Abstract
There was an influx of public service announcements (PSAs) informing people how to stay safe from COVID -19 in the first few months of 2020. Many of these PSAs are online, as accessing a computer or mobile device that is connected to the internet, especially in developed countries, is usually assumed. However, having access to the internet, even in urban areas, is not always the case. This was seen in Toronto, Canada, where educational administrators struggled to provide devices with internet service to a large number of home bound children and youth when schools were closed abruptly in March 2020 due to the pandemic. A lack of online connectivity can impact the effectiveness of public health messages; an issue that is even more pressing when it comes to the dissemination of information during a pandemic. I am proposing a presentation that will discuss how legal and illegal public art interventions, dedicated to sharing information on how to stay safe from COVID-19, are actually functioning as PSAs by filling some of the gaps that official announcements are not covering. Using public pedagogy as a theoretical framework, my presentation will showcase several examples of public art interventions that provide information on how to stay safe during the pandemic. These pieces demonstrate strongly the potential to act as public service announcements that can be found on community walls rather than online or through traditional media. For communities who may be struggling with a lack of internet service, these messages can prove to lifesaving.
Presenters
Anna Augusto RodriguesAcademic Associate, Faculty of Education, Ontario Tech University, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Public Pedagogy, Community, Public Art Interventions, Pandemic, COVID-19
