scholarly journals The impact of cultural activities on community building

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-52
Author(s):  
Severina Šeštokaitė ◽  
Justinas Kisieliauskas

This paper presents an analysis of the impact that cultural activities have on community building. Recently, more and more people begin to understand the importance of community: they bring about local communities, and they begin to get involved in its activities. Cultural activities, in this case, offer a significant assistance. They are regarded as part of a typical community building stage. In this paper, the local community is perceived as a localized, cohesive social group with its own traditions, established norms, values, share the same interests, place of residence or attendance, and the most important – emotional connection. Community building begins with a motivated human leader, then leader create a group of people, that is next step on community building, and then community influenced by cultural activities and other motives is building. Cultural activities, joint celebrations have a huge impact on community building; therefore, there is a legitimate reason for further considerations. Different art projects worldwide are flexible and bring results, furthermore, they are economically effective ways to solve community building problems. The experts substantiate the cultural activity benefits for the community and confirm the importance of a leader at the primary stage of community building.The object of this thesis is a the impact of cultural activities on community building.The goal of this thesis is after a theoretical analysis of the relationship between cultural activities and the community, to carry out a study to assess the formation of the community through cultural activities.Cultural regions of Lithuania are experiencing the decline in population which results in the decline of supply of cultural activities and activities related to arts. In the context of dwindling communities and eroding communality a research question of this thesis arises: how to build a community based on cultural activities?Research methods of this thesis include different types of methods. In the first chapter a comparative theoretical analysis and synthesis of sources of literature method is used. In this part of thesis, the concepts of culture and community, the impact of cultural activities on society and community building are examined.In the second chapter of this thesis, having the intention to receive practical advice, and to acquire know-how on event planning for communities, a qualitative method has been chosen in a form of semi-structured interview with representatives of communities in Šilainiai (Kaunas microdistrict), Balsiai (in Šilalė distr.) and Akademija (in Kaunas distr.). After finishing the process of analysis of and structuring all the results of quantitative research indicate: has revealed such results: communities form for different reasons, and they face similar challenges (lack of human and financial resources), communality is expressed differently in each community, and the events are being held in accordance with the needs of the respective community.The following conclusions are published after analyzing the impact of cultural activities on the community building theoretically and qualitative studies with community presidents-experts:• The community is a group of people connected by common interests, places, communications, but the most important thing is the feeling. When we talk about the local community, we need to perceive it as a localised group of people.• In community building activities, the classic path takes place through cultural activities. Artistic cultural phenomena create more cohesive and sustainable communities, making it easier to involve people in the community. There are many art projects around the world that seek to bring divisive societies into communities through cultural activities. Such projects are flexible, proven and cost-effective ways to address community development problems.After reviewing the collected interview material, the following recommendations can be made for those who want to build a community in their place:• At the beginning of the community building, it is important person-leader with enthusiasm, energy and charisma. The leader can‘t be to strong – have just his ideas, his vision. The good leader for community is person, who can accept other ideas, who can listen community wishes, needs and say thank you to community members. It is small thing that humans needs.• It is important for people that their wishes, needs, ideas are heard and to be allowed to implement them;• It is worth involving members of the community in the process of organizing events – it is important for them to feel necessary and useful, but after involving the community, the process of organizing takes longer. And here comes challenge for leader to be able to properly moderate and distribute the work for community;• It is very important to co-create the process with community, to communicate, let them to feel like the creators of the celebration;• The number of cultural activities to be organised varies according to the needs of the community, but it is important to maintain a cyclicality, quantity and quality ratio. It is worth having a few bigger celebrations for the whole community with a variety of activities, while other events are organized for smaller and target audiences. Activities must be non-binding, but innovative, modern and;• The community is made up of people of all ages and none of them should be forgotten – everyone has to find the right activities for themselves, but young mothers and seniors usually join communities, so at the beginning of the community it is the target audience to which cultural activities must be adapted;• News about community events works best in a word-of-mouth format, but all possible channels need to be used to invite people to events: networks, local newspapers, libraries or even churches.Every community is unique and you need to know or make research to getting know what is community wishes, needs, what ideas have community members. The leader must be person that community trust.

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Sofia Andrade ◽  
Margarida Moreira ◽  
Mónica Sá ◽  
Duarte Pacheco ◽  
Vera Almeida ◽  
...  

