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COMEDIA
The Social Impact of Arts Programs
How The Arts Measure Up:
Australian research into social impact
Working Paper 8:
1.1 COMMUNITY ART IN A SELF ORGANISING
SOCIAL SYSTEM.
2.2 COMMUNITY ART AS A GENERATOR OF
SOCIAL CAPITAL
2.3 COMMUNICATING IDEAS AND INFORMATION
2.4 IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF DIFFERENT
CULTURES AND LIFESTYLES
2.5 IMPROVING CONSULTATION BETWEEN
GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY
3 BUILDING AND DEVELOPING
COMMUNITIES
3.2 COMMUNITY IS A LIVED EXPERIENCE
3.1 DEVELOPING COMMUNITY IDENTITY
3.5 IMPROVING PUBLIC FACILITIES
3.6 BUILDING AND DEVELOPING
COMMUNITIES: OVERALL RESULTS
4.2 RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF AN
ISSUE.
4.3 IMPROVING PLANNING AND DESIGN FOR
PUBLIC SPACES.
5.3 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL AWARENESS
5.4 PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
AWARENESS
5.5 OVERALL POSITIVE IMPACT RATINGS FOR
THE CASE STUDY PROJECTS
7.1 OTHER FACTORS UNDERPINNING
SUCCESSFUL RESOURCING
The Social
Impact of Arts Programmes' is Comedia's 4th major study of cultural policy,
following research into libraries, parks and the creative city. It addresses
key issues in contemporary arts practice, including the social purpose and
value of participatory arts, through case studies and related research. The aim
of the project is to develop a methodology for evaluating the social impact of
arts programmes and to begin to assess that impact in key areas. This is being
addressed by:
a)
Establishing a number of
case studies to evaluate the social impact of specific programmes and the
assessment structures within which they operate.
b)
Reviewing existing
literature on social impact in relation to arts programmes alongside comparable
thinking in other fields.
c)
Providing a background
analysis of the value of arts programmes in achieving social outcomes more
commonly targeted through other forms of intervention.
d)
Stimulating a debate around
the social impact of arts programmes through the publication of working papers,
and associated meetings and seminars.
e)
Publishing a comprehensive
report outlining the findings of the research and proposing a workable
methodology for the evaluation of the social impact of arts programmes.
To date, and following a feasibility study in
Bolton, the programme includes case studies in Nottingham, Glasgow, Portsmouth,
Hounslow. Batley, North Western Scotland and Finland. A further international
study is looking at the social impact of the creative use of digital
technology.
The advisory group members are Ken Bartlett,
Franco Bianchini Tony Bovaird, Roland Humphrey, Alex MacGllivray, Anne Peaker,
Usha Prashar, Prof. Ken Robinson, Polly Toynbee, Dr Jill Vincent and Perry
The study also includes a series of Working
Papers, written mostly by people who are not directly involved in the research,
but who have specialist knowledge or interest to offer to the debate around the
social impact of the arts. As the series title suggests, they often draw on
work in progress, or explore issues discursively, without neces
This Working Paper, no 8 in the series, was
written by
For further information about the study please
contact Francois Matarasso, tel/fax 0115 982 6330 or email
f.matarasso@btinternet.com
PS
The final outcome from the Social Impact of Arts Programs was published as Use
or Ornament? which is available from COMEDIA
publication
In 1994-95 I undertook a research project to identify the long term social, educational, artistic and economic benefits arising as a result of government funded community based arts projects. Supported by the federal arts funding body, the Australia Council for the Arts, the study researched 89 projects that were funded by the Council two years earlier. The resulting publication, Creating Social Capital was released in February 1996. It details the findings and demonstrates the links between the arts projects and the long term benefits.
Although this study demonstrates that community based arts
projects generate significant developmental outcomes, it has received little response
from community arts practitioners, community workers or policy makers in
Australia. I believe this is largely because of the current conservative
political climate affecting all areas of the public sector. It has caused the
down-sizing of government, privati
Consequently the indicators for community cultural development receiving
most attention from cultural development workers and government alike, are
those concerned with familiar economic measures. More specifically economic
measures linked to cultural tourism strategies. These include: arts related
employment or new enterprise developments; multiplier effects from local
festivals or arts events; and retail growth as a result of arts focused urban
redevelopment strategies. The social, educational or cultural outcomes
presented in Creating Social Capital are receiving little emphasis or
acknowledgment in favour of the economic arguments.
The danger in pursuing particular economic aspects of the work in the
absence of a broader commitment to the inter-relationship between the social,
educational, cultural and economic dynamics, is that the economic strategies
alone are likely to fail to deliver the expected results. Too many projects
promising economic benefits and delivering di
Community based arts strategies ultimately succeed in generating
sustainable economic outcomes when they are supported within a broader cultural
development focus incorporating related social and cultural objectives. The
catch is, that there is still no evaluation framework for community cultural
development that incorporates all the related outcomes to inform the real
financial and economic impact of the work. Never has this task been more
pressing than in the present Australian economic and political climate.
How The Arts Measure Up draws on the findings presented in Creating
Social Capital, and links the indicators used in that study to key outcome
areas for community cultural development in Australia. It argues the critical
link between community culture and social cohesion and demonstrates how
community based arts programs are powerful catalysts for developing healthy,
viable communities. The ideas presented in the following pages are offered as a
contribution toward identifying that elusive framework for evaluating community
cultural development outcomes.
Debates about community art; what it is, why it is important and how to
assess its value, have abounded in Australia for more than 20 years.
Historically this work has been primarily resourced through government arts
funding programs. This has generated a continuing problem in that community
arts projects have been required to demonstrate their value against the
criteria of the relevant arts funding bodies.
As many community arts practitioners have discovered, within a
traditional, or fine arts policy framework, you’re stuck with an agenda which,
in both popular and professional opinion, places community art at one end of a
hierarchy, and opera at the other. The value of community based arts production
will always be severely compromised while it is stuck in a fine arts paradigm.
To date it has proved extremely difficult to get arts funding bodies to
place community art in a broader paradigm — community culture. This is not
surprising considering the difficulties in defining the term ‘culture’, or the implications
for government arts bodies in broadening their fine arts policy paradigm to
encompass art in community culture.
Community art is most commonly known as the poor cousin in the art
family or the naive newcomer to the social work family. But community art is
not concerned with social work as we know it, nor is it focused on the
production of art as a commodity, rather the production of art as the
expression of community culture. A sociological definition of culture provides
an ideal context for understanding the importance of community cultural
expression. In 1982 the Second World Conference on Cultural Policy, in New
Mexico, ratified the following statement on culture;
Culture ought to be considered today the collection of distinctive
traits, spiritual and material, intellectual and affective, which characterise
a society or social group. It comprises, besides arts and letters, modes of
life, human rights, value systems, traditions and beliefs. [i]
This view of culture provides a starting point to explore the importance
of community culture within a nation. And more specifically within a
pluralistic contemporary society. This view of culture emphasises the
importance of expressing community values, creating a sense of place, gaining
new insights and learning new ways of doing things.
...the sociological conception of culture possesses a number of
qualities which are relevant to the process of development and the future.
Anyone who is involved in a community, national or international activity will
be immediately aware of the enormous importance of values, patterns, themes,
symbols and behavioral characteristics for development. In many ways, the
challenge of development is to reinforce values, patterns and themes which are
working, but equally as important if not more important, to change
values, patterns and themes which are not working. 2
The pace of change in the word today demands new ways of thinking, new
patterns of behavior and new value systems. Often the old answers and even the
old questions are no longer adequate. For many, the education gained as a young
person is no longer sufficient to ensure the capacity to interact effectively
with society, find employment or generate income. Global migration means that
the cultural values and practices many people grew up with, are now blended or
co-existing with numerous different cultures within the
Often those who find themselves in situations of substantial social
change are also expected to shed the cultural perspective that gave their lives
meaning and direction and adopt a ‘new’ cultural perspective. When faced with
this type of social displacement, many people retreat into the periphery of
society, becoming despondent, passive and self disparaging. The imposition of
social change along with the denigration of the values or lifestyles which gave
life meaning and structure can also produce hostility as often as it does
apathy.
