Friday, February 17, 2012

Exploring Arts-Based Approaches to Community Psychology Research and Practice


Hello! 
This is Kyrah from Wichita State, and Katherine from Michigan State. As two students in community psychology programs we have become intrigued by, and invested in, arts-based participatory methods. As we begin to explore these methods and how they may be particularly useful when working in empowering and social justice oriented ways, we will be writing reflexive pieces here on the Community Psychology Practice Blog. 

Throughout our exploration we have decided to begin a posting series related to Arts-Based Approaches to CBPR (community-based participatory research). We are hoping these posts will be informative (regarding arts-based methods that practitioners are using), reflective (for us to share our experience using methods as well as our general reflections to how specific methods may be particularly useful for community psychologists), and inspirational (encouraging other students and scholars to explore arts-based methods further). We are also hoping for people to comment on our posts – give us feedback, share past experiences, anything – we’d love to hear it!

Please keep your eyes open for more posts coming soon!

Kyrah & Katherine

7 comments:

  1. Kyrah and Katherine,
    Love this idea - and very much looking forward to your future posts. I was first introduced (I guess that's not the right word; converted maybe?) to the power of arts in community action when I read Meredith Minkler's book, Community Organizing and Building for Health. http://www.amazon.com/Community-Organizing-Meredith-Minkler/dp/0813524369 She does a great job of highlighting the role art can have in bridging divides, giving everyone a voice, etc.

    Excellent topic choice, ladies.

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  2. Hello Sharon,

    Thank you for the encouraging comment! We would love to hear more of your thoughts or reactions as we begin posting. It is very supportive to know we will have a reader!

    Katherine

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  3. We at the Community Tool Box have been really intrigued by this topic, too, and have been looking for support for a yet-to-be-written Chapter on the Arts and Community Building. We'll be following your posts with interest!

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  4. How encouraging! We are really glad to hear of your interest in this topic for the Community Tool Box, and look forward to reading some more of your comments as we continue to post. Please feel free to connect with us again as the chapter begins to be put together!

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  5. Hello ! I study community psychology in Denmark and will follow your inspirations to come ! Arts Based CBPR sound like a very, very interesting mix of creativity, participation and collectivity. Thank you very much for sharing ...

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    1. Thank you Jacob! We would love to hear your thoughts about our posts, especially from an international perspective.

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  6. Thanks so much everyone for your interest, encouragement and shared enthusiasm!!!!!

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