Background and Aims: As there are known risks of retraumatization through bereavement crisis interventions, we tailored a new intervention lowering the degree of direct emotional activation. However, we need some evidence on the effects of depression and psychotraumatic symptoms between 1 and 6 months after a loss. Method: We conducted a randomized controlled trial with two groups: control group (n = 18) and experimental group (n = 11) in two assessments (1 and 6 months after loss); both included a semi-structured interview (Socio-Demographic Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised–IES-R). The experimental group had a cognitive-narrative program with four sessions: recalling; cognitive and emotional subjectivization; metaphorization; and projecting sessions. Results: Participants in the experimental and control groups have lower levels of depression and traumatic stress 6 months after a loss. Statistically significant results in emotional numbing IES-R sub-scale are observed. Conclusions: A brief narrative-based cost-effective intervention has a positive effect on depression, controlling the traumatic stress and time after a loss.


Author(s):  
RHODA INGE BOAMAH ◽  
ERIC APPAU ASANTE

This study examines the impact of art exhibitions on the teaching, learning, and practice of Art Education in selected Senior High Schools in the Bono Region of Ghana. The study posed two major questions: What is the state of art exhibition practice in the selected schools? What are the emerging roles of art exhibitions in Art Education? The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research designs. The study used a sample size of eighty-one (81) participants from a population of 161 Visual Art students and teachers from three selected schools using the simple random and purposive sampling techniques respectively. On research question one, the study established that the present state of art exhibition practice in the Senior High Schools was constrained due to the uncooperative attitude of school leadership resulting in irregular organization of such events. In relation to research question two, it was found that exhibitions play diverse roles in art education. Among others, art exhibitions serve as lenses through which learning objectives in art education are measured; and that the use of artefacts for exhibitions results in the appreciation of cultural diversity among students; they also harness and develop exhibitors’ research skills and critical thinking. Recommendations for exhibitors, schools, and the Government made include encouraging exhibitors to explore the use of other non-conventional materials in producing art works; setting aside non-academic days such as Saturdays and Sundays for exhibitions; and encouraging art students to inculcate artists’ statement during exhibition of their artworks to enhance their writing skills and self-reflection respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 192 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-226
Author(s):  
Michał Godlewski

The article presents various ways of defining cultural security, which is one of the human primary needs represented in the literature on the subject. It focuses on explaining the meaning of the term “monument”, which is defined and understood in many ways. The history of the Land of Liw and the Liw Castle is presented through the analysis of historical literature. Furthermore, the article discusses Otto Warpechowski’s contribution to the protection of the Liw Castle, which is the cultural heritage of the Mazovia region and the entire Poland, against total destruction planned by the Nazi authorities. The article reveals the impact that the Castle in Liw has on the feeling of cultural security of the local community, and describes cultural activities undertaken at the Liw Castle aimed at promoting the sense of safety, cultural identity and belonging to the Polish cultural community and a local community.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve Cooper

There is a question surrounding the funding of Hospital in the Home (HITH) as to whether the allocation policy was driven by customer service preference or was largely a financial imperative. HITH has the capacity to increase the throughput and therefore the efficiency of acute care facilities which is attractive to Government and Health Service Managers. There is insufficient evidence to indicate that this is true in all circumstances. Hospital in the Home is a desirable and safe option for some clients. Hospital in the Home has the potential to provide a more cost effective mode of delivery of acute care than hospital facilities. However, there is a need for identification of which clients, with which conditions and care needs, will benefit from being part of a HITH program in emotional, health and financial terms. Health professionals are still grappling with the impact that HITH has on their roles and relationships with other health care providers. More qualitative and quantitative research needs to be undertaken to identify the best models of HITH in both organisational and financial tems, and its impact on the wellbeing of clients and carers.


