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C110 article
Art
/ People • Vox pop: "How do the arts extend education
beyond the expected institutions of school and family?"
I am not sure that any old involvement with
the arts, regardless of ability, has educational merit. But where
a person has some artistic ability, even a modest one, then involvement
in the arts is not only desirable but also probably essential
to that person's psychological growth and self-respect.
I agree with John Rawls (author of A Theory of Justice) that without self-respect, including the kind of self-respect that flows from the exercise of some talent, we will not take full and proper delight in life. In a fair and humane society there should be a variety of artistic communities, including extra-curricular ones, that are available to people on a life-long basis and within which each person's talents can be afforded their optimal expression. There is even room here for talk of excellence, but on the understanding that excellence is relative to the individual and therefore to his or her natural abilities and particular circumstances.
This principle of 'the optimal cultivation of all talent' seems to me the best ground on which to validate community arts projects. The conventional argument for community arts projects is either creative self-expression or community development, regardless of questions of talent or achievement - 'process is as important as product'. But this can lead to people engaging in activities that are considered creative only because there are no standards or criteria to be met. Such involvement may lead to disappointment and frustration for those who do not emerge with a sense of some potential realized, some new level achieved.
Thomas Duddy teaches Philosophy of Art at National University of Ireland - Galway.
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| Dennis Looney: Whitworth Road;
from the project and exhibition Turn In, in
collaboration with Martina Mullaney; this image is part of
a series produced by residents of night shelters and hostels
around Dublin; courtesy Gallery of Photography |
In the area of continuing / community art education, our limited financial resources are focused on supporting artists' engagement with a cross-section of community-based groups.
Though acknowledged to be one of the more democratic and accessible art forms, photography has also been deeply implicated in the formation of class, racial and / or cultural stereotypes. Through our outreach programmes individuals / groups are encouraged to examine these issues, and engage in discussions around the politics of representation and the subjective nature of the medium, and to explore how they would like to represent their own ideas.
Our cross-border Borderlines project employs a team of ten locally based researchers to record a diversity of stories for a sustainable oral / photography archive. The aim of the project is to provide a means of gaining an insight into the lives, opinions, past and present experiences of one hundred people from different communities and traditions.
In collaboration with City of Dublin Youth Services Board, City Arts Centre and Digital Hub, we are employing artists to provide training 'for trainers' in digital photography for youth leaders, which will develop sustainable community-based skills.
Other recent projects have engaged more marginalised groups, such as inner-city drugs task force, rural youth groups and homeless / shelter residents.
From a practical point of view, recent developments in digital photography have freed projects from technical concerns and the physical constraints, such as access to darkroom facilities and equipment. Many groups are familiar with using digital cameras, computers and printers, which means that photography in the community is a sustainable, dynamic medium where a greater diversity of expression is now possible.
Problems arise, however, in addressing artists' needs for training and access to digital studio and production facilities, as the substantial captial outlay required is difficult to raise.
Trish Lambe is Education Officer at the Gallery of Photography, Dublin.
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| The CEAD catalogue, front cover, 2004,
National College of Art and Design |
School and family are powerful forces in shaping individual experience and providing opportunity. However, it is naïve to assume that all individuals have equal access to the arts or to a range of quality arts experiences. Issues of finance, facilities, choice, confidence, interest, all play a part in ensuring that individuals remain at a distance from participating in the arts. In Ireland, efforts have been made to address issues of access and opportunity with some degree of success, though much remains to be done to integrate art into everyday lives. The difficulty with all of this vibrant continuing-education and community-based arts is that it is not visible, not quite legitimate or recognised, but remains on the margins of mainstream.
The arts offer individuals opportunities: to express themselves, experiment, to make art products, to make connections, to communicate, to see potential in a process of engagement, to share experience, to increase confidence, provide for discovery and support learning. There is value in doing art and making art, as the arts have intrinsic qualities that provide for enrichment and learning; also they can enhance individual opportunities, enabling a person to progress in formal education.
In recent years there has been considerable debate about the use of arts for instrumental purposes, particularly in order to advance inclusion and address social concerns relating to young people or minority groups. In Ireland there exists a range of powerful examples demonstrating the success of this approach. Developmental community arts, arts in context, collaborative, participatory practices, cultural activism, community-based and youth arts, all provide opportunities for people to engage in the arts and make for change, at individual and societal level.
At NCAD, the centre for continuing education provides adults with opportunities to take courses in art and design, both credit-based and noncredit courses, winter and summer, daytime and evening. There is a high demand for places on courses and the students are encouraged to progress between levels. The student profile is diverse, though learners who engage in lifelong learning have established a pattern of learning at an earlier stage and often return to advance and enrich their knowledge or experience. Some students will transfer to full-time education or flexible degree programmes. Others will continue to make art and integrate it into their lives without becoming professional or established in the area.
Nuala Hunt is Head of Continuing Education at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.
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| Focus on...Wallace and
Dixon, 1999, with
Stoneybatter Women's Group, tutor Jean Clifford, artists John
Langan and Roseanne Lynch; courtesy Irish Museum of Modern
Art |
The Irish Museum of Modern Art's policy is pinned on the belief that "meaning and value resides in the individual" and that "art is a catalyst for unlocking that meaning and value." Since 1991, IMMA has aimed to create opportunities for people to engage with art and artists, either on site in Kilmainham or throughout the country through the Museum's National Programme.
We can cite evidence of the power of the artwork or interaction with artists. There's the children who recently engaged with one of the giants of the twentieth / twenty-first century, Louise Bourgeois. There's the continuing passion of older people from St. Michael's Parish in Inchicore, who have been described as developing a sense of self-connectedness and self-reliance as a result of the long-term contact with IMMA's programmes (see IMMA's publication even her nudes were lovely; towards connected self reliance at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2000). And there's the regular experience of witnessing people's empowerment through 'finding one's own voice' in workshops for community groups in the ongoing programme Focus on ...
Longer-term projects have resulted in the creation of exhibitions such as Unspoken Truths, 1992-1996, and Once is Too Much, since 1997. The experiences and stories, both private and political, of the women involved found a voice through the creation of the artwork. The exhibitions in turn have acted as a catalyst for changing attitudes in society about the issue of domestic violence.
The ongoing presence of artists here, on site at IMMA on the Artists' Work Programme, engaging with the public in conversations and opening their studios to those who may not have the opportunity otherwise to meet and experience artists working, normalises the process, developing awareness of the role of artists in society.
Access to and engagement with art have been the two pillars of inclusive arts policy since the late 1970s. Seminal documents such as the Benson Report in 1979 (The Place of the Arts in Irish Education) and the ACE report, Art and the Ordinary, in 1989, have articulated policy guidelines. In early 2004, a policy document commissioned by the Council of National Cultural Institutions was launched by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism; it outlines a framework for Education, Community, Outreach (ECO) for the ten institutions on the Council.
In spite of enlightened policy documents and successful arts / education and community practices throughout the country, this field of work still struggles for recognition, adequate funding and joined-up policies. I am delighted that CIRCA, a leading visual-arts publication, is dedicating space to the articulation of and critical engagement with this field of arts / education and community practice.
Helen O'Donoghue is Senior Curator; Head of Education
and Community programmes at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
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