VIRTUAL: Applying Education
Abstract
‘Make it Happen’ is a collaborative United Kingdom (UK) project between an arts university and an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) that aims to develop a curriculum for creative practitioners so they can learn to propose successful socially engaged arts projects. NPOs are funded by UK Government and the National Lottery via the Arts Council. The NPO charity commissions artists to work with local communities to increase cultural participation in a local area (situated in the North of England) where there is low audience engagement with the arts. In addition to low cultural participation, there are also few artists working in the local area who are confident in socially-engaged practice. In order to address this issue, the arts university funded and supported a short programme of informal learning. This presentation draws upon quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate the curriculum and pedagogy employed to meet its aims. The approach was developed from Bernstein’s work on classification and framing (2006) in conjunction with Alhadeff-Jones’ (2016) work on the rhythms of educational time. Initial findings suggest that the two partners operated within different rhythms and cycles that impacted on the pacing and sequencing of content. However, the tensions in pedagogical approach did not appear to restrict the creativity and learning of the participants. Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2016) Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education: Rethinking the Temporal Complexity of Self and Society. Oxon: Routledge. Bernstein, B. (2006). Vertical and horizontal discourse: An essay. In Education and society (pp. 53-73). Routledge.
Professor Samantha Broadhead is Head of Research at Leeds Arts University and is interested in arts education and the work of Basil Bernstein (1924–2000). She serves on the Journal of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning’s editorial board. Broadhead has co-authored with Gregson (2018) Practical Wisdom and Democratic Education – Phronesis, Art and Non-traditional Students, Macmillan Palgrave. She also has co-authored with Davies and Hudson (2019) Perspectives on Access: Practice and Research, Emerald Publishing.
Megan Bailey is an Arts Producer for Creative Scene, (an National Portfolio Organisation funded by the UK Arts Council).