The research base for the next activities in our project, Baseline Survey on transdisciplinary and multilingual Urban Arts Education, consisted of three parts: an online questionnaire, expert interviews, and focus groups. The unique combination of methods enabled us to identify the main barriers to accessing community art in urban areas, and the ability of urban arts to promote social inclusion. During the research, we discovered the main success factors in promoting social inclusion through education in urban arts.
Although the actual target group of the URB_ART project are low-skilled adults, our survey was based on the experience of art and community educators, artists, social workers and other urban art professionals. The research, which took place in five European countries (Austria, Great Britain, Iceland, Portugal, and Slovenia) and their urban centres, brought together artists and educators from all over the world, not only Europe, but also Syria, Bangladesh, Australia and Sri Lanka.
The participants entrusted us with their experiences and insights. We asked them about the impact of urban arts education on low-skilled adults from marginalized communities, the means of financing their activities, and the role of language in urban arts education. Due to the recent climate, we also discussed the effects of the current pandemic.
The vast majority of respondents expressed the point of view that urban art blurs social disparities between participants, and that transdisciplinary and multilingual urban arts education has an inclusive potential. It’s not only entertaining, but also empowers and encourages creativity and innovation, albeit it depends on stable public funding.
We invite you to learn more about our research results and read the publication:
Baseline Survey on transdisciplinary and multilingual Urban Arts Education