Author(s):  
Mathilda van Niekerk

Art festivals have witnessed a boom in the past few years; with new festivals proliferating that cater to every taste and region, in what has become a vital source of revenue and publicity for cities and artists (Eventbrite, 2014; Relaxnews, 2015). The ideal arts festival represents a carefully crafted mixture of artists, a variety in its programming, being visually spectacular, and also meeting its social objectives (The Guardian, 2015). Art festivals in general are important for many reasons, some of which are to grow the regional and local economies, to promote the specific destination, to contribute to the livelihood of the artists and the local community, displaying different forms of art and to create specific images of the destinations. An art festival should therefore not only exist or take place; it should make some form of contribution to its stakeholders (Getz and Andersson 2010). When art festivals are, therefore, hosted in a specific area the lives of the local community become affected by it either in a positive or in a negative way. Art festivals have various impacts (socio-cultural, environmental, political and economic) on stakeholders, and on one of the most important stakeholders, that is, the local community. For years festival impact studies have mainly focused on the economic, environmental and socio-cultural impact of festivals on the local community, but a limited number of researchers have conducted studies to measure the impact of art festivals on the overall quality of life of the community members and the community as a whole. In order to do this, it is important to look at which socio-demographic variables influence the quality of life of the community and its members.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aksel Hansen ◽  
Stefan Brokatzky ◽  
Benjamin Kraus ◽  
Kai Thomas ◽  
Christina Sternbauer ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Much literature deals with patients who use drugs and have partners who are drug-free. However, concordant couples, in which both partners are consuming drugs, are sparsely examined in the literature. This might be due to the fact, that couples are rarely treated together in healthcare services. Despite that fact we propose that it is feasible and clinically meaningful to treat concordant couples in the same ward. Consequently, this study pursues the goal to expand the body of knowledge in the treatment of concordant couples investigating the research question: is it feasible, clinically and prognostically meaningful to treat these patients in the same ward? Method: This exploratory study included five concordant couples (ten patients), which were simultaneously treated between August 2013 and November 2014 in a specialised substance use ward at the Psychiatric Hospital Münsterlingen, Switzerland. All patients passed through a psychodynamic characterisation based on the OPD-II interview and the Structured Interview for Personality Organization. Symptom load was measured with the Brief Symptom Inventory at admission and termination of treatment. We calculated comparisons at the individual level using t-tests for paired samples. Results: We showed that it is feasible and clinically meaningful to treat couples concordant for substance use in the same ward. The psychodynamic characterization of the five concordant couples revealed recurring patterns of collusion, involving divided roles between dependence and independence, caregiving and neediness, activity and passivity, control and submission, strength and deficiency as well as superiority and inferiority. The patients didn´t change significantly on the BSI between pre- to post-treatment, although men (d = 1.64) benefited to a greater extent than women (d = 0.10). Conclusion: Treating concordant couples together in the same inpatient setting is unusual, but feasible and clinically useful, because it makes it possible to take into account the couples dynamics in the treatment.


Author(s):  
Jean Theurer ◽  
Nicole Jean-Paul ◽  
Kristi Cheyney ◽  
Mirka Koro-Ljungberg ◽  
Bruce Stevens

Stigma remains an impediment to seeking and receiving the requisite care for mental illness. To enhance a local National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) affiliate’s understanding of community members’ perceptions of mental illness and its associated stigma, a community-based participatory action research study was conducted. The study addressed the following research question: how do community members understand and experience the stigma associated with mental illness? Twenty-two participant-researchers wore mental illness labeled T-shirts around the local community, recorded their observations and reflections of this experience and recruited twenty-two community members for semi-structured interviews about mental illness stigma. Domain analysis of the interviews revealed community members’ understandings of (1) sources of stigma, (2) impacts of stigma, (3) conceptualizations of stigma and (4) pathways to change stigma. Findings were presented to members of the local NAMI affiliate as well as other community members. Practical implications, specific to the community of interest, are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Zinah H. Hussein

This study examines the relationship between gender inequality and political and social integration, a critical links exist between economic, social and political variables in the quest to reach out of the reasons behind gender inequality for all citizens. This study suggests that political and social integration may increase the gender inequality positively or negatively. To test the proposed claims we need scientific analysis to produce meaningful results and significance. And here we develop our research question which is: how does political and social integration effects gender inequality? Quantative data which I use in this paper comes from The Quality of Government (QoG) based on the cross-sectional data. The results covers 194 countries, the conceptualization and operationalization used in study on the impact of gender inequality will be reviewed. And the theoretical framework usually used to study peace operations contributions in quantitative research will also be summarized. Moreover, the main findings using codebook capturing results of dependent and independent variables will be presented, including the results of control variables influences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Mônica Tatiana Bunese Busarello

