Thoughts About Arts Education/Youth Engagement Panel
After hearing the diverse work being done in the Berkshires to engage different micro-communities through the arts, the theme of education as a crucial component endures. All three panelists, Jane O'Leary, Ronna Tulgan Ostheimer, and Kevin Coleman, include education in the work they do through the Playwrite Mentoring Project, The Clark Institute, and Shakespeare and Company respectively. While their work is predicated on engaging youth through the arts, at the center of each of their initiatives is education. From having kids make art, to working with troubled youth to create plays, this work reminds me of the community engagement strategies I presented in class which focus on using art to teach as opposed to teaching art. I think art in and of itself is a means to educate and engage communities of varying ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Education is a central element to any community and art can act as a medium expression and exploration that fosters greater intrinsic motivation. I appreciate the unique way Jane and the Summer for Kids Act program she helps run, enables children to write, cast, and perform their own plays teaching them a variety of skills in a fun and empathetic environment. I particularly like that the program accommodates various needs by employing therapists to work with the kids in the program and help foster an open, welcoming environment. While community can be broadly defined as a group of people sharing place, affinity, or interests, a key component is missing--education. Throughout history, individual communities and societies developed around their system of education, whether that was the teachings of Confucius, the learning of household chores, the art of a trade, or the learning of language and art. So it is no wonder, education remains to this day, a central component in engaging different aspects of the community in conglomeration with art.












