual, local and national levels; and supporting cross-sectoral collaboration.

Social arts are manifold and are initiated by multiple actors, spaces, and direction from many directions and intentions, but generally they aim to generate personal, familial, group, community or general social transformation which can maintain and enhance personal and community resilience, communication, negotiation, and transitions, as well as help with community building and rehabilitation, civic engagement, social inclusion, and cohesion. Occurring via community empowerment, institutions, arts in health, inter-ethnic conflict, and frames of lobbying for social change, social art can transform and disrupt power relations and hegemonic narratives, destigmatize marginalized groups, and humanize society through creating empathy for the other. This book provides a broad range of all of the above, with multiple international examples of projects (photo-voice, community theater, crafts groups for empowerment, creative place-making, arts in institutions, and arts-based participatory research) that is initiated by social practitioners and by artists – and in collaboration between the two. The aim of this book is to help to illustrate, explore, and demystify this interdisciplinary area of practice. With methods and theoretical orientation as the focus of each chapter, the book can be used both in academic settings and for training social and art practitioners, as well as for social practitioners and artists in the field.