Repensar a economia sob o enfoque do ecodesenvolvimento é um desafio por meio das ecossocioeconomias, ou seja, uma outra economia. Entre as experiências existentes, destaca-se o movimento Empresas B que atende uma demanda de consumidores e investidores cada vez mais exigentes e conscientes quando correlacionam a questão ambiental e o impacto no consumo, sob o slogan “não ser a melhor empresa do mundo, mas a melhor para o mundo”. O objetivo da pesquisa é identificar diferentes formas com as quais uma B-Corp pode beneficiar o meio ambiente e a comunidade local. Para isso foi realizado uma pesquisa exploratória na qual se utilizou levantamento bibliográfico, pesquisa documental e entrevista estruturada sobre a experiência do Hotel Evergreen Lodge Yosemite. As empresas B constituem um movimento pragmático de transitoriedade paradigmático entre economias que por um lado possui uma racionalidade de ganhos econômicos de curto prazo, no entanto com prejuízos socioambientais de longo prazo, e por outro lado, uma nova economia, que concilia ganhos ecossocioeconômicos, ainda em construção, no sentido que as experiências estão em curso. São exemplos de como é possível conduzir a gestão de uma empresa de forma economicamente responsável, defendendo princípios de ética social e ambiental em relação ao desenvolvimento local, entendido como comunitário, e suas imbricações com os demais espaços.Palavras-Chave: Ecodesenvolvimento. Ecossocioeconomia. Movimento B. B-Corp.ABSTRACTRethinking the economy from the perspective of ecodevelopment is a challenge through ecosystems and economies, that is, another economy. Among the existing experiences, the Companies B movement stands out, which meets an increasingly demanding and conscious consumer and investor demand when correlating the environmental issue and the impact on consumption, under the slogan “not being the best company in the world, but the best for the world”. The purpose of the research is to identify different ways in which a B-Corp can benefit the environment and the local community. For this, a methodology with a qualitative and exploratory approach was used, in which the bibliographic survey, the documentary research and the structured interview about the experience of the Hotel Evergreen Lodge Yosemite were used as technical procedures. Companies B constitute a pragmatic movement of paradigmatic transience between economies that on the one hand have a rationality of short-term economic gains, however with long-term socio-environmental losses, and on the other hand, a new economy, which reconciles ecosystem-economic gains, under construction, in the sense that the experiments are ongoing. Examples of how it is possible to conduct the management of a company in an economically responsible manner, defending principles of social and environmental ethics in relation to local development, understood as community, and its overlap with other spaces.Keywords: Ecodevelopment. Ecosocioeconomy. B-Corp.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania von der Heidt ◽  
Sabine Muschter ◽  
Rod Caldicott ◽  
Deborah Che

Purpose Scholarly research into community members’ views on the positive and negative impacts of Airbnb on the local community is sparse, especially in regional Australia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the views of key informants in the Byron Shire of Australia about the impacts of Airbnb on the local community, as well as possible solutions to the problems. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach of in-depth interviewing using a semi-structured interview guide was used to capture the views regarding the impacts of Airbnb held by 22 key informants in the Byron Shire community. The interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings The 22 interviewees identified five main positive impacts of Airbnb on the Byron Shire community and eight main negative impacts of Airbnb. All participants said they wanted more regulation of Airbnb properties to help address the negative impacts of Airbnb in the community. Eight specific recommendations were offered by the interviewees. Research limitations/implications The negative impacts of Airbnb felt by local community are more extensive and deleterious than have been accounted for in the literature. Research into community stakeholder perspectives is important, in order to gain a fuller view of the costs and benefits of sharing economy, especially with regard to short-term letting or holiday letting in tourism centres, as well as potential for more sustainable solutions to the issues. Practical implications The findings are being used to inform policy makers’ decisions in managing Airbnb in the Shire. Social implications The involvement of key informant community members in this study highlights that there is much common ground between different stakeholders. This type of research may help to provide a sense of enfranchisement and empowerment. This is important in fostering a more balanced public debate, as well as more sustainable approaches to managing the issues. Originality/value This paper is the first to explore the views of a range of different key informants in the regional tourist area of Byron Shire in Australia with regard to the positive and negative impacts of Airbnb on the local community, as well as possible solutions to the issues raised by Airbnb.


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