Participatory Art-Based Research Approaches

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium session features four projects highlighting participatory arts-based research approaches – following a growing trend in arts research that encourages scholars to work with participant groups to explore questions, create knowledge and express understandings for practical ends. Each project used artistic processes for engaging participants in all stages of the inquiry aimed at producing practical knowing to benefit the community. The diverse groups represented include: high risk youth and the service providers who work with them; young mothers in an alternative school program; health brokers working with immigrant and refugee communities; and undergraduate students enrolled in a theatre education course. Equally diverse, the arts methods employed include: multi-popular-arts methods, popular theatre, digital storytelling, and performative inquiry.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Arts-Based Educational Research

Chair

• Barbara A. Bickel, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

Papers

• High-Risk Youth Uncensored: An Educational Exchange - Diane H. Conrad, University of Alberta

• Exploring Popular Theatre in Education: A Participatory Project in an Alternative Education Program for Pregnant Teens and Young Mothers - Lindsay Ruth Hunt, University of Alberta

• Journeys and Voices Together: Using Participatory Design to Create Digital Stories for the Health and Well-Being of New Immigrant/Refugee Communities - Naureen Mumtaz, University of Alberta

• Performing Leadership - Lynn Margaret Fels, Simon Fraser University; Michelle Johanna Nilson, Simon Fraser University