| Volume 24 Number 21 | November 6, 2023 |
Make it Happen Summer School: Experiential Learning to Develop Novice Socially-Engaged Artists
Samantha Broadhead
Leeds Arts University, UK
Citation: Broadhead, S. (2023). Make it Happen Summer School: Experiential learning to develop novice socially-engaged artists. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 24(21). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea24n21
Abstract
This article evaluates Make it Happen Summer School according to Bernstein’s writing on classification, framing, and recontextualisation. The project was a collaboration between a university and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) that aimed to develop a curriculum for creative practitioners so they could learn to propose successful socially-engaged arts projects for funding and commissions. NPOs are arts organisations that are funded by the UK Government and the UK’s National Lottery via the Arts Council England. This article draws upon quantitative and qualitative data collected in relation to this project to evaluate the curriculum and pedagogy. In order to do this, models developed from Bernstein’s work guide the analysis of the findings. It was found that while many gained powerful knowledge from the project, some did not. The processes of recontextualisation demonstrated how ideologies based on accountability and performativity shaped the curriculum reflecting the depoliticisation of socially-engaged practice.