What we can do for ourselves depends on what we know of ourselves.
Social isolation, despondency and poor self esteem all work against the
likelihood of self discovery and greater self determination — for individuals,
communities and nations.
Collaborative artistic practice at community level is a potent forum for
communication of ideas and values. In the quest for seeking new ways forward
the arts can draw on the intuitive, the non-rational, the mythical and the
symbolic, and can be a powerful tool for cutting through existing patterns of
thought and behaviors.
The value of community art is in its expression of community culture, as part of the culture of wider society. In this arena community art becomes a part of the process of community cultural development — a process concerned with fostering an environment in which cultural democracy can occur. This process recognises the importance of community as fundamental to cultural expression, along with the space for social interaction and resources for artistic production. It values community artistic expression as an important way in which communities: can create a sense of place; affirm their values; assert their differences; and communicate their aspirations.
It sees collaborative artistic production as a powerful vehicle for
experiential learning and appreciation of other value systems. It does not over
emphasise the value of art as artifact or concentrate on fashionable elite
notions of specific artistic form. It sees the value of art residing in the
present and in how it directly adds value to, or creates meaning in people’s
lives. This could be things such as; the importance or clarity of what is
communicated through the art work; whose voices or stories are heard;
and whose values are embraced within the art work. In other words, the
relationship between the art work and the living context in which it was
conceived and to which it relates.
In a Western contemporary culture, these activities are an essential
addition to, and antidote for, the passive relationship with homogenous popular
culture emanating from the commercial media. Community cultural expression
provides people with the opportunity to communicate individualism,
eccentricity, diversity and inspirational example. It is also a process through
which people — communities — can use artistic expression to challenge social
norms, mobilise for, or resist change. It provides room for people to
participate in artistic communication as well as spectate. It is an essential
and powerful way in which people build and rebuild community, release creative
energy and transform minds, organi
In 1994 the Community Cultural Development Unit of the Australia Council
for the Arts supported a national study to examine the long term value of 89
community based arts projects they had funded in 1991. The study tested social,
educational, artistic and economic outcome indicators, commonly accepted by
community art practitioners and government arts funding bodies, as describing
the long term value of the work.
The study included a survey of 109 community participants from public
funded community based arts projects, plus 123 community members who had
observed the projects. It asked people to rate the long term value of the
project for their community. It found that the communities concerned could
demonstrate distinct links between the impact of the arts projects and lasting
social, educational, economic and artistic outcomes.
The resulting publication, Creating Social Capital, details the
social, educational, economic and artistic benefits that were evident, two
years after community based arts projects. It reveals that public funded
community based arts projects were powerful catalysts for community development
and renewal as well as agents for substantial individual development. Over all,
respondents recorded positive impact for each outcome area as follows:
96% recognised positive educational outcomes
94% recognised positive artistic outcomes
90% recognised positive social outcomes
72% recognised positive economic outcomes
The findings demonstrated that the value of government funded community
based arts projects and programs was largely in terms of social or cultural
impact, and influences several types of outcome.:
• Building and developing communities
• Increasing social capital
• Activating social change
• Developing human capital
• Improving economic performance
The following chapters take each of these outcome areas and examines why
those outcomes are important and how community based, collaborative arts
projects can produce these results.
Community based, collaborative arts programs and projects are highly
effective in producing the following social capital outcomes:
• Improved communication of ideas and
information
• Improved skills in planning and organising
activities
• Improved understanding of different
cultures or lifestyles
• Improved consultation between government
and community
• Increased appreciation of community arts
One of the most valuable activities we engage in as human beings is the
business of creating and maintaining social order. As social animals, these
complex systems are crucial to the process of living, reproducing and building
communities, states and nations. The business of creating group rules and
processes of organi
Meaning and group values are expressed through social interaction.
Community, in all its forms, is about the lives of people and how they
construct meaning and build trust together. It is the arena for living and
expressing culture. The benefits derived from these experiences have recently
been described by several writers and researchers as ‘social capital’. The 1995
Australian Boyer Lectures, A Truly Civil Society, presented by Eva Cox,
examined the notion of social capital which she described as being generated
by:
...the processes between people which establish networks, norms, social
trust and facilitate co-ordination and co-operation for mutual benefit. 3
This concept of social capital sits beside the familiar concepts of
financial capital, physical capital and human capital. It describes the
capacity for mutual cooperation towards the collective well-being within a
community or wider society.
Social capital is the social glue, the weft and warp of the social
fabric which comprises a myriad of interactions that make up our public and
private lives — our vita activa 4 ...the
elements which increase social capital are mainly based on interactions. They
involve space, time, opportunities, precedent and the valuing of process. We
need the opportunities to interact with a reasonably broad spread of people,
and to build up a level of trust through positive rather than negative
experiences. 5
Drawing on the work of American political scientist Robert Putnam6 , Cox argues that the social capital
theory suggests that humans achieve more by cooperating than competing, and
that experiences which develop trust and a discovery of common ground allow
people to move from a defensive ‘I’ to a mutual ‘we’. She suggests that an over
emphasis on competition and an undervaluing of the time and opportunity to work
co-operatively together, undermines the capacity to build trust and common
ground in our communities and in society. Cox suggests that:
Trust should be defined as inexhaustible because it is increased, rather
than depleted by positive use. The more we work together with others in
environments which encourage co-operation the more likely we are to trust
others, and the occasional failures of trust will be less damaging. Social
capital is therefore increased by use. It can be depleted by widespread lack of
trust or by our own failure to trust others. Without trust we avoid contact
with others
because we fear betrayal. This is the core component of social connections.
7
Putnam’s studies in regional Italy offer statistical evidence that
co-operation pays off socially, bureaucratically and economically. He argues
that if we can come to trust others as we trust ourselves, prosperity and
economic growth follow. 8 Governments
that fail to invest in developing social capital risk facing considerable
expense caused by the degeneration of the social fabric. Lack of trust and
mutual understanding generates fear and social withdrawal, an erosion of
community leadership skills and an absence of positive role models for
community development.
Community based, collaborative artistic production, as per the community
arts model, is an extraordinary catalyst for generating social capital. The
process of group artistic production relies on identifying common goals, group
cooperation, and effective communication of complex ideas. Competition is
replaced with collaboration and self interest is counter-balanced by group
needs.
In line with Cox’s and Putnam’s claims about how social capital is
generated, Williams found in that the long term benefits emanating from
community based arts projects were directly related to the impact of co-operation,
trust and collaboration to reach a common goal. This was most frequently
described by the respondents as developing a strong sense of group ownership in
the project. It was most likely to happen when there was a shared
responsibility for achieving the project aims. Group ownership was generated by
an inclusive attitude to group membership, openness to people’s ideas and
sensitive leadership with a balance between providing direction and consensual
decision making. These ideas are further elaborated in the following three case
study extracts.
This case study is an excellent example of the place for ritual and
legend in expressing and celebrating shared values and creating defining
moments in the life of communities. The project created a large-scale theatre
event which brought together community members from five small isolated towns
within a remote rural region of Tasmania. The intention was to generate a sense
of regional identity in the face of local government amalgamations, and to lift
the spirit of the community as the mining industry, the major source of
employment, was in a state of decline. The resulting play, Boomtown, told
the story of a fictitious mining town and its colorful and tenacious people who
survived through a boom-bust-boom cycle. It involved hundreds of people as cast
and crew, or as participants in a grand parade on opening night.
