Art Education and Social Issues

Art can be a tool to examine and challenge societal values.
Children can identify injustices and use art to advocate for change and affirm values.

George Counts (1932) argued that schools should not be morally neutral.
Educators should collaborate to effect social change.
Art education should move beyond mere recreation to become a political process.
Students should discuss the purpose and context of art.
Art serves social critique, cultural survival, and communal identity.
Art fosters self-esteem by addressing important issues and enabling students to make a difference.

Vincent Lanier (1969) criticized the irrelevance of art education in schools.
He advocated for curricula that address pressing issues like war, sex, race, drugs, and poverty.
New curricula should engage students' emotions and intellect.
Art classes should explore social relationships and alternative behaviors.

Social responsibility begins at home and in early education.
Curriculum documents encourage attention to social and personal contexts of art.
Art units focus on identity, ethnicity, hunger, AIDS, racism, and homelessness.
Cross-curricular initiatives promote social responsibility.
The arts can address issues like bullying.

A unit called "Art Against Racism" was developed in Burnaby, BC, in response to racist attitudes.
Students responded to visual materials, composed statements, and created linocut prints.
They critiqued their work and the work of others.
Language arts classes produced poems and short stories.
A drama class wrote and staged a play about racism.
A mural was created as a joint celebration.
Students presented their work to other schools and in a journal.

ArtStarts in Schools, founded in 1996, offers programs and resources for educators, artists, parents, and students.
It promotes art and creativity.
ArtStarts provides an Artists' Directory and coordinates arts events.
The Art as a Catalyst for Change program addresses social and community issues through art.
It brings artists and teachers together for workshops and residencies focused on human rights, anti-racism, media education, and the environment.

Schools use art for citizenship ceremonies.
Dunsmuir Middle School used art to decorate the gymnasium for a Canadian Citizenship Ceremony.

Teachers work with the Vancouver Holocaust Centre.
Projects include Building Bridges: Visual Stories and Perceptions of the Holocaust, the Suitcase Project, and I Never Saw Another Butterfly.
The Centre encourages submissions of student work on Holocaust-related themes.

The Westcoast Coalition for Human Dignity produced the Choose Dignity kit.
Art and Development Education and the Art as Social Action video materials (Oxfam, 1990) address racism and apartheid.
Art and Society and Amnesty International (1991) produced Free Expression, an art education teaching pack.
Theater arts companies address anti-racist themes.

Susan Cahan and Zoya Kocur (1996) advocate for inquiry into current social conditions through contemporary art at The New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Themes include immigration, family, discrimination, racism, homophobia, mass media, war, and public art.

Sharing the Vision values the arts for expressing and engaging the human spirit.
The arts can address sensitive issues and values.

Artists/Teachers Concerned advocate for addressing controversial themes in art education.
Henry Giroux (1996) calls for pedagogical practices that help young people learn about social justice.
Socially motivated art education programs give students a chance to voice their opinions.
Educators should empower students to criticize and change their situation.