The Beginner’s Guide to Person-centered Arts Practices With Communities: The Online Artist Training Program

This short online training program introduces the concepts and framework of the four dimensions that enable person-centered arts practices to take place with communities. This course is suitable for artists who are new to but wish to work with communities. It is also open to more experienced artists who wish to develop new ways to write about and evaluate their work with communities. Teachers and community workers who wish to understand how the arts can meet the needs of their students and clients will also find this program helpful.

Participants for this program are expected to commit to 4 lecture discussion sessions of 2 hours per session. Each session will be presented by Dr. Felicia Low. It includes a presentation of Dr. Low’s past works with communities, and also encourages participants to share about their projects. It concludes with a Q and A session where questions of applying each dimension to an arts practice can be discussed. Participants who attend and complete all 4 sessions will receive a summarised deck of slides from the course and a free publication of the book Person-centered Arts Practices with Communities: A Pedagogical Guide.

Prerequisites

• Interested applicants should have at least 3 months of experience working, in any area of the arts, with communities or in education. Priority will be given to arts Self-Employed Persons (SEPS) and/or employees of arts organisations.
• Artists may apply for CDSA benefits.

Program Details

• Session 1: The Personal Dimension – participants will be taken through the foundational, maturing and mature stages of the personal dimension. These stages are defined by self-awareness, autonomy and self- fulfilment. Examples of how artists can support the development of their participants through these stages will be examined and discussed.
• Session 2: The Social Dimension – participants will be taken through the foundational, maturing and mature stages of the social dimension. These stages are defined by an awareness of others, care for others and responsibility to another. Examples of how artists can support the development of their participants through these stages will be examined and discussed.
• Session 3: The Cognitive Dimension – participants will be taken through the foundational, maturing and mature stages of the cognitive dimension. These stages are defined by effective thinking, flexible and precise thinking, and metacognition. Examples of how artists can support the development of their participants through these stages will be examined and discussed.
• Session 4: The Cultural Dimension – participants will be taken through the various forms of cultural identification and expression present in society, such as race, gender, nationality and life stages. Examples of how artists can use knowledge of the cultural traits and preferences of their participants to engage better with their participants will be examined and discussed.

Acknowledgements

This training program was commissioned by the National Arts Council.