The experience of working together
The project did indeed significantly lift the spirit of the community
and bond them in a difficult time. The large scale of the event meant that
residents had to work together intensively. This experience generated a special
energy as ordinary people worked together, to make an extraordinary event. The
most common phrase participants used when reflecting on the experience was that
‘people came out of the wood work’ to join in the preparations. The heightened
levels of activity led to three important insights: that people had talents
that they were previously unaware of; that they had created something more
amazing than what they had imagined possible, and what could be achieved in a
spirit of cooperation. Most communities only experience this intense
cooperation and focus on a large scale in times of di
It brought a lot of people together who would not have otherwise come
together. It wasn’t demanded of them, we wanted to do it, get involved, that
was what it inspired. Now it is a story on its own, like the bushfires — and now
‘Boomtown’. You can’t remember other plays, but ‘Boomtown’, we all
remember that! 9
Apart from the value in creating a model of community cooperation,
residents also
It showed the kids there is more to life than football and violence, and
that you can do things together as a combined effort...to me they’re the long
term benefits. 10
This project strengthened the sense of a regional community, built
networks of on-going value, generated pride and confidence, uncovered local talent,
bonded people in times of hardship and demonstrated what a resourceful
community they were. It was also a great night of theatre! Respondents in this
case study rated a positive response to these social capital indicators as
follows:
Improved communication of ideas and information 100%
Improved skills in planning and organising
activities 93%
Developed community identity 93%
This project involved young people and police in a creative development
process, and as performers in a theatre/music production. The resulting
production, Panic Stations, was a large successful production, presented
as part of Come Out, South Australia’s biennial youth arts festival. A
cast of around 30 young people and five police officers presented a music -
theatre promenade performance which illustrated life in their community and the
interaction between community and the police.
Apart from being an entertaining theatre production, the experience
proved to be a catalyst for moving from a confrontational to a co-operative
relationship between young people and police. The participants believed the creative
process of the project gave the young people and police an opportunity to
relate to each other as ordinary people. The workshop process used to create
the performance narrative required the group to develop a relaxed climate of
trust. Through games and improvised enactments of community issues, and putting
themselves in another person’s shoes, individuals moved past stereotyped ideas
of ‘other’. The young people got to experience being in the shoes of the
police, the police got to explore how powerless young people feel in the face
of police authority. One of the police officers involved commented:
The main value [of the project] was the bridges that were built and the
barriers that were broken down....it built [young people’s] self esteem and it
also established a rapport with the officers who were involved. 11
Many of the young people involved came from low socio-economic
backgrounds, where attitudes towards the police were negative, and interactions
with a police officer usually meant trouble. For these young people, finding
themselves developing friendships with police officers, feeling valued as a
member of the creative team developing the performance script, and gaining the
skills to perform, was a potent mix.
Issues such as domestic violence, teenage runaways, car stealing and
personal identity were all grist for the mill of the story line. Seeing the
social education impact of the project, other police in the region expressed
interest in the project as a method of improving their policing role. Members
of the theatre company were invited to present information sessions for other
police officers, about the project’s aims and working processes.
As with many other case study examples, the participants felt that one
of the major long term benefits was the impact of the role model the project
provided for the participants and wider community. This was most clearly
expressed as:
In the future those kids might not go on to be politicians, but they
might become leaders in their own community as well as role models for other
kids on the way. [The project] put a foundation there for these kids, and a lot
of self worth [which] they can build on...12
Respondents in this case study rated a positive response to
these social capital indicators as follows:
Improved understanding of different cultures
or lifestyles 86%
Increased appreciation of community arts
projects 93%
This project involved the community in creating a mural on a factory
wall in a suburban residential area in Adelaide, South Australia. It was
conceived and developed by a group of residents concerned about the need to
improve their suburban environment, and motivate the local government council
to develop a small allotment of vacant land abutting the factory wall, into a
community recreation reserve.
A mural as catalyst to community empowerment
The mural project became a focal point for discussion about local
environmental and recreation issues, and eventually a catalyst for community
awareness raising. The mural, extending 150 metres in length, and up to 12
metres high at its apex, reflected images of community, past and present, and depicted
the recreational reserve the residents aspired towards. With its portrayal of
families enjoying a green and peaceful park, neighbours chatting over fences
while the postman cycles by, the mural presented an illusion of extended
landscape. The whole exercise generated an enormous impact.
Although some of the more politically active residents had attempted to
negotiate with the local government council regarding the need for a community
reserve, past efforts had fallen on deaf, and sometimes hostile ears. However,
the high levels of community involvement in the mural provided the time and
focus for residents to discuss their recreational and environmental aspirations
together. The combination of the impact of the mural, which was valued by
residents and the Council alike, plus the clearly articulated community voice,
finally moved the Council to consult with the residents over their ideas for a
community reserve. Approximately two years later the reserve was completed.
Participants believe that the project was particularly valuable in
generating a climate for mutual cooperation between the local government
council and the residents. This in turn, forged a commitment to the longer term
goals for the reserve and the cooperative working relationships needed to
achieve these goals. One of the participants observed:
The project gave people a structure, a way of doing things. You build
unity through action, not by talking ideals or abstracts. A good thing about
community arts [projects] is the action, it’s concrete....If you don’t have a
project, you don’t have the catalyst or focus. 13
Respondents in this case study rated a positive response to these social
capital indicators as follows:
Improved consultation between government and
community 90%
Improved communication of ideas and
information 95%
Increased appreciation of community arts 90%
INCREASING SOCIAL CAPITAL: OVERALL RESULTS
Overall, the case studies average positive results for these social capital indicators were as follows:
Improved skills in communicating ideas and
information 92%
Increased appreciation of
community arts 92%
Improved skills in planning and organising
activities 87%
Improved understanding of different cultures
or lifestyles 80%
Improved consultation between government and
community 64%
The national average response to these indicators was consistent with
the case study findings as illustrated below.
Improved skills in communicating ideas and
information 95%
Increased appreciation of
community arts 94%
Improved skills in planning and organising
activities 90%
Improved understanding of different cultures
or lifestyles 80%
Improved consultation between government and
community 64%
These results indicate that community based arts projects and programs are
effective ways to facilitate ...processes between people which establish
networks, norms, social trust and facilitate co-ordination and co-operation for
mutual benefit — Cox’s description of what generates social capital.
Community based, collaborative arts programs and projects are highly
effective in producing the following community development outcomes:
• Developed community identity
• Decreased social isolation
• Improved recreational options
• Developed local enterprise
• Improved public facilities
Before examining how community based arts programs and projects can
produce these outcomes, it is important to reconsider the value of ‘community’,
as a fundamental unit of society.
The term ‘community’ enjoys periods of popularity and periods of being
distinctly out of fashion with government agencies and politicians. In the arts
in Australia, the idea of ‘community’ has never held great currency, (although
‘audience’ and ‘general public’ are very powerful concepts). In general, the
term ‘community’ as a prefix in areas of activity such as community arts,
community health, adult and community education, means it will enjoy a low
status with government and be poorly resourced. There are a number of reasons
why this value judgement persists, but one very valid reason is, that all
community based methods of working — in health, law, arts and economic reform —
operate in a reverse order to the top down system of government.
Advocates of public systems using community based or participatory
methods of working, argue the need for a more balanced approach from
government, in the way that they develop and support social systems. These
advocates believe an over reliance on top down systems of government destroys
or oppresses much that is valuable and essential to maintaining social harmony
and fostering self determination. Community based professionals in numerous
disciplines believe that a greater investment in community based systems, which
operate in a cooperative relationship with government, have the capacity to
build and enrich communities and society. The results they argue, although
taking a little longer to manifest, act as an effective preventative measure to
many of the negative outcomes from the social disintegration being experienced
in many Western countries. Things such as homelessness, unemployment,
disintegration of family units and networks, drug dependency and street
violence. Governments, primarily concerned with ‘bottom line’ economics and
short election terms rarely have time for, or are motivated to explore,
alternative methods of working and the rewards they might offer.
