Artists in community

• Introduction
• Public artwork
• Artists in residence
• Arts in education

  Introduction

Headway mural artist Jenny Hooper

Artists working with communities, as artsworkers and artists in residence, may employ ccd processes where artwork is produced that is a collaborative effort. This may occur in any or all of the stages of planning and production. Community art that uses ccd approaches is often project-based. It may be a public artwork, a school-based project, a creative consultation process for local government, or a residency at a public institution.

Typically, artists working in community settings are established artists that balance their private practice with community-based work. Artists find that – apart from gaining paid work – they enjoy the stimulation of working in a public sphere, and communities gain the opportunity to engage with professional artists.

  Public artwork

Artists might work with communities to produce a public artwork, either as a temporary installation or performance, or as a more permanent feature of the environment. The artist may be under contract by a local government Council to work with specific groups of people to produce a work of cultural significance, expressing the values or aspirations of those communities.

The community might be involved in any or all of the phases of the project:

• Conception
• Planning and research
• Production of the artwork
• Evaluation…. and further planning

Project examples

Articles

A FERTILE PRODUCT - AN OUTSIDER'S VIEW
Focussing on the final visual works from the Victorian project '...such fertile ground...', Julie Shiels discusses a range of issues which relate to artistic outcome, public art and representation of communities.

  Artists in residence

Artists working in institutions or organisations for a fixed term are artists 'in-residence'. In general, their art production whilst in residence will be somehow informed by their relationship to their residency – which may be a library, a prison, a hospital, an aged care facility… The 'community' may get involved on a continuum from passive curiosity to structured participation. Ccd residencies are hands-on and the artwork collaboratively produced.

Project examples

Articles

Artwork 53

PARIS AND THEN SOME…
Maryanne Lynch follows the journey of community cultural development residency recipient Maria Filippow and explores the progressive nature of Australian community cultural development practices.

  Arts in education

Arts in education recognises that students benefit though engagement with art, on so many levels. Artists in schools is one way of achieving those benefits. Artists work in schools on short or long-term basis - from a visiting performance troupe to an artist in residence - but are generally project-based. Depending on the aims of the school, an artist might be passing on skills in artmaking, producing a piece of art for the school, or demonstrating their art. Students gain through active participation, questioning, stimulation of ideas, and analysis. Sometimes, art is used to link curriculum areas. Sometimes, artists and students work collaboratively on projects.

Project examples

Articles