Person-centered Arts Practices With Communities: A Pedagogical Guide

Are you an artist who works with a variety of communities? Are you interested to deepen and expand on the meaning of your work? This book presents a pedagogical framework which aims to guide the practices of artists who work with communities. It presents the social, personal, cognitive and cultural dimensions of a person-centered approach in a dynamic, interwoven manner, which will enrich your practice through a thorough process of reflection, evaluation and co-creation. "In my journey as a dance therapist, I have pondered the issue of professional boundaries - where does the dance artist end and the dance therapist begin? My inclination has veered towards a democratic perspective, recognizing the great work community artists - 'non-therapist' - can achieve. At the same time, I have been aware that artists working with groups such as I (people with dementia), required something beyond arts skills in order to facilitate inclusive, participatory and life-enhancing activities. Dr. Low addresses this issue exactly. She provides a coherent and impressive theoretical framework to underpin the work of the person-centred arts facilitator and offers practical guidelines for setting up and running arts programs which are sensitive to context. The aim of this book is a worthy one in its encouragement to develop arts activities which become, in Dr. Low's words, 'an active means of growth' for the participants. From my experience, I also know how enriching a person-centred approach is for the arts facilitator, which is why the following remark by Dr. Low on the value of working in a person-centred way resonates with me, for this is 'a practice that will never stagnate, never come to a closed conclusion, because communities too never stagnate and come to closed conclusions'." Dr. Heather Hill, dance movement therapist for over 30 years, now consultant in dance and person-centered practice in dementia.

Dr. Felicia Low, a graduate of Goldsmith's College has been a practicing visual artist since 1999. Her projects have mostly been site-specific, performative and community-specific as she works collaboratively with different sectors of society. A Lee Kong Chian scholar of the National University of Singapore, Felicia obtained a PhD in Cultural Studies in Asia in 2015. Her research focused on the politics of participatory visual art practices with subaltern communities in Singapore. Felicia has also developed research and written a pedagogical guide on Person-centred Arts Practices with Communities. Felicia is the founding director of a not-for-profit organization, Community Cultural Development (Singapore), which aims to provide a critical discursive platform for artistic practices that engage with communities in the region. She was the recipient of the Outstanding Youth In Education Award 2005 and was selected for the President's Young Talent Show 2009 organized by the Singapore Art Museum. Felicia is also an associate lecturer with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (BA in Art Education & Psychology/Arts Management) and is a certified teacher of Anthropology (International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme). Website: www.ccd.sg / www.personcenteredarts.com