Engaging Classrooms and Communities through Art: The Guide to Designing and Implementing Community-Based Art Education [Paperback]

At the same time that arts funding and programming in schools are declining, exciting community-based art programs have successfully been able to build community, foster change, and enrich children's lives.Engaging Classrooms and Communities through Artprovides a comprehensive and accessible guide to the design and implementation of community-based art programs for educators, community leaders, and artists. The book combines case studies with diverse groups across the country that are using different media - including mural arts, dance, and video - with an informed introduction to the theory and history of community-based art. It is a perfect handbook for those looking to transform their communities through art.Beth KrenskyBeth Krensky is an assistant professor of art education and the Area Head of Art Teaching at the University of Utah. She is an artist, activist and educator. She is one of the founding members of the international artist collective, the Artnauts.Seana Lowe Steffencurrently works with Mapleton Public Schools as an instructional guide training and coaching teachers in Expeditionary Learning. She has been a faculty member and was the founding director of INVST Community Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

This is an indispensable book for educators, activists, and anyone interested in social justice. Krensky and Lowe Steffen's guide to community-based arts education challenges the notion that art is a luxury reserved for elites and practiced by the gifted. In their hands, art education becomes a democratic, transformative tool for invigorating blighted communities, reducing student dropout and alienation, and inspiring participants to solve social problems. Krensky and Lowe Steffen's clear, step-by-step examples show how to build partnerships between non-artists and professional artists, kids and seniors, and local communities and schools.Engaging Classrooms andCommunities through Artwill inspire citizens,lÓú