| CODE | ACA5030 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Engaging Communities in the Arts | ||||||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit will introduce students to the complex nature of the term 'community', the concept of 'imagined communities' and the development of community arts practices outside conventional institutional frameworks like schools and galleries. Students will practise interactive techniques using a range of artistic approaches involving photography, visual art and theatre. The study-unit will also engage with the particular needs of a social group in order to conduct collaborative artistic research, following an anthropological methodology called participant observation which is based on an open but rigorous observation of the social trends which make up a social milieu. They will be introduced to forum theatre techniques for community development and will explore personal and common experiences of oppression and devise short forum pieces. Practical exercises and games will help students to develop community projects that engage with performance-based education and social intervention. Study-Unit Aims: The study-unit aims to: 1. Expose students to practices of community art, focusing in particular on the use of photography, theatre and participant observation; 2. Help students to conceptualise social theatre and apply drama techniques to community work; 3. Foster an appreciation of the importance of fieldwork in community arts projects, linking observations to artistic development; 4. Raise awareness about the relevance of collective narratives in collaborative projects; 5. Promote self-reflexive processes through the use of drama processes. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. Reflect on how theatre techniques within a group experience can contribute towards personal and social well-being; 2. Document social realities using selected media; 3. Discuss various social contexts and reveal key issues that can be artistically developed further; 4. Comprehend the role of a group leader who also appreciates collaborative work; 5. Develop ethical relations with co-producers of arts projects. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. Analyse and explore group dynamics in practice; 2. Develop analytical skills required to understand the particular social issues of a given social group; 3. Learn how to set up an art or theatre project in a collaborative setting. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Crehan, K., Community art: An anthropological perspective, (London and New York: Berg, 2012) - Krensky, B. and Steffen, S.L., Engaging classrooms and communities through art (Altamira Press, 2009) - Boal, A., Games for Actors and Non-actors, 2nd edition, (London: Routledge, 2002) - Boal, A., Theater of the Oppressed. (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1993) - Johnston, C., House of Games: Making Theatre from Everyday Life (London: Nick Hern Books Limited, 1998) - Landy, J, Montgomery T., Theatre for change, (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) - Nicholson, H., Applied drama: the gift of theatre, (1958-Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 - Taylor, Philip, Applied Theatre: creating transformative encounters in the community, Heinemann, (New York University, 2003) - Nicholson, H. (Ed.), Teaching drama 11-18 (London: Continuum, 2000) - Foster, H., "The Artist As Ethnographer" first published in "The Return of the Real", Cambridge, MIT press, 1996 - Wolcott, H.F., The Art of Fieldwork, University of Oregon, 2012 |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Anna Formosa Isabelle Gatt Margerita Pule Raphael Vella |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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