Regardless of government trends and party politics the reality of
community is constant and critically important in everybody’s lives. For most
people ‘community’ isn’t a concept, it is a lived experience that gives their
lives structure, meaning and value.
Community is that entity to which one belongs, greater than kinship but
more immediate than the abstraction we call ‘society’. It is the arena in which
people acquire their most fundamental and most substantial experience of social
life outside the confines of home...community is where one learns and continues
to practice how to be ‘social’...it is where one acquires ‘culture’. 14
The need to perceive community, experience community, and feel a sense
of belonging in a community, is essential to individual well-being and to our
systems of social organi
In Creating Social Capital, a participant in a case study project
involving an Aboriginal school in central Australia observed that:
These are living and learning experiences. People don’t have concepts of
(the school as) community. They live it — they live it and they remember it. 15
Participation in community life, is far more than a quaint, warm fuzzy
concept, it is an essential experience of a ‘system of value, norms and moral
codes which provide a sense of identity within a bounded whole to its members’.
16
Diverse community life increases the opportunity for exposure to, and
participation in numerous communities, thus increasing understandings of the
world of human experience. As the human population base grows larger so too
does the need for strong community culture. This observation is well described
by Cohen in The Symbolic Construction of Community:
As government becomes bigger and more remote from the constituent
elements of society; as economics appears to become increasingly centralised
and institutionalised, so it loses credibility and relevance as a referent of
people’s identity... the scale of such government means that it has to operate
at an extraordinarily high level of generality or in response to very
particular or powerful interests. In both cases, the vast majority of people
are going to feel under-represented and inadequately understood. They may even
feel deliberately excluded. As a result, they become politically introspective
and reach back to a more convincing level of society with which to identify.
...The suggestion is, then, that people assert community, whether in the form of
ethnicity or locality, when they recognise in it the most adequate medium for
the expression of their whole selves. 17
Community therefore, is firstly a fundamental element in the experience
and expression of culture. Secondly, people understand culture through their
experience of community, which is most powerfully expressed through myth,
tradition and ritual. And thirdly, if culture embodies a system of values,
norms and moral codes, then art is one of the most powerful ways in which those
values are communicated. Some examples of these ideas in action are presented
in the following three case study extracts from Creating Social Capital.
Yipirinya is a bilingual, bicultural Aboriginal School in Alice Springs,
Central Australia. It is an independent school run by a council of Aboriginal
elders who represent the town camp community and its four language groups. All
the children at the school are Aboriginal and approximately 90% have English as
a second language. The school has had a monumental struggle to become
registered and receive government funding, plus there is a great deal of poverty
within the town camp community which is exacerbated by the huge cultural gap
between Western and Indigenous cultures. The transient lifestyle and degree of
alcohol dependency within the town camp community, further contribute to the
Yipirinya children’s juggling act in gaining a Western education and finding a
pathway in life which can encompass two cultural perspectives.
The school sought and attracted funding from the Australia Council for
the Arts for a team of three artists to work for a number of weeks with the
students and teachers. During the project the whole school became involved in
developing and presenting a huge outdoor music/dance/theatre event. The final
night time performance was a moving and powerful celebratory event which
generated deep feelings of pride and sense of identity within the school.
Reflections on the project from the participants included these observations:
Yipirinya has had a struggle and the people have a struggle to live and
survive...I think [through this event] we
It reinforced the philosophy of the school to outsiders and to insiders.
It also helped us to see, “Yes, this is what we’re on about”, and believe in
that philosophy, or we wouldn’t be here...
It created a feeling of unity by bringing the whole school together from
the children to the staff, and presented a united front which was genuine...18
The rehear
Part of the reconciliation process requires the Western acceptance and
understanding [of] and deeper respect for Aboriginal cultural values. This
[bicultural] educational model is very significant in this process...but it’s
not just the Aboriginal people learning Western ways, its the other way round
as well. It’s hard for Western culture to understand those things. 19
The whole experience also had a particularly positive impact on the
children. Aboriginal children are frequently shy and wary of performing
publicly. This unique experience of whole community performance generated an
enthusiasm which overcame their usual reticence. As a result, the public
approval, successful risk taking and enjoyable team work experiences left
feelings of increased self esteem and confidence. This generated a willingness
to approach new experiences including greater interaction with the non
Aboriginal community.
Parents watching their children perform spectacularly in front of a
large non-Aboriginal audience,
This project involved a group of Spanish speaking women writers, who
came together to write a play. The women, from Spain, Chile, Argentina and
Uruguay, were active writers in their native country, and since arriving in
Australia had been socially isolated, largely due to a poor command of the
English language. Apart from creating a play, El Ca
The process of developing the play script meant that the women, who
lived in different geographic communities within Sydney, had to liaise between
workshop sessions to discuss character and story line development. They tapped
into each other’s cultural backgrounds and experiences as migrants. The
intensity of the creative process built trust and respect within the group
around their shared values and life experiences. The participants explained:
We became more friendly because we shared parts of our lives...sometimes
there are parts of your life that you don’t share with other people. But in
that project it was everybody throwing emotions and experiences in and sharing
them together...
I didn’t feel alone [any more] because all the time I’d felt alone — in
the car, on the train, even if I went out with people — I felt alone...because
I couldn’t express myself...
The most valuable experience was to show other people — Australian
people — how we live, where we come from and where we are now... 20
The public readings and performance of the play brought the women into
contact with numerous other people interested in who they were and what they
had achieved. The stories in the play presented insights into many of their
collective experiences as women migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds.
The public voice and recognition of their views, was a powerful experience and
one which created new social networks and a greater sense of belonging to many
different communities. In this case study respondents recorded positive value
ratings to these community development indicators as follows:
Improved understanding of different cultures
and lifestyles 100%
Established networks of on-going value 92%
The project involved the community working with an artist and landscape
architect, to design and create landscaping and artworks around their community
centre. Upon completion the centre was surrounded with a beautiful landscaped
garden, with play areas for children, ceramic tile pathways and verandahs,
small sculptures nestling into the garden, a stunning sculptured fence, plus a
community vegetable patch and orchard. As the community centre was situated in
a low socio-economic area, this transformation created quite an impact. Many
residents in the area are transient, in search of work and affordable housing.
For those taking part, working collaboratively to complete such an inspiring
project, generated a strong sense of self esteem and group pride. It also
generated confidence in the knowledge that they could achieve something
significant by working together.
The participants believe the experience of coming together to contribute
to creating a community facility, brought residents out to meet each other and
provided them with something in common to focus on. It created a symbol for
what they could achieve together and communicated this to others, both within
and outside their community. In this case study respondents recorded positive
value ratings to these community development indicators as follows:
Improved public facilities 92%
Developed local enterprise 71%
These case study experiences were consistent throughout the study. Over
all case studies, average results for these community development indicators
were as follows:
Developed community identity 86%
Decreased social isolation 74%
Improved recreational options 74%
Developed local enterprise 47%
Improved public facilities 47%
This trend was also reflected in the national findings, with the
national average response to these indicators being consistent with the case
study findings as illustrated below.
Developed community identity 90%
Decreased social isolation 86%
Improved recreational options 77%
Developed local enterprise 48%
Improved public facilities 50%
In periods of reducing government support for public services and an increasing reliance on market forces to produce solutions, there is a greater need for communities to find new ways express their collective values and to address their employment, education, health and housing issues. Those communities without a strong community culture, with poor community structures and networks, who have no voice to articulate their beliefs and values, with weak community leadership and no skills in working collaboratively are also likely to be the most disadvantaged.
