From Crisis to Creativity – Exploring the Power of Art Projects to Integrate Refugees in Germany?

• In Event: Cooperation, Integration and Learning

Abstract

Background and Objectives

Even long before the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015/2016, third sector organizations (TSO) have played a vital role in supporting refugees (Garkisch, Heidingsfelder, & Beckmann, 2017). Meanwhile, people in the receiving countries controversially discuss immigration (Garkisch et al., 2017) and increasing denigration tendencies against minorities, e.g. in the German society (Brähler, Decker, & Kiess, 2016), are observed. Consequently TSOs are in the difficult situation to foster integration as well as mutual tolerance and understanding against this development. Therefore, TSOs are looking for powerful instruments and new ways to meet the challenge. Integrative arts projects (IAP), including refugees in person or the topic flight in theater plays or museums’ exhibitions, could be such an instrument.
So far research has analyzed beneficial outcomes of the arts, e.g. economic benefits as well as community well-being (Leroux & Bernadska, 2014). Hereby, arts institutions are constantly subject to service research, as visitors can be seen as collaborative partners who co-create value with the arts organizations (Camarero & Garrido, 2012). According to transformative services research, via this interaction positive societal outcomes, e.g. the reduction of discrimination and disparity and consequently an increase in social cohesion, are generated (Anderson et al., 2013; Anderson & Ostrom, 2015). Yet, the contribution of arts institutions to the integration of refugees as well as their organizational challenges in doing so remain unexplored. We propose that arts organizations by the IAPs’ co-creation increase desirable attitudes (e.g., tolerance and empathy) and decrease undesirable attitudes (xenophobia) in citizens and refugees and therefore reduce discrimination and social segregation. Hence, our study answers the following exploratory research questions:

• Is there a relationship between citizens’ participation in IAPs and their attitudes?
• How do arts organizations increase integration of refugees by IAPs
• What capacities do they need to do so?

By answering these research questions we address the call of Garkisch, Heidingsfelder, and Beckmann (2017) for further research on the capacities of organizations to actively address migration and the call of Leroux and Bernadska (2014) to form a more complete picture of how arts participation influences social behaviors and attitudes.

Methodology and first findings

To gain holistic insights, we chose a mixed methods design (Creswell, 2009): First we conducted a survey (online panel) of 722 German citizens about their attitudes towards refugees and experiences with IAPs and used multivariate analysis methods for evaluation. Preliminary results show a high and significant positive correlation between the participation in IAPs and an increase in positive attitudes as empathy, openness, understanding and altruism in the German population. To understand organizational challenges, we interviewed 38 employees of arts organizations that are or have been involved in IAPs (MAXQDA for coding).

Authors

• Hellen Petra Gross, University of Applied Sciences Saarbrücken

• Nicole Schwarz, University of Applied Sciences Saarland

• Stefanie Cramer von Clausbruch, University of Applied Sciences Saarland

• Katharina Hary, University of Applied Sciences Saarbrücken

• Carolin Ackermann, University of Applied Sciences Saarbrücken