Developing a Curriculum Model for Civically Engaged Art Education

Book excerpt: This volume explores art as a means of engendering youth civic engagement and draws on research conducted with young people in the United States to develop a unique curriculum model for civically engaged art education (CEAE). Combining concepts from civics and arts education, chapters posit that artistic thinking, making, and acting form the basis for creative research into social and political issues which affect young people and are key to promoting civic participation. Focusing on critical, creative, and dynamic forms of youth cultural production inspired by local people, places, and events, the text demonstrates how educators’ curricular choices can engage students in researching social movements and arts-based activism. The authors draw from well-established areas such as arts-based research, civic engagement, and maker-centered learning to present their educational model through illustrative examples. Offering a timely consideration of the relationship between art education and civics education, this book will appeal to scholars and students of the sociology of education, as well as arts and teacher research, and pre-service teacher education.