The New School course Transforming Community Through the Arts is offered in the Creative Arts and Health Certificate Program. It strives to > …answer the question, "how can the arts transform community problems?
In small groups formed from shared passions, students choose a community issue, assess personal/group arts experience/resources, engage with community members and create solutions through a variety of artistic processes (theater, music, art installations, and multi-media events). Students learn needs assessment tools, [learn] the theory and practice of engaging communities through the arts, read social change literature, and experience the work of ground-breaking innovators in this burgeoning field. Students come away with a portfolio of their unique arts-based solutions in the form of essays, performances, designs, exhibitions, and other forms of artistic expression. [1] [2]
The projects for the Fall 2013 semester were
Arts, Spirituality, and Healing Project
Hour Children After School Empowerment Program Project
Make the Road New York Art and Action Project
Polaris Project - Transformational Human Trafficking Theater Project
Creating a Wiki
For additional courses and programs at The New School, see
Social Change at The New School