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FLAP 202: Placemaking Through Art
Course Description
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As the world undergoes a period of dramatic flux due to the COVID-19 virus our focus becomes increasingly centred on local news and events, and our connection to global cultures and practices becomes limited. Placemaking Through Art highlights examples of art being used to challenge issues of social justice globally and then connect them to local issues and communities. In taking this program you will gain a deeper understanding of global social concerns and how the artistic methods used to solve them can be applied locally.
Using techniques like Photovoice, Soundscaping and more, you will learn to critically engage with your community through a collaborative art practice and take part in a self-reflective process of learning and placemaking. Working with