Community arts projects are catalysts for expressing alternative views
of groups and communities and for driving social change. Community based arts
projects commonly produce the following outcomes:
• Raised public awareness of an issue
• Inspired action on a social issue
• Improved understanding of different
cultures or lifestyles
• Generated employment
• Increased public
The processes of creating or strengthening communities, and developing
social capital, frequently generate the desire for social change. While
governments work to improve social systems, their motivation usually comes as a
response to community opinion. Community opinion however, is largely a concept,
a perception of the dominant beliefs, and strongly influenced by the
dominant cultural values. Culture is about the creation of meaning, and in a
non-interventionist, or market economy, the control of meaning will be in those
sections of society with the most resources, and they will naturally control
meaning to their own advantage. So social change will be most influenced by
those with the most powerful ‘voice’.
Community cultural expression is an essential component in the
evolution and expression of a national culture. The greater our exposure to
other views of the world of human experience, the better we understand
ourselves as individuals, communities and societies: open and diverse cultural
expression enables a broad range of views and beliefs to be communicated. As
population grows, social organi
It is at a community level that diversity can flourish, where new views
can arise to effect change or challenge established views. Community culture
plays a key role in fostering cultural diversity, it is a fundamental element
in the expression of cultural values, and social interaction is a requirement
for this expression to occur.
Community based, collaborative artistic expression is one of the most
powerful ways that cultural diversity is expressed and community values
communicated. Community arts projects are highly effective in communicating
ideas and information and increasing awareness and
understanding of different cultures and lifestyles, two of the
indicators already discussed in this paper.
Community arts projects can also be powerful catalysts for driving
social change. The following two case study extracts demonstrate examples of
these concepts at work.
This project was a group developed theatre performance by a group of
women ex-offenders, exploring issues of drug abuse, imprisonment and social
isolation. The production led to a remarkable chain of events: educating school
children, parents, prison officers and magistrates on issues of drug addiction;
and irrevocably changing the lives of the participants.
The group, now a company called Somebody’s Daughter, was made up
of women in various stages of post-release from Fairlea Women’s Prison in
Melbourne. The group had formed strong working relationships with the project
artists through involvement in workshops and performances at Fairlea, over a
ten year period prior to this project. The formation of a group outside of
prison walls had been a long held dream of the women. This project was to be
the reali
The project had very clear aims which included: artistic development for
the women in the group; empowerment of a di
The production told the real stories of the women in the group: how drug
addiction had led them to imprisonment; how they had to make a choice about
what they wanted from their lives; how this sometimes meant losing friendships;
and how some people aren’t able to overcome their addiction.
It also told of the difficulties of readjustment on release from prison
and provided insights into the life issues which contributed to the women
becoming drug dependant and imprisoned. The production’s undeniable truths told
simply through the story of four main characters made an unforgettable
experience for the audiences. School children who tuned out in drug education
sessions, became caught up in the characters’ stories and learned much that
they would not normally hear.
The educational value of the stories they had to tell, was not only for
young people, but also for parents and others working with drug dependant
people. One group member observed.
It was really good for people who are connected with addicts in some
way, to have a look at what really goes on, because with their own children
there’s too much pain [to be able to see clearly]. 21
The value of the project in delivering a drug education mes
The performance also challenged stereotyped ideas and the labeling of
people as criminals or drug addicts. The women were well aware how being
labeled can keep people stuck in a phase of their life. One woman commented:
For us, it was an opportunity to use our skills to reach a lot of people
and [try] to break down some of those stereotyped beliefs...We haven’t got two
heads — we’re normal everyday human beings. You know 80% of women go to prison
because of drug related offences. But when did their sentence start? Usually
way back when they are in their early teens or being abused as children. People
need to know that. 22
The group was invited to perform and facilitate workshop discussions for
a training program, Working With Women Prisoners. They also performed for an
audience of 40 magistrates. The script was selected in
Another educational benefit that nobody had anticipated, related to the
children of the women who had been in prison. These children participated in
the art workshops with their mums. During chance conver
The project also had enormous long term beneficial social outcomes for
the women in the group. The value of a strong sense of group belonging,
developing self esteem, coming to terms with personal unacknowledged trauma,
gaining public acceptance for who they are and for four members of the group,
overcoming heroin addiction, literally changed people’s lives.
I don’t think I anticipated the benefits [in terms of drug addiction]
would be so marked because of how hard it is to give up. But to see the
profound effect on four people, it was huge. I was stunned at that, and
frightened in a way too, because it appalls me to see how little is required. 23
This project had an huge ripple effect, in what it had to
Following its
In this case study respondents recorded positive value ratings to these
social change indicators as follows:
Raised public awareness of an issue 100%
Lessened social isolation 100%
Inspired action on a social issue 95%
The farm is situated on the banks of the Yarra river in inner-city
The project aimed to: develop community participation in a planning and
design process for the farm; create opportunities for the community to express
their vision for the site; and secure a management focus for the farm’s future.
Three consultants, an artist and two landscape architects, were employed
to facilitate a community consultation and develop design plans for the site.
The participants believe that the major long term benefit of the project was
the validation of the farm’s management style, gaining a clear direction for
its future and the ability to confidently articulate this vision. One of the
group observed:
It’d always been a bit of a mystery how the farm came to be such a
lovely place without any professional people actually making it that way.
Clarifying some of that mystery and how things could be changed without
destroying that, was an important part of the project. 24
As a result of the educational experience of working with the project
consultants, the staff and committee not only gained confidence in what they
already knew about the farm, they also learned a great deal about environmental
design principles and language. They could now talk about the principles and
values of the farm site in a convincing way.
Inspired by their new found confidence and good ideas, the farm
management set about developing some key sites on the farm, the first being the
main entrance way. During this exercise they had to work co-operatively with
local government council engineers, who were skeptical of the farm’s
environmentally friendly approach to the site management, their technical
ability, and the incorporation of artworks into the construction. By the end of
the gateway project the council engineers were on-side and supportive of the
farm’s management approach, and interested in some of the ideas and methods
they had been introduced to. A group member observed:
Council
The farm provided an excellent example of an alternative approach to
creative design for public facilities which the council’s community arts
officer, with support from the engineers, used to inspire several new council
projects to improve other public facilities.
The short story here is, that since this project, the farm has continued
to develop and grow stronger and has managed to prevent short sighted urban
development destroying this unique asset. This is a major achievement as the
land is considered by many as much too valuable in a monetary sense, for such
recreational and educational activities. The farm committee have sought and won
further funding based on their successful track record of innovative creative
development. They have managed to move their position from one of underdog in
the eyes of government agencies, to that of a model of a well informed, well
managed, valuable public asset, named by the State government as one of the
features making Melbourne a livable city.
This project not only significantly improved the farm’s management
efficiency and influenced government’s attitudes towards a community facility,
it also was a major factor in preserving the farm for present and future
generations to enjoy.
In this case study respondents recorded positive value ratings to these
social change indicators as follows:
Improved planning and design for public
spaces 100%
Inspired action on a social issue 75%
Improved understanding of different cultures
or lifestyles. 75%
4.4 ACTIVATING SOCIAL
CHANGE: OVERALL RESULTS
Community arts projects which set out to achieve a social change outcome
were very successful in producing the positive results they aimed for. Over all
case studies, the average positive results for these social change indicators
were as follows:
Raised public awareness of an issue 88%
Inspired action on a social issue 62%
Improved understanding of different cultures
or lifestyles 80%
Generated employment 49%
Increased public
The national average response to these indicators was consistent with the case study findings as illustrated below.
