Clay, cardboard, and cameras: playing in a media arts environment

Contemporary society is rich with diverse musics and musical practices, many of which are supported or shared via digital and social media. Music educators might address such forms of musical engagement to diversify what occurs in music programs. Realizing the possibilities of social media and addressing issues that might be problematic for music learning and teaching calls for conceptualizing social media in a more expansive manner than focusing on the technology itself. Situating people’s social media use and musical engagement in a larger context of participatory culture that involves music and media may be fruitful in this regard. We might then consider the potential of social media and musical engagement in participatory cultures for music learning and teaching. This chapter offers an overview of how people are applying aspects of participatory culture and social media in educational contexts. Building on work in media studies, media arts, education, and curricular theory, the chapter develops a framework for translating and recontextualizing participatory culture, musical engagement, and social media in ways that might inform music pedagogy and curriculum. In this way, it may help music educators move from an awareness of how people engage with and through music and social media in participatory culture to an orientation of developing related praxis.

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Facilitating resonance: Brokerage in indigenous activism

Cultural Dynamics ◽

10.1177/09213740211011192 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 092137402110111

Author(s):

Birgit Bräuchler

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Identity Construction ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Relationship Building ◽

Media Arts ◽

Indigenous Activism ◽

Eastern Indonesia

Putting forward a synergetic combination of three concepts – brokerage, indigeneity and resonance – this article investigates how brokers in Indonesia support indigenous communities in their struggle for citizen and human rights. It investigates the emergence of broker chains and multi-scalar activism that are needed to translate from the local – in this case the Aru Islands in Eastern Indonesia – to the global and vice versa. It engages with established and tracks the emergence of new brokers and analyses their strategies to produce resonance and mobilise for resistance on various scales, with media, arts and religion being main fields of engagement, and studies the challenges they face. The article thus explores the concept of brokerage within new fields and uses brokerage as an analytical lens to explore processes of mobilisation, relationship-building and identity construction.

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Youth Experiences in Authoring Action: The Impact of an Arts-Based Youth Program on Youth Development

Journal of Adolescent Research ◽

10.1177/07435584211006787 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 074355842110067

Author(s):

Parissa J. Ballard ◽

Grace Anderson ◽

Danielle Parker Moore ◽

Stephanie S. Daniel

Keyword(s):

Youth Development ◽

Spoken Word ◽

Leadership Education ◽

Summer Program ◽

Youth Of Color ◽

Media Arts ◽

Program Leaders ◽

Transformative Experiences ◽

Film Making ◽

The Impact

Authoring Action (A2) is a youth-focused, arts-based, afterschool and summer program. A2’s mission is “to transform the lives of youth and the world through the power of creative writing, spoken word, visual and media arts, film-making and leadership education that promotes positive systemic change.” Using in-depth interviews, this study aimed to understand how this arts-based program affects youth development. Participants in this study (N=36) were alums of Authoring Action (A2), interviewed when they were between the ages of 17-32. Over half identified as female (N=21). Most A2 participants were youth of color and participated in A2 between ages 13-17. Interview data were coded following several steps: generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and generating a report. Four themes describe the impacts of A2 for program participants: communication, cathartic and transformative experiences, connection, and critical consciousness. Programmatic features—getting paid to participate, shared group identity, and open access to program leaders and peers – were meaningful to youth participants. The mission and programmatic features of A2 support youth development; we discuss practices that may benefit other arts-based youth programs and the implications of such practices for youth development.

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