Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art: The British Community Arts Movement

Description

Based on the words and experiences of the people involved, this book tells the story of the community arts movement in the UK, and, through a series of essays, assesses its influence on present day participatory arts practices. Part I offers the first comprehensive account of the movement, its history, rationale and modes of working in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; Part II brings the work up to the present, through a scholarly assessment of its influence on contemporary practice that considers the role of technologies and networks, training, funding, commissioning and curating socially engaged art today. The community arts movement was a well-known but little understood and largely undocumented creative revolution that began as part of the counter-cultural scene in the late 1960s. A wide range of art forms were developed, including large processions with floats and giant puppets, shadow puppet shows, murals and public art, events on adventure playgrounds and play schemes, outdoor events and fireshows. By the middle of the 1980s community arts had changed and diversified to the point where its fragmentation meant that it could no longer be seen as a coherent movement. Interviews with the early pioneers provide a unique insight into the arts practices of the time. Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art is not simply a history because the legacy and influence of the community arts movement can be seen in a huge range of diverse locations today. Anyone who has ever encountered a community festival or educational project in a gallery or museum or visited a local arts centre could be said to be part of the on-going story of the community arts. Cover Half-title Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures Contributors Acknowledgements 1 Introduction Alison Jeffers Part One The Community Arts Movement: Experimentationand Growth 2 The Community Arts Movement 1968–1986 Alison Jeffers 3 Community Arts – a Forty-Year Apprenticeship: A View from England Gerri Moriarty 4 Craigmillar Festival, the Scottish Community Arts Movement of the 1970s and 1980s and its Impact: A View from Scotland Andrew Crummy 5 The Pioneers and the Welsh Community Arts Movement: A View from Wales Nick Clements 6 Grown from Shattered Glass: A View from Northern Ireland Gerri Moriarty Part Two Cultural Democracy: Practices and Politics 7 Then and Now: Reflections on the Influence of the Community Arts Movement on Contemporary Community and Participatory Arts Alison Jeffers 8 Memories, Dreams, Reflections: Community Arts as Cultural Policy – the 1970s Oliver Bennett 9 From Handbooks to Live Labs: The Impact of Ideas from the 1970s and 1980s on the Training and Education of Community Artists Today Janet Hetherington and Mark Webster 10 From Community Arts to the Socially Engaged Art Commission Sophie Hope 11 Cultural Democracy: Developing Technologies and Dividuality Owen Kelly 12 Conclusion: Opening a New Space for Cultural Politics Alison Jeffers and Gerri Moriarty Index