Francois Matarasso – Art for social change – or social justice?

Francois Matarasso

“In 1990s Britain the term community art began to be replaced by participatory arts, which many people hoped didn’t carry ‘the baggage of the past’. On one level that was just part of the generational renewal through which artists try to escape the weight of their history, but it also had specific theoretical, political and artistic reasons and consequences about which I’ve written elsewhere. Another semantic change has been observable in recent years and participatory has been joined, if not replaced, by the word social – as in the formulation social arts or art for social change. This seems to me even less satisfactory than the shift from community art to participatory art.”

See the rest of Francois’ blog post here: https://arestlessart.com/2020/07/15/art-for-social-change-or-social-justice/

Cardboard Citizens, (Photo, Pamela Raith)
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New Belfast Community Arts Initiative trading as Community Arts Partnership is a registered charity (XR 36570) and a company limited by guarantee (Northern Ireland NI 37645).Registered with The Charity Commission as New Belfast Community Arts Initiative - NIC105169.