Raised public awareness of an issue 90%
Inspired action on a social issue 57%
Improved understanding of different cultures
or lifestyles 82%
Generated employment 45%
Increased public
These results validate the impact of artistic expression in creating
social and cultural change from a community base. This impact can be
experienced at a local, regional or national level as illustrated by the two
examples above. The findings from Creating Social Capital, illustrate
the strong link between, community, culture and social change. According to
Cohen, community is a phenomenon of culture and is meaningfully constructed by
people through their creativity, symbolic prowess and resources:
The myth of inevitable conformity suggests that the outward spread of
cultural influences from the centre will make communities on the periphery less
like their former selves — will dissipate their distinctive cultures...These
culturally imperialistic influences will move outwards along the tracks of mass
media, of mass information, of spreading infrastructure, of mass production,
national marketing and consumerism, ushering in a monolithic culture which will
transform behaviour. ...[These views] assume that people can have their culture
stripped away...they assume people are somehow passive in relation to culture:
..they receive it, transmit it, but do not create it...[These views] ignore the
indigenous creativity with which communities work on externally imposed change.
26
The degree to which communities can work creatively to counteract
unwanted externally imposed change, depends on the resources at their dispo
One of the major residual benefits from community based, collaborative
artistic production is in developing human capital. The following indicators
are common human capital outcomes from community arts projects:
• Improved communication skills
• Increased ability in planning and
organising
• Increased problem solving skills
• Improved ability to collect, organise and
analyse information
• Developed creative talents
Before examining the human capital outcomes from community arts projects
in more detail, it is important to explore the concept of ‘learning for human
development’. This concept starts with the recognition of the essential life
long learning experiences we undertake as social beings in a changing world. It
proposes that as people develop their potential, they encounter two types of
life learning — or learning for human development. They are firstly, the
learning neces
...human beings change as they grow — they have different questions of
meaning; society and culture change and their questions change with those
changes; experiences change and the questions emerge yet again. 27
These changes can be because of life events being encountered or various
life stages, and it can also engage different focal points or reference points
for learning. In Approaches to Adult Education for Human Development, Willis
28 suggests that there are four major focal points:
Personal, relating to a personal sense of self; Ecological, relating as a biological being in
the eco-environment; Social, relating to
life as an individual linked or opposed to others in social relationship; Political: relating to life as a member of
gender, race or class groups, linked or opposed to other groups.
These points are further elaborated:
The personal: Awareness at this level of consciousness turns
people’s attention to the way they construct themselves as persons: how they
take on or discard habits of thought and action.
The ecological: Awareness at the ecological focus point of
consciousness is when people think of themselves as ecological beings, engaging
with the material universe, in which they create and which enriches or
restrains their opportunities and choices. Ecological consciousness is also
linked to environmental consciousness which turns people’s attention to the way
they occupy space and shelter, consume food and oxygen, shape the natural
environment by [their activities and production]
The social: Awareness at this focus point of consciousness
turns people’s attention to the way they are located in and affected by
existing social relationships and how they create and engage in new ones.
The political: Awareness at this focal point of consciousness
turns people’s attention to the way they are located in and affected by
existing political groupings and the inequalities between them. It can also
involve reflection on how these relationships are created, the morality of the
inequality between such political groups and how they can be made more
equitable. 29
Learning for human development is a vital and complementary learning
experience to traditional education. Traditional education is about
transferring information, values, skills and disciplines that will maintain the
present order of society. Learning for human development helps people
critically evaluate and gain greater personal insights and understanding of the
world around them. It also develops the confidence and skills to be an active
participant in that world. Aspirations for social transformation are born as
people come to see their potential as ‘creators for culture, history and an
alternative social vision.’ 30
[There is a] distinction, but not dichotomy, between education to meet
economic development goals and education to meet individual and social
development goals. [The goal of education for social development] at a personal
level, is to enhance one’s understanding of and control over some aspect of the
life environment. At a community level, it is to enhance the quality of
community life and the capacity of adults to operate competently as citizens of
the body politic, and as members of family and community groups. 31
In Creating Social Capital, Williams found that community based
arts projects were catalysts for experiential learning. The types of learning
experiences that participants described, closely relate to the renewal,
critical reflection and transformation experiences which characterise learning
for human development.
Williams found that the learning for human development outcomes
generated through community based arts projects were influenced by four major
impacts.
• The impact of experiential learning —
seeing something differently
• The impact of defining or re-defining —
knowing what is meaningful
• The impact of finding a voice — naming
what is important
• The impact of knowing how to take action —
making the changes needed
When combined, these impacts represent the experiences of critical
reflection, renewal and transformation. In all case study projects,
participants recounted examples of groups of people developing new skills and
understandings. These were generated through experiential learning, critical
reflection and in articulating shared values, new insights or visions for the
future. Case study respondents were also able to describe how their projects
inspired further social or community action towards a shared goal. A selection
of three case study examples follow.
During this project, members of the community, the farm management
committee members and the staff engaged in creative workshops in an attempt to
articulate the essential qualities or values they felt were embodied in the
farm. As a result of these experiences, the participants’ knowledge of the site
and the values it embodied for them were reaffirmed. Through the process they
also reflected on their role in preserving the site and protecting it from
unwanted development. Together the staff and management committee learned more
effective language to describe their vision for the farm. This counter balanced
existing power relationships and enhanced communication with government bodies
who could either assist them or undermine them in their vision for the farm’s
future. A participant reflected that since the project:
We have a much stronger sense of our ability to determine our own future
— in terms of the value of what we’re doing, how we’re managing the land, and
the value of the services we’re providing. It’s also given us the confidence to
deal with external forces that seem to come in a never ending stream, wanting
to change the farm. 32
In this case study respondents recorded a positive value rating to the
following human capital indicators:
Improved communication skills 88%
Increased ability in planning and organising
88%
Improved ability to collect, organise and
analyse information 76%
Increased problem solving skills 75%
Case Study: Residents Mural Project (2)
The project engaged residents in the process of designing and applying a
mural on a large factory wall overlooking a residential area. Participants
believed that through this project, they began to see the social and political
issues affecting their recreational and environmental needs quite differently.
They began to realise that their community had suffered the pollution that had
come with various industries, and as these industries went, the pollution had
stayed on in their lives. They began to recognise that the site they were
working on was a form of passive pollution, which through the mural, they
converted into a thing of beauty for their community. As people got involved
they realised they could effect real change towards a preferred future,
different from that on offer from their local government authority. One
participant summed the learning experience as:
The mural project showed people that you can make things happen for your
community without neces
This project also provided the opportunity for some key people to learn
and develop skills in applying for arts funding, political campaigning,
community consultation, and in public presentation of information. The
reaffirmation of their values, coupled with new skills, forged the way for the
community to establish a co-operative working partnership with council and
achieve their vision for a recreational reserve. In this case study respondents
recorded a positive value rating to the following human capital indicators:
Improved communication skills 95%
Increased ability in planning and organising
95%
Developed creative talents 90%
Improved ability to collect, organise and
analyse information 75%
Increased problem solving skills 72%
This project was an extraordinary catalyst for human capital outcomes.
For the participants, the project was a major life altering influence. Working
through creative workshops, the women were able to reflect on the life
experiences which had led them to being imprisoned, and all the associated
trauma and inequities these experiences held. One young woman observed the
impact on her:
[Just] having a voice [in theatre]...I was speaking for so many people
and that was a real privilege, and in the beginning really, really hard...I
didn’t have a voice my whole life and I felt I wasn’t worth anything. I was
just a junkie...Since then I haven’t used drugs. So much has happened since
then. I have a different life, I speak differently, my politics are different.
