An Introduction to Training in Community Arts

Training in community arts is of urgent concern to practitioners throughout the field. When the arts intersect with education, community development, healthcare, environmental concerns, religion, politics — in fact in any sensitive area of community activity — havoc and even damage can occur if the project is not properly planned and implemented. Some practitioners have even undertaken training in such disciplines as conflict resolution and group facilitation before they will attempt to approach a community project.

Practitioners are also worried that large institutions are going unprepared into community arts with audience development as priority, or simply to enhance their grant applications. They fear that these museums and large theaters may not be screening the artists they send out into neighborhoods, schools and prisons. It is dangerous to assume that any artist can function effectively as a community artist, working with children, people who have disabilities, people who are incarcerated, people divided over race or faith. The skills are numerous and the outcome can be critical.

As more and more arts and civic organizations turn to the arts to make social change in their communities, more individuals and institutions are turning to the subject of training in these crucial skills.

Training in the community arts field is both diverse and growing. There is a wide array of opportunities for study: classes, internships, training institutes and other forms of structured learning opportunities, from the most formal to the least. These opportunities include not only institutions offering courses of study, but also artistic companies offering on-the-job training, and individuals who may be hired to train organizations on-site.

Universities are beginning to offer degree programs in community arts, usually as a minor within an art degree. Some have created special offices or programs to interface their arts students with the communities surrounding the school. New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, for instance, offers a minor in "applied theatre" through its Drama Department, which recognizes "that theatrical techniques and practices have application outside traditional theater, including education, political activism, community work and social services." The degree requires designated courses addressing theatrical performance in nontheatrical contexts. NYU has also instituted a Department of Art and Public Policy, with an Office of Community Connections, which engages students in community-based arts projects, including neighborhood workshops, productions, speaker presentation and training opportunities. The department also offers a community internship database and a Web gallery.

California College of the Arts in Oakland, Calif., has recently opened its Center for Art and Public Life, directed by the prominent public artist Suzanne Lacy. It offers students in visual art, design and architecture the opportunity to engage with nearby communities in providing arts solutions to local problems. At CalArts in Valencia, Calif., the Community Arts Partnership program provides bridge between CalArts students and seven Los Angeles-region community arts centers. Students plan and produce workshops, performances, exhibitions, concerts, readings and screenings that involve high-school students in intensive arts training.

Other universities bring community arts into the curriculum through the dance program, arts management, arts education or even architecture. Teachers at number of campuses in the U.S. are offering imaginative community-arts courses with the hope of sparking deeper interest in the subject at their institutions. Still others partner with artists in significant nationwide arts initiatives; UC San Diego is offering a course by artist Bernardo Solano as part of an Animating Democracy project by at San Diego Repertory.

There is a vast array of training opportunities that are not for college credit, but are offered by artistic companies and arts organizations to all comers, especially during the summer. Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Maryland offers a Summer Institute each year, including "Community Crossover," which examines theory and practice of teaching and choreographing in community setting and places students with a community organization for hands-on experience. Headlines Theatre in Canada offers training in the art-for-social-change techniques of Brazilian director Augusto Boal. The Bauen Camp in Wyoming offers community arts training for people age 13 and up. In another strategy, the prestigious community-arts company Cornerstone Theater is offering paid summer internship for job training in their community projects.

This "Training in Community Arts" category on the CAN Web site offers a number of ways to find information about the training available. Our directory, "Places to Study: Opportunities in Community Arts," tracks opportunities to study community arts in an academic setting. Included are colleges and universities with majors and minors in community arts, and interested for-credit courses in nondegree programs. Also listed are substantial distance-learning courses, workshops and institutes available during the current year, for credit or not.

The Reading Room also includes "Teaching Topics for Community-based Arts for Social Change," a list of topics created by the artists of Alternate ROOTS as a basis for a community-arts curriculum.

CAN hopes to expand this category with curriculum models, on-line courses, theoretical essays and other resources, so please revisit it frequently.

Linda Frye Burnham is co-director of Art in the Public Interest.

Original CAN/API publication: September 2001