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| Id | 100 | |
| Author | Matarasso, F., | |
| Title | Use or ornament? The social impact of participation in the arts | |
| Reference | Matarasso, F. (1997). Use or ornament? The social impact of participation in the arts. Stroud, UK: Comedia. |
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| Link to article | http://www.artshealthresources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/1997-Matarasso-Use-or-Ornament-The-Social-Impact-of-Participation-in-the-Arts-1.pdf |
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| Abstract | Britain has seen an increasing use of arts initiatives to address socio-economic problems in recent years, ranging from major capital projects to local partici patory projects. While the economic value of these has been researched, albeit narrowly, there has been no large scale study of their social benefits. Between September 1995 and March 1997, Comedia, a leading independent research centre, undertook the first phase of a study into the social impact of arts programmes. This concentrated on participation in the arts, as the area most widely claimed to support personal and community development. This paper describes the findings of the research, which found that: Participation in the arts is an effective route for personal growth, leading to enhanced confidence, skill-building and educational developments which can improve people’s social contacts and employability. It can contribute to social cohesion by developing networks and understanding, and building local capacity for organisation and self-determination. It brings benefits in other areas such as environmental renewal and health promotion, and injects an element of creativity into organisational planning. It produces social change which can be seen, evaluated and broadly planned. It represents a flexible, responsive and cost-effective element of a community development strategy. It strengthens rather than dilutes Britain’s cultural life, and forms a vital factor of success rather than a soft option in social policy. The study concludes that a marginal adjustment of priorities in cultural and social policy could deliver real socio-economic benefits to people and communities, and recommends a framework for developing the role of participatory arts initiatives in public policy." |
The social impact of participation in the arts. The detail of this and the projects included in the research are discussed in chapter but it may helpful to explain the two kinds of evidence on which the study draws: peoples views of what has happened to themselves or to others and concrete outcomes. But there is no doubt that arts projects can be highly successful in making training attractive to people who had not previously been reached by education initiatives. Across the various projects about % of staff were former volunteers or users and it is a testament to their commitment to the ethos of the groups that they preferred to work there than to find more lucrative employment in the commercial sector In Finland the Eevasusi arts project has proved to be an effective vehicle for building skills and confidence among the young unemployed. The success of YBAD in encouraging young people to take responsibility for managing the arts projects offers further evidence of the potential of arts projects to strengthen community organisation.
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