Art as "Connective Aesthetic": Creating Sites for Community Collaboration

Abstract

This paper discusses a community-based arts education project that develops partnerships between the university and cultural arts organizations. Collaboration is inspired between preservice teachers and multidisciplinary artists by engaging these two groups in the educational process. The author advocates the use of art as a heuristic tool for examining social worlds. She demonstrates how art as "connective aesthetic" creates sites for community collaboration and provides impetus for transformation and social change.