Art and education have the powerful capacity to intersect with social justice. Imaginative works can communicate informed, emotional and passionate messages that incite dialogues, inside and outside academic settings, about social issues and human rights injustices. Both art and education have potential to raise awareness of problems faced by minority communities and start nuanced conversations about paths to positive change.
Near the end of this month, a multitude of speakers involved in social justice work will come together for one major community event: the 10th annual Art and Education for Social Justice Symposium.
This interdisciplinary symposium will focus on how art and education promote social justice by including and amplifying marginalized voices in academia. It will also share the methodologies, practices and findings that directly affect the public. This year’s featured activities and presentations will aim to answer the question: How are art and education inspiring, affecting and promoting social change?
Jointly hosted by the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art and the School of Social Work, in collaboration with Florida State University’s Department of Art Education, the symposium will be held on February 21-23, 2020. Panels and sessions will be held at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the Georgia Museum of Art, and local Athens venues.
Dr. Lynn Sanders-Bustle, co-chair and organizer of the symposium, speaks to a desire to involve not just the University of Georgia, but the entire Athens community: “Social justice has long been a topic of research and practice for scholars in academia, yet the bulk of activism happens through the grassroots efforts of artists and activists in communities. With a commitment to foregrounding the power of community as an activating force for social change, this year’s conference will open off campus at Ciné Bar and Cinema where community activists and artists will talk briefly about their work and open up a conversation with conference attendees about issues that matter in their communities.”
This opening session will include noteworthy Athens locals such as Lemuel “Life” LaRoche, founder and executive director of Chess and Community Conference, Inc., a nonprofit youth empowerment organization dedicated to developing strategic leadership skills in young people. A recent recipient of the President’s Fulfilling the Dream Award, Life will be participating with other local activists on February 21st at the locally-loved indie theatre downtown.
On Saturday, February 22 the Lamar Dodd School of Art will host the keynote address by Bill Kelley, Jr., assistant professor of Latin American & Latino art history at California State University Bakersfield. Kelley’s current research centers on collaborative and collective art practices in the Americas.
The Georgia Museum of Art will host panels for the following topics on February 22:
• Mapping Social Practice: Perspectives in a Global Context
• Collaboration and Partnership for Social Justice in Art Museum Education
• Hearing Unheard Voices Through Theater and Performance
• Socially Responsive Museum Pedagogy: Education at the Wexner Center for the Arts
• Addressing Issues Related to Aging through Art Education
• Transformative Potential of Art in International Contexts
• Re-envisioning Art Museums for the Inclusion of Marginalized and Rural Communities
“It’s wonderful to see the broad range of sessions that are addressing how art and education can inspire and promote social change,” says the museum’s curator of education Callan Steinmann, who will be participating as a presenter and session chair at several panels. Steinmann is eager to see returning alumni of the UGA art education program and discover how they deal with social justice work in their individual scholarship. “I look forward to hearing from new and familiar voices at the symposium this weekend,” she says.
This is only a small taste of the symposium’s many speakers and topics, others include critical engagement and digital media, gender and civil injustice through artistic practice, issues of race in art education and many more. Whether your are interested in the roles of art and education in social justice or would be intrigued to participate in conversations with local and world-renowned educators, artists and activists, we encourage you to participate in this unique event.
For the full schedule of events and locations, visit https://art4socialjustice.wordpress.com/.
By Hana Rehman
