Arts and Culture

Introduction:

The arts and culture encompass an enormous range of activity, including creative arts (e.g. painting, sculpture, poetry), performing arts (e.g. singing, playing a musical instrument, drama, dance), crafts (e.g. mosaics, jewellery-making) and art appreciation (e.g. visiting art galleries, listening to music).

Key Projects:

Arts projects:

brought communities together and celebrated creativity and cultural heritage through performances and events - SOUL, Kaleidoscope Aylesbury, Mad Alice Theatre Company, Piano Phasing
helped learners with disabilities or mental health issues to engage with the arts and find their voice in creative ways - Animate, Rotunda Learning Revolution, Arts on Prescription
took arts and cultural activities into new contexts - Army Arts, Birmingham Opera, Art Space Dudley

Lessons Learned:

Arts and culture can provide rich informal adult learning activities, and when these are made accessible through outreach approaches in the community many people will get involved who would not otherwise do so. Projects found that:

Creating a "finished product", whether it is a craft item, an exhibition or a performance, can be particularly rewarding, especially for people who experience many limitations in their everyday lives.
Arts and culture can create rich contexts for "intercultural dialogue" whether between ethnic communities with different cultural heritages, or across the generations, improving social cohesion.
Through arts activities learners can gain new skills which enrich their lives and may also lead to new opportunities for further learning and earning. Several projects report that learners have started their own small businesses or joined other learners in setting up social enterprises to market craft items that they have learned to make.

Making it work:

Partnership working with professional and voluntary arts organisations, local museums and galleries, and community organisations can create effective informal adult and community learning opportunities focused on the arts, tailored to the needs of particular communities. It's important to:

choose a theme that resonates with the concerns of the groups that you want to engage;
use trusted intermediaries to maximise your chances of success;
showcase learners' achievements through performances, exhibitions, photographic records or celebrations; and
encourage learners to take their learning further through self-organised activities, more formal learning opportunities, or social enterprises, as appropriate.

Background:

Learning related to arts and culture has always been an important part of adult and community learning. People are able to gain new skills, develop new social networks by working together on projects and find enormous satisfaction in exploring their creativity. Participating in artistic activities can often boost individuals' confidence and open up new horizons, even leading on to more formal vocational training and employment, self-employment or developing a social enterprise.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport states - "We believe that the arts can help individuals and communities by: