What is community arts or community-engaged arts or arts for social change anyway?

Is it a field? A process? A practice? A discipline? We’d be fools to try to explain it in our own words, when so many others have done a great job. We’ve found some of our community partners and friends in community-engaged arts initiatives who have described it really well. And they’re all Canadian. So, maybe these definitions are also rooted in a Canadian context somehow.

When we started out with ArtBridges/ToileDesArts, I was cautioned by two different funders to try not to institutionalize this practice, don’t box it in, or define it. It’s an evolving practice and it’s growing organically. Another thing that was pointed out to me by a community partner was that some initiatives may not want to be defined as a “community arts” practice. Instead, they may see themselves more as a ‘youth organization’, so don’t try to impose an arts label on an initiative, each one will identify themselves.

One thing we—ArtBridges—do know, is that this practice here in Canada is unstoppable!  Each day, we learn about new and interesting community-engaged arts initiatives and their amazing impact within communities.

Here are just a few perspectives on what community-engaged arts means to different initiatives:

The 4Cs Foundation in Halifax recognizes “‘community arts’ as an umbrella practice sheltering many arts disciplines, populations, and social contexts of cultural activity.”

“That said, 4Cs community arts projects are specifically about young people and others coming together with a professional artist(s) to collaboratively create artistic activities or works. Projects embody the principles of arts-based community development. That is, principles of collaboration and engagement with one another through transformative creative experiences at a community-based level. Artistic outcomes can give voice to a population, tell stories that have meaning to a community, illustrate through dance, music, movement or visual art the concerns, issues, pride, or history of a group of people or of a geographical location, such as a neighbourhood. 4Cs projects are inclusive, participatory, interactive, and create real connections between young people and others in their community through a sustained involvement with one another and the creative process.”

York University’s Certificate in Community Arts Practice (CAP) program description says:

“Community arts is an emerging field promoting creative artistic practices with groups and communities to express diverse identities and raise awareness about social, political and environmental issues. It democratizes art, emphasizes working together as much as the finished product, and embraces a wide range of activities, including participatory mural production, popular theatre, activist video-making, group singing, community dance and web-based activist art.”

Engrenage Noir / ROUAGE, in Montreal, posts “definitions and distinctions between related art practices” on their page:

“a) Community-based art: Projects meant to celebrate community, to mark places and events, or to help inform and organize communities.  The projects usually involve some kind of collaborative, collective creative process between professional artists and a community.

b) Political art: Art that directly responds to a controversial public action by the State or a corporation, or challenges public perception about the status quo, or raises questions of social justice. It’s meant to politicize, to radicalize those who are exposed to it, to provoke dialogue, to mobilize, to express a dissident opinion. An artist working alone or with a group, but not necessarily in a community context can create it.

c) Community activist art: A combination of two above practices – equally community and politically engaged; equally concerned about social justice. The projects involve a collective process of collaborative creation between professional artists and the community, where the role of artist and activist/organizer merge and become one.” (for more info, click here)

The Neighbourhood Arts Network (NAN) in Toronto describes the importance of community-engaged arts:

The arts are a powerful tool in building and sustaining successful neighbourhoods. Community-engaged art-making is a unique and effective approach to community building that fosters relationships between artists and residents, while producing exciting, unique art, and nurturing mentoring opportunities. The result is a dynamic explosion of creativity that changes how art is made, how communities are built, and how we live together. Creative initiatives are taking place all over Toronto – in parks, apartment buildings, public spaces, libraries, community centres, storefronts and street locations. These locally-rooted projects bring residents and artists together. The result is more vibrant communities – mosaics, murals, theatre, dance, media arts, music recording, storytelling, poetry, painting and photography. The results astound the on-looker while bolstering confidence in participants and pride in place.”

Out in Vancouver, the International Centre of Art for Social Change (ICASC) describes “positive and profound social change through the process of art-making”:

“A growing number of artists, working with diverse communities around the world, are creating positive and profound social change through the process of art-making, helping to create insight, social cohesion, political engagement—and hope.

Employing a multitude of innovative strategies and methodologies, the field is growing rapidly as the members of local communities, non-governmental organizations, universities, governments and other institutions recognize its potential for deep and resonant effects. Whether the work explores issues of racism, facilitates conflict-resolution, educates about HIV/AIDS, supports human rights, builds resiliency in youth, empowers marginalized communities, celebrates local histories, addresses addiction or environmental issues, or simply provides new opportunities for expression and dialogue, art processes expand and deepen our capacity for change.

Art is central in helping people to find new ways to see the world and in developing models that integrate and celebrate imaginative thinking, leading to mobilization and effective action.”

How would you describe this field/practice/process/discipline? Write in and tell us at: info@artbridges.ca

– Seanna Connell, Project Director, ArtBridges/ToileDesArts

Read previous ArtBridges’ Friday Morning Coffee editions here.

For ArtBridges/ToileDesArts sponsorship opportunities: Simon Constam, Sponsorship Director, simon@artbridges.ca, 905-537-7227
Return to ArtBridges/ToileDesArts homepage