I didn’t even know who I was then. I’m not
The creative workshop process required the women to reflect back on
their experiences, and share these often painful memories with the group.
Through this process of reflection and analysis, the women were able to develop
other perspectives of their experiences which escalated them out of a cycle of
confusion, self loathing and despair. All the participants
These are our experiences in life and we do want to be somebody who can
speak out about them and not remain a victim to them: the sexual abuse, the
drug use, the institutionali
The director summed up the impact of the project on the participants in
this comment:
In the end, people are only empowered if they [act] for themselves —
while they’ve got someone talking for them they don’t move on. 36
In this case study respondents recorded a positive value rating to the
following human capital indicators:
Improved communication skills 95%
Increased ability in planning
and organising 94%
Improved ability to collect, organise and
analyse information 82%
Increased problem solving skills 88%
Developed creative talents 94%
It would seem likely that regardless of what community arts projects set
out to achieve they are very successful in developing human capital. Over all
case studies, the average positive results for these human capital indicators
were as follows:
Improved communication skills 92%
Increased ability in planning
and organising 86%
Improved ability to collect, organise and
analyse information 80%
Increased problem solving skills 74%
Developed creative talents 91%
5.6 NATIONAL SURVEY OVERALL
RATINGS
The national average response to these indicators was consistent with
the case study findings as illustrated below.
Improved communication skills 95%
Increased ability in planning and organising
90%
Improved ability to collect, organise and
analyse information 86%
Increased problem solving
skills 82%
Developed creative talents 93%
The group interaction inherent in community based arts projects provided
the opportunity for people to gain wider social perspectives and helped them
clarify their thoughts and/or decide what action they wanted to take. The
action could relate to their own needs, that of a particular group or community
or the broader society. The process of reflection is often most effective when
done in a cooperative creative group environment, as generated in community
based arts projects. In this environment members are more able to challenge
‘commonsense assumptions’ and other internalised social and cultural values
from different perspectives.
Although creating art through a collaborative process may be the group
goal, the meaning this experience has for individuals will differ. The group
may use the learning experience to challenge social structures or reaffirm
commitment to shared values. For individuals the learning experience might
generate the impetus for significant life change or provide the skills and
insights to advance their work or personal life goals. However it is put to
use, in these times of rapid social, economic and industrial change, the human
capital generated by participating in these arts projects is a rich resource.
Existing economic indicators are inadequate for measuring the value of
artistic activity or community cultural development. What is the monetary value
of a cohesive community for example, or a high level of social capital? The
inadequacy of the dominant economic indicators, along with governments that
require the arts to be justified in economic terms, frequently causes one or
both of the following responses: to try to make a convincing case for how arts
activity meets government economic imperatives; or to dismiss those economic
policies as irrelevant. Eva Cox makes this observation about the current
Australian trend to argue artistic activity in the context of industry, in an
attempt to relate to government economic imperatives.
...The arts industry — note the word — feels compelled to justify its
funding by pointing to its capacity to employ people, its export potential, and
even its capacity as a marketing tool to promote a national identity. These
justifications neutralise any opposition from Treasury and Finance. They make
the bean counters feel secure. However the emphasis on industry undermines our
capacity to see the arts as an area where we explore creativity for its own
The second option mentioned above, that of withdrawing or dismissing the
argument, fails to generate or feed a more enlightened debate neces
In public debate, the most common response is to try to counterpoise
human, social or environmental perspectives to the economic — the argument that
‘economics is not everything’, or that we have other policy objectives, such as
social justice, which must be set against economic imperatives. But this
strategy leaves us as supplicants...
Economists have successfully established their self-definition; an
economist is one who speaks rationally about the production and distribution of
material welfare. The rest of us are special pleaders or merely represent
vested interests.
The transformation of economic theory into theology has had the effect
of bludgeoning everyone except business representatives and economists into
silence. But it is precisely this question of what is left out of the dominant
definitions of what counts as ‘the economy’ which needs our attention. This
question is a more strategic one than the attempt to down play the significance
of the economy vis a vis other equally abstract conceptions of society or
social values. 38
Answers to the question, what is left out of the dominant definitions
of what counts as the economy?, would include among many others:
environmental conservation; peace; unpaid labour; artistic activity; as well as
social capital, community development, enlightened social change, and human
capital as described in earlier chapters of this paper. But why are these
things left out of the indicators or definitions of what counts as the economy?
The economy isn’t a thing that exists as a whole, it is merged with social,
cultural and political activities. All economic policies and economic solutions
have underlying social values. The challenge is to draw attention to the limits
of the value system underpinning the economic frameworks of our times. Economic
imperatives are informed by the dominant cultural and political values, not the
other way around. When the present economists decide to fight inflation first,
they have made a social decision that they are not interested in the human costs
of the unemployment they create.
The debate about what is left out of economic indicators, is not fixed
in economic theory, it is fixed in the dominant social and cultural values, and
change will ultimately be motivated by political will. Creative expression at
community level is one way for articulating the cultural values people want
enshrined in public policy, and want reflected in economic frameworks.
Not withstanding the problems in measuring the economic value of
community based arts projects, Williams found that survey respondents could
identify many links between the impact of community arts projects, and the
economic indicators that were provided. These indicators were primarily
concerned with cost
People who considered that cost
Improved consultation between government and
community 66%
Improved planning for or design of public
spaces 46%
Improved developing public
facilities 50%
Prevention of crime 38%
Most projects in the study
For example the Inner City Children’s Farm case study described in
earlier chapters, recorded extremely high positive responses to the following
indicators for cost
Improved consultation between government and
community 75%
Improved planning for or design of public spaces 100%
Improved developing public facilities 75%
The Women Ex-offenders Theatre Company case study also previously
described, recorded positive responses to indicators concerned with social
issues relating to the incidence of criminal behaviour, or the process of
rehabilitation
Prevented crime 70%
Led to employment 88%
Developed local enterprise 70%
All the case study projects examined in Creating Social Capital were
effective in attracting resources for community cultural development outcomes.
The vast majority of community based arts projects, typified by those surveyed
in the study, operate predominantly on a voluntary basis. This means that the
outcomes being delivered by this work, and described in this paper, are largely
generated as a result of unpaid labour. Within the current economic frameworks
this productivity is invisible and consequently not counted.
Secondary to this, is the volume of resources supplied on an in-kind basis
as sponsorship. This typically includes things such as: loaned equipment;
donated materials; loaned vehicles; free publicity, or sponsorship in the form
of discounted services, and donated professional services in accounting, law or
technical services, for example. Within the current economic frameworks these
services are invisible and consequently not counted as business investments in
community based arts production.
Apart from developing artistic talents and inspiring further work of
artistic merit, community based arts projects also generate support for and
appreciation of the traditional or the fine arts . When asked if their exposure
to the community arts project had increased their appreciation of the arts, 85%
of Creating Social Capital respondents believed that it had. This level
of positive impact was consistent for the project participants (89%) as well as
the community observers (81%). Around half of those who developed a greater
appreciation believed they had attended more theatre, exhibitions or arts
events, or bought more art, craft or books as a result. Within the current
economic frameworks the capacity to expand markets for artistic product is
invisible and not counted.
A successful project is likely to have a considerable impact in
generating support for the arts, locally and further afield. Many community
based arts projects generate high levels of participation in artistic workshops
and performance, or as audiences, volunteers and local sponsors, positively affecting
participants and the wider community, in favour of the arts. Approximately 60%
of respondents believed that the impact of the community arts project in
question generated further support for community arts projects from other
stakeholders.
Within the current economic frameworks this capacity to attract
increased investment in the arts is invisible and not counted.
Overwhelmingly, respondents
In short, Creating Social Capital found that successful community
based arts projects were effective at generating new arts markets, attracting
non-arts funding and sponsorship to employ artists to work with communities, and
attracting significant levels of business investment in the form of donated
goods and services.
Over all, the national survey recorded an average positive response to
these indicators for the arts economy as follows
Developed further work of artistic merit 90%
Increased
Attracted further resources for community
arts projects 61%
Increased appreciation of the arts 85%
Williams found that there were several factors influencing a successful
outcome for community based arts projects and generating long term benefits
such as discussed in this paper.
A creative arts focus: maintaining a
creative arts focus to cultural development projects.
Clear outcomes: clearly stated
outcomes for all aspects of the project covering all stakeholder perspectives.
Successful risk taking: support for
participants to set and achieve artistic and social challenges .
Cooperation and trust: creating a climate
of group ownership, trust and co-operation.
Artistic collaboration: artists working
as collaborators in achieving all the project goals.
Pride in the result: generating a sense
of group pride in the collective artistic achievement.
Audience impact: an artistic
product that inspires its target audiences.
The first and most important was starting with a clear understanding
among all project stakeholders, that they were embarking on a creative arts
project with other social or educational benefits. This was essential for
keeping the focus on exploring individual artistic expression during the
project. Broad social, educational or economic outcomes were generated from the
impact of the collaborative artistic experience. This was most enhanced when
the creative development process supported and fostered the participants’
artistic expression and showcased their expression in a well structured
artistic design. The artistic goals were defined in relation to the cultural
context and purpose of the project. The greatest positive impact occurred when
the artistic abilities in the group were stretched to achieve the shared
artistic vision, and this vision was creatively communicated to audiences.
Successful projects provided the opportunity for participants to take up
artistic or social challenges that also contributed to achieving the goals set
for the project. This type of successful risk taking directly generated the
human capital outcomes and contributed to the social capital outcomes.
Participants identified that developing a climate of trust within the
group was critical to the artistic, educational and social outcomes. This
generated a
Creating a meaningful and inspiring artistic result was at the heart of
every successful project. Artistic quality was defined by participants as how
the finished work affected them and their community, and how the art work
embodied or represented what they set out to achieve together. This included
achieving a more ambitious or complex artistic result than what they had
imagined prior to embarking on the project. Pride in the final achievement consolidated
and validated what was learned during the process.
The artistic abilities of the professional artists was cited as a
critical factor for success, followed by their ability as a creative
facilitator. This was underpinned however, by the degree to which the artists
applied their skills towards achieving all the project goals, not just the artistic goals. The
most successful projects were those in which the artist(s) developed a teamwork
dynamic where participants could take up the degree of challenge they wanted.
This approach was most likely to tap into and foster emerging artistic talents
among the participants, which in turn strengthened the integrity of the artistic
outcome.
The degree of goodwill that is developed within other allied local or
regional organi
Project resources were obtained through a mix of funding, sponsorship,
in-kind support and volunteer time. Without high levels of goodwill from a
broad base of allied organi
•The degree of investment by other stakeholders in the long term
outcomes;
When a deeper appreciation of the long term outcomes of the work was
developed among stakeholders, it created opportunities for a partnership
approach to resourcing future initiatives building on the long term potential
of the work.
•The capacity to develop community leadership;
Where there were poor leadership skills, or leadership was vested in too
few people, it was frequently too difficult to sustain the commitment to longer
term goals.
The existing frameworks for assessing the value of community based arts
practice are inadequate. The traditional or fine arts paradigm does not extend
to embrace the concepts of cultural democracy, social capital or learning for
human development. Yet the function of art in society is much more than the
body of products created by a few, for public entertainment or private art
collections.
The collaborative production of art is central to: expressing community
culture; developing human and social capital; building and re-building
communities; and transforming minds, organi
Economic frameworks are unable to measure the dollar value of social
cohesion, count the monetary returns from people realising their potential or
the productivity gains associated with self determination. The idea of the method
of working — the way we do things — being a valuable product in itself, is many
years away.
The social and economic challenges of the twenty first century will
demand attention to a balance between productivity and social maintenance. A
continuing over emphasis on commercial productivity will increase the risks
associated in leaving insufficient time and resources for the other half of the
equation — social relationships. There is much evidence to suggest that
productivity and wealth are increased as a result of greater attention being
paid to how to improve the way people work together, build relationships and
create their futures together.
Community cultural development is one element in a convergence of
disciplines that are progressively forming stronger connections— art, eco-environment,
education, human rights and spirituality — all operating from the central point
of cultural values. Without an articulated framework for cultural objectives,
art, eco-environment, education, human rights and spirituality are all
subservient to the current approach to economics, a poor measure for these
issues.
This paper has explored how the experience of community is fundamental
to cultural expression, along with the space for social interaction and the
resources for artistic production. How societies create organi
We need to acknowledge community art as an important catalyst for
cultural development and that this is a valid role of art in society. This
requires evaluation frameworks able to reflect the scope and outcomes of the
work, some of which have been discussed in this paper.
This paper suggests that key outcome areas for the arts in community
cultural development are:
Outcome Areas Indicators
|
Building and developing communities |
• Stronger sense of community identity • A decrease in people experiencing social isolation • Improved recreational options for community • Development of local or community enterprises. • Improvements to, and increased use of, public facilities |
|
Increasing social capital |
• Improved levels of communication in community. • Improved levels of community planning and organi • Greater tolerance of different cultures or lifestyles. • Improved standards of consultation between government and community.
• Increased appreciation of community culture. |
|
Activating social change |
• Increased community awareness of an issue. • Community action to resolve a social issue. • Greater tolerance of different cultures or lifestyles. • Increase in local or community employment options. • Increased levels of public |
|
Developing human capital |
• Improved communication skills • Improved ability to plan and organise • Improved problem solving abilities • Improved ability to collect, sort and analyse information • Improved creative ability |
|
Improving economic performance |
• Cost • Increase in local or community employment options. • Improved standards of consultation between government and community.
• Development of local or community enterprises. • Increased business investment in community cultural development • Increased resources attracted into community and spent locally. |
1 Schafer, D. (1989) The Character of Culture, World Culture
Project, UNESCO, p18
2 Schafer, ibid, p20
3 Cox, E. (1995) A Truly Civil Society, Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, Sydney, p15
4 Cox, ibid, p18
5 Cox, ibid, p20
6 Putnam, R. (1993) Making Democracy Work: civic traditions in modern
Italy, Princeton University Press, New Jersey
7 Cox, ibid, p23
8 Putnam, ibid.
9 Williams, D. (1996) Creating Social Capital,
10 Williams, ibid, p108
11 Williams, ibid, p94
12 Williams, ibid, p95
13 Williams, ibid, p86
14 Cohen, A. (1989) The Symbolic Construction of Community, Routledge,
London, p15
15 Williams, ibid, p117
16 Hamilton, P. (1985) in Cohen, ibid, p9
17 Cohen, ibid, p106
18 Williams, ibid, pp114-115
19 Williams, ibid p,115
20 Williams, ibid, p90
21 Williams, ibid, p63
22 Williams, ibid, p63
23 Williams, ibid, 63
24 Williams, ibid, p55
25 Williams, ibid, p56
26 Cohen, ibid, p36
27 Willis, P, (1993) Approaches to Adult Education for Human
Development, Latrobe University (in Press) Victoria.
28 Willis, ibid
29 Willis, ibid
30 Willis, ibid
31 Willis, ibid
32 Williams, ibid, p24
33 Williams, ibid, p24
34 Williams, ibid, pp16-17
35 Williams, ibid, p68
36 Williams, ibid, p68
37 Cox, ibid, p75
38 Probert, B, (1992) ‘Whose Economy is it?’, in Horne, D.(ed) The
Trouble With Economic Rationalism, (1992) Scribe Publications, Australia,
p28