As a research theme within BILD, researchers within the topic of “arts education” undertake research that want to reinvigorate participation and mediation in art practices. We produce academic and practice-relevant research into the embeddedness of arts in the wider society, with a particular focus on participation in the arts, cultural mediation, and arts education. Various conceptual frameworks are employed: ranging from educational frameworks (multiliteracies, UDL, emancipatory & public pedagogy), theories of art and society (multimodality, sociology of art) to broader sociological theories (critical disability studies, cultural studies, theories of youth culture and digitalization). Our research on diverse topics has the final aim to contribute to potential or higher levels of participation and inclusion of disadvantaged groups and/or equity. As we study participation and learning in and through the arts, we examine new, innovative strategies and methodologies that encourage active engagement and co-creation in art practices and lead to expanded notions of participation and inclusion.
Examples of sub-questions that merit attention are:
- ‘What is the role of cultural mediation (i.e., facilitating engagement and fostering mutual learning between artists, artworks, and audiences) in social change?’
- ‘What is the impact of digital technologies, virtual platforms, and immersive experiences on expanding access to the arts and engaging audiences in new and innovative ways?’
- ‘How can we understand barriers for participation of disability artists and audiences with a disability and their creative negotiation of such obstacles? What larger assumptions about aesthetics and spectatorship do these barriers reveal?’