This paper explores the challenges and successes of engaging female survivors of childhood sexual abuse and sexual violence in community-based, arts-informed adult learning. The study presents the complex physical, psychological and emotional barriers to participation that were encountered during the fieldwork period. The rationale for using an…

The arts have long been known as a central medium for nurturing artistic expression and aesthetic responses. Notions of arts-based teaching are combined with concepts of literacy and composition, focusing on the fact that these separate fields have the potential for relational meaning making. In this article, three arts-based, qualitative research…

Many studies have highlighted the capacity of community arts programs to re-engage those young people considered at-risk of disconnection from future education and/or employment. "Evolution" is an artist-guided visual arts program established for young people challenged by mental health and social issues that aims to foster re-engagement…

Through a hermeneutic phenomenological study of interview data from 8 community artists, the author sought to discover commonalities and differences in the worldviews and philosophies of self that underlie community mural making as they relate to art therapy as social action and art therapy practice within a traditional Western cultural framework.…

This report summarizes the results of a research project to examine arts participation patterns in 12 diverse communities across the United States. The research involved two major components: (1) the administration of an arts participation survey to randomly selected households in each area, and (2) research into the supply of local arts programs…

Examined the life histories of early adolescent participants in Artists in the Making, a program designed to motivate inner city youth through participation in visual arts classes. Student interviews indicated that, despite participant diversity, there were several common themes, including self-discovery, problem solving skills, opportunities for…