Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Our project work and research allow us to build cross-disciplinary teams and community-based partnerships and our work draws upon the talents of artists and designers to identify and cultivate new approaches to transform legal education, the legal profession, and the delivery of legal services. Our goal is to use this type of pedagogy to co-create meaningful solutions that have the possibility of transforming the lives of the communities we partner with and work within. An example of this type of work can be found through an initiative called Stable Ground. This project addresses the complex relationship between chronic housing insecurity, its psychologically traumatic impact, and municipal housing policy through a participatory community-based art and culture program that is structured to inform the work of the City of Boston’s Office of Housing Stability. This project allowed us to create a residency program that embedded artists, legal designers, and trauma experts into community settings that contributed to local visual/performing arts exhibits and art-making events. These events have included facilitated conversations among artists, residents, activists, organizers, experts, and municipal leaders, all structured to inform existing OHS services and those in development. Another example is the Boston Desegregation Archive: Annotated Case Law and Digital Reference. This project represents an effort between Nulawlab, Northeastern University Archives, and the Boston Research Center and focused on exploring the social and historical materials at the center of major legal cases in Boston related to race equity and desegregation.