The 4 Dimensions

The crux to the social dimension of person-centred arts practices with communities lies in the word ‘community’.

This is an arts practice that is not focused on an individual’s artistic career or achievement. It is based within a community, and the arts processes involved have been designed to respond to a particular community and its needs.

This section is, therefore, about how an artist ‘does’ community with a group of people and what social effects this process has on the individuals within the group. This group of people may be a temporary or situated collective who have come together based on a common interest or need. This collective is then held together by an arts task or engagement and becomes an artistically productive collective. Mutual ties and relations emerge from this common artistic goal, which culminate into an awareness of one’s social environment and responsibilities to the community at hand (the collective) and the wider community at large (society).

Learn more

Is a person still a ‘person’, should parts of brain function deteriorate, resulting in declining mental and physical ability, together with challenges in emotional regulation?

In a hyper-cognitive society, the answer is likely a ‘no’, because such a person would not be able to participate rationally in society. In person-centered care approaches, the answer is ‘yes’, because the being of a person is still present (Kitwood, 1997). It is up to society to discover and develop different forms of communication, interaction and contribution that individuals can make, regardless of mental, physical and emotional challenges.

Person-centered arts approaches with communities are, first and foremost, committed to developing artistic platforms for the person to be present. The arts programs we conduct therefore have to connect with the personal dimension as its foundation. This section proposes a layered lens through which we can decipher the significance of what we do for our participants within this dimension. The ultimate goal within this dimension is for our participants to gain a more stable sense of self and subsequently be confident participants who, through the arts, can journey towards a personal experience of self-realization.

Learn more

The cognitive dimension, in the context of arts practices with communities, refers to the thinking processes that take place during the act of art-making. It is all about creativity.

Generally, cognition refers to the process of knowledge acquisition through a process of thought, experience and the senses. The cognitive process also gives rise to ideas, perception and intuition, all of which are related to the personal dimension as well. In the arts, the cognitive dimension is also called ‘creativity’ as cognitive processes engaged determine the unique form that the artistic outcome takes. In artistic processes with communities, this creative, or cognitive, dimension takes on maturing stages of development towards greater depth and complexity.

Learn more

Culture refers to the forms of behavior, beliefs and abilities that individuals have acquired as members of a society.

What is acquired takes on symbolic and cognitive forms of existence within patterns of interaction and power that give shape to social life (Eriksen, 2015).

While there may be some universal categories that broadly define one’s culture, such as kinship, gender or economic organisation, each culture is defined by particularistic and relative elements that comprise of these broad categories. The cultural dimension therefore cannot be arranged in terms of foundational or mature elements. It is, instead, essential that the artist-facilitator tunes in to the cultural elements which give meaning and value to the lives of the participants. These cultural elements can become doorways towards more authentic communication, and participants can also draw inspiration from them to create their artistic processes and forms. The list below elaborates on some common areas of culture that individuals have acquired to give meaning and significance to their lives. This list is not exhaustive and the artist should listen out for other possible cultural dimensions which he or she may not be familiar with due to generational changes or differences in race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.

Learn more