Introduction: Arts-based social interventions: Policy-oriented results of the AMASS project: Introduction to the case studies

Abstract

This book presents 21 successful arts-based efforts to respond to social problems that are experienced by disadvantaged communities: children living with physical challenges, suffering from financial and educational poverty; elderly women in solitude; migrants facing a strange but welcoming cultural context; Roma youth fighting negative stereotypes and many more. Our research project, Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS), is funded by Horizon 2020 under the theme of Societal Challenges and The Arts. AMASS ideas about the power of the arts: the potentials of arts education to impact cognitive and affective development, motivation, self-esteem and self-expression have been implemented and researched in depth in the case studies. From the cultural rights perspective of marginalisation and other forms of exclusion, we used arts-based interventions with community involvement to address social and health-related challenges. Revealing the interconnectedness between social, economic and cultural exclusion, we planned interventions to develop skills, strengthen identities and build communities. Empowered for democratic participation and self-expression, the participants of our programmes are now charting their own way to learning and personality development.