Collaboration for Change
Educational Impacts of School-Community Arts Partnerships: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Houston’s Arts Access Initiative
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Daniel Bowen, Brian Kisida
The Arts Access Initiative (AAI) was implemented in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) in 2015-16. The primary objective of the AAI has been to “increase access to the arts to all children through community partnerships, arts-based training for educators, and access to fine arts educators and creative learning after school.” This access is primarily delivered through funding that is earmarked to initiate and develop school-community partnerships between HISD’s elementary and middle schools and Houston’s vast array of arts organizations and independent artists. AAI developers designed a program roll-out plan, where 25 schools would be served in the first two years of implementation, with the expectation of gradually expanding to more campuses over time. Due to over-subscription and with the guidance of our research team, the program developers implemented the AAI pilot phase as a stratified, clustered randomized controlled trial. The program evaluators, in coordination with AAI leadership, including HISD administrators, developed the following research questions to assess the impact of the program on students: Does a substantial influx of arts-based enrichment opportunities improve K-8 student-school engagement? Do these opportunities increase students’ desire to engage and participate in the arts? Does this intervention facilitate gains in academic achievement (as measured by standardized test score gains in “core” subject areas)? Does the AAI lead to increases in students’ social skills, specifically in the forms of tolerance, empathy, and sense of civic obligation? Are there heterogeneous effects in outcomes across student subgroups?
Rural and Remote Inpatient Mental Health Unit Artist-in-Residence Program: Practice-based Research through Art and Partnerships in South Australia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amy Baker, David Moseley, Nicholas Procter
Creative mediums, including visual arts, have long been used within mental health, often through the lens of therapy such as art or music therapies. Less common is for artists – untrained in mental health – to undertake residencies in such settings. This paper presents the first stage of an artist-in-residence program and research study undertaken at an inpatient unit for mental health consumers from rural and remote settings in South Australia. In this project, trained artists were engaged to work with mental health consumers to explore the theme of recovery in mental health. In the first stage of this qualitative research study, interviews were undertaken with mental health consumers who engaged with the artists at the unit. Emerging findings suggest the program provided consumers with opportunities to explore, relax, feel comforted and be distracted from their surroundings. Working with the artists was described as inspiring and instilled feelings of happiness, purpose and pride for participants. This project has been a coming together of many things - of artists and academia, of country and metropolitan, and of reclaiming a sense of comfort and hope amongst immense loss and grief.
Facilitating Participatory Arts for Community Wellness
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jeffrey Pufahl
The Arts in Medicine (AIM) Programs at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, FL, house the most comprehensive academic and clinical arts in health programs in the US, including a robust research program, twenty artists in residence, a myriad of community programs, and graduate and undergraduate degree and certificate programs in Arts in Medicine. UF AIM practitioners have designed a program that brings businesses, artists, and communities together through the participatory arts in order to promote health and wellness. Through activities designed to enhance connectivity and creativity in the both the workplace and community, participants are encouraged to try new creative activities or host creative events anywhere in the city on designated days each month and as a part of an annual un-curated community-led festival. Squarely placed at the intersection of Creative Placemaking and Social Practice, 352Creates is a concept that facilitates the creation of a community network committed to growing the idea that daily creativity is a key component to wellness. This presentation discusses the strategies, methods, and best practices 352Creates organizers and researchers employed to establish and maintain this annual community activity, and presents research findings on the connection between engagement in the participatory arts and health in the State of Florida.
