A letter to Agnes McCausland Richardson Etherington (1880-1854)

“Dear Agnes” is a fictitious correspondence that I shared with Agnes McCausland Richardson Etherington (1880–1954) during my doctoral studies in the Cultural Studies Program at Queen’s University (2014-2019). Agnes Etherington is a key figure in the development of fine arts programs at Queen’s, including its art collection. Owing to her bequest of the Etherington House, the university’s art facility bears her name. The entire correspondence that we shared, and that was inserted as textual interruptions into my final dissertation portfolio, includes personal photos and a genealogy that chronologically records activities of Indigenous resurgence that occurred during my studies. What follows is an excerpt of the correspondence. This text is based on one of the four letters found in the portfolio.

Willingness to Volunteer: An Exploration of the Potential Volunteer Pool for Community Arts Programs

Volunteers are critical for many local arts and culture programs. In contrast to most research, we focus on potential rather than actual volunteers. Using data collected from an online survey of 948 participants, we explore the extent to which individuals are willing to contribute both their time and money to support community arts initiatives. Results from a binary two-stage instrumental variable (IV) probit indicate that a significant predictor of willingness to volunteer is the willingness to pay and the intangible value placed on arts activities and engagement. These findings have implications for recruitment initiatives by public and community arts organizations reliant on volunteer support.

Theory’s Tone Deafness

This chapter describes the relevance, failures, and possibilities of music theory in a jail music program in which rap and hip-hop are the primary genres the largely African-American participants produce. Participants’ “ethnotheory” mediates the theoretical frameworks underlying the software they use and the theoretical concepts the author brings into the jail. The author asks how music theory might be more useful in carceral contexts, both in terms of its analytical perspectives and as a strategic legitimation of inmate’s expressions in an oppressive social context. The author interrogates the claim that academic arts programs in carceral contexts are often exploitative and that music theory in such contexts may represent a form of epistemic injustice. Finally, the chapter concludes with some suggestions on how academic music theorists might further the aims of social justice in carceral spaces.

The importance of passionate individuals for navigating school arts provision in 19 Australian schools

Arts programs are increasingly recognized for their role in promoting student development and cohesive school communities. Yet, most Australian schools are left to navigate a landscape characterized by shifting policy goals and external providers of diverse quality and intent. Drawing on interviews with 27 stakeholders from 19 Catholic primary schools in Melbourne, Australia, we explored key approaches to arts provision in this context, and conditions that hinder and support it. Approaches varied markedly, from school-wide programs embedded across the curriculum, to one-off incursions. Conditions consistently affecting provision ranged from leadership support to a community’s view of the arts. Programs regularly relied on individuals passionate about arts to go beyond their paid roles, yet this frequently jeopardized sustainability. Overall, the approaches identified, and conditions affecting their sustainability, reveal a lack of value for school arts at policy and administration levels. This lack of value is not demonstrated in the provision of other traditional school activities like math or literacy, which begs consideration by policymakers and school administrators.

Residents’ Perception of a Collaborative Approach with Artists in Culture-Led Urban Regeneration: A Case Study of the Changdong Art Village in Changwon City in Korea

This study asserts that the higher the degree of artists’ and residents’ participation in a culture-led renewal project, the higher the level of residents’ satisfaction. Engaging artist groups and introducing cultural programs can facilitate building a collaborative network between artists and residents. This paper adopts an experimental study method and defines the experimental and control groups as follows: the experimental group (Changwon city) has relatively high artist participation, and the control group (Sacheon, Gimhae, Miryang cities) have relatively low artist involvement. Multiple regression analysis was conducted utilizing 192 valid survey data in R studio software. The significant variables were compared between the experimental group (Model 1) and the control group (Model 2). As a result, the relative effects of “1. experience (or amount) of residents’ participation in urban renewal programs”, “2. reflection of residents’ opinions”, and “3. neighborly trust” on “residents’ satisfaction with urban regeneration projects and expected outcomes” was shown to be greater in the experimental group. The result implies that the involvement of cultural entities and the operation of arts programs increase residents’ will to participate in renewal projects and to build neighborly trust. Further, collection and reflection of residents’ opinions about the renewal works were more smoothly completed when mediated by artist participation and using cultural content.

Community Arts Programming as a Factor in Newcomer Youth Inclusion: The Toronto Situation

The value of engaging newcomer youth through community arts programs is examined within the Canadian context, specifically within Toronto. Expanding upon the existing literature and studies concerned with newcomer youth settlement needs, themes of social, structural and spatial exclusion set the context for discussion of using arts-based methods. Relating these to theories of social inclusion, social capital and critical social theory of youth empowerment, a primary investigation involved interviews with a private funding foundation, the Laidlaw Foundation, and a focus group session with newcomer youth from Beatz To Da Streetz, an active community urban arts program. The implications of this study are a demonstration of the positive process and outcomes of using arts methods for newcomer youth inclusion, but that the lack of support and resources available to such programs, particularly from federal and provincial sources, limit the impact of such programming.

Community Arts Programming as a Factor in Newcomer Youth Inclusion: The Toronto Situation

The value of engaging newcomer youth through community arts programs is examined within the Canadian context, specifically within Toronto. Expanding upon the existing literature and studies concerned with newcomer youth settlement needs, themes of social, structural and spatial exclusion set the context for discussion of using arts-based methods. Relating these to theories of social inclusion, social capital and critical social theory of youth empowerment, a primary investigation involved interviews with a private funding foundation, the Laidlaw Foundation, and a focus group session with newcomer youth from Beatz To Da Streetz, an active community urban arts program. The implications of this study are a demonstration of the positive process and outcomes of using arts methods for newcomer youth inclusion, but that the lack of support and resources available to such programs, particularly from federal and provincial sources, limit the impact of such programming.