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Review

Mapping the Discourse on the Health-Promoting Impacts of Community Arts

Charlotte Lombardo  1
J. Hope Corbin  1 , Mariana Sanmartino  2 , Emily Alden Hennessy  3 , Helga Bjørnøy Urke  4
, editors.
In: Arts and Health Promotion: Tools and Bridges for Practice, Research, and Social Transformation [Internet]. Cham (CH): Springer; 2021. Chapter 13.
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Review

Mapping the Discourse on the Health-Promoting Impacts of Community Arts

Charlotte Lombardo.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Art-making and creative expression are powerful tools for personal and social learning, growth, and transformation. This rationale is at the essence of the practice of community arts (CA). CA have been defined as artistic activity based in a community setting and characterized by dialogue and co-creation with the community. CA initiatives are increasingly being understood as “whole person” approaches for improving health at individual and community levels, drawing on holistic conceptualizations of health that are not just physical or disease-specific, but rather emphasize broader concepts of mental and social well-being. CA programs cite goals ranging from improving the social and emotional well-being of participants to promoting civic dialogue and community building. A growing body of literature seeks to substantiate the health-promoting impacts of arts initiatives. This work, however, has been hampered by complexities of practice and by contention regarding what constitutes the best or most valid forms of evidence. This chapter explores the discourse on the health-promoting impacts of CA, seeking to map current knowledge and debate in relation to CA and impacts on social determinants of health, in the English language literature.

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References

    1. All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPGAHW). (2017). Creative health: The arts for health and wellbeing. London: Health Development Agency.
    1. Angus, J., & University of Durham, Centre for Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine, NHS Health Development Agency. (2004). A review of evaluation in community-based art for health activity in the UK. London: Health Development Agency.
    1. Badham, M. (2010). The case for “socially engaged arts”: Navigating art history, cultural development and arts funding narratives. Identity, Security, Community, 7, 84–99.
    1. Barndt, D. (2004). By whom for whom: Intersections of participatory research and community art. In A. Cole, L. Nielson, J. G. Knowles, & T. Luciani (Eds.), Provoked by art: Theorizing art-based inquiry. Toronto: Backalong Books and Centre for Arts Informed Research, OISE.
    1. Baumeister, R. F. (Ed.). (1999). The self in social psychology. Philadelphia: Psychology Press (Taylor & Francis).

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