ARTSACTION GROUP

The fostering of capabilities associated with the arts, culture and education from engaging in creative expression and reflection to big picture thinking can provide people with the freedoms, abilities, and agency to respond to and take action in their daily lives. Some of these capabilities, critical to functioning and healthy societies include:
Empathy and embodied activities that allow us to move beyond fear and defensiveness
Aesthetic awareness
Improvisation, innovation, play and creativity
Problem solving and team work
Enhanced curiosity and positive, active inquiry
Engagement with community, civic, and social issues
Provision of space and place for people to express themselves
Experiencing and encountering difference
Development of positive self-esteem


Children and youth in the twenty-first century need to develop capabilities that enable them to deal with difference, while at the same time empower them to participate in democratic societies. As Pink (2006) notes, the future belongs to a very different kind of person ... creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, meaning makers. What is called for is a broadening of our understanding of the opportunities, skills and capacities for creating a well-rounded educational experience and citizens of the world[1].

We work through the arts, design and education with partners using a side-by-side approach. What does this mean? When we are invited by a community to join them in this work (we always start with an invitation), we spend time learning about one another and each other's context and situation. Projects are designed together and enacted as a team.

We achieve this through:
Direct experiences with artists, designers, artistic and design processes, and materials
Big ideas and essential questions about art and human experience
Inquiry-based and hands-on teaching and learning
Inclusion and honoring of practice that is situation sensitive
Cross-site partnerships/projects with children, youth and artists
Experimentation, exploration, play, and choice making

We are an ever growing team of artists, art educators, art therapists and educators. We are international. Organization vision, mission and goals are shared regularly with participating volunteers. We provide initial training and shared dialogue as preparation to join communities in this work. We regularly reflect upon, write and share about our work as a tool for reflection, understanding and sharing the work with a broader global audience. The leadership team are recognized experts in their fields.

We only go where we are invited. We have been going to Kosovo and making art and change with our family there since 2010.

In Sri Lanka we continue to be invited back although our main partner has moved out of the country. Given their move and the impact of covid, we are in the process of re-engaging other partners there to look at next steps.

Our work with the Western Sahrawi community in the camps has transitioned to partnering with Mohamed Sleiman Labat and supporting his work with Motif Art Studio in Camp Smara. Mohamed and Refki Gollopeni (Kosovar team member) have co-authored conference papers, book chapters and journal articles with ArtsAction Group.

We continue to be invited into communities to find ways of making art and transformation with them. These invites are our strongest demonstration of the value of our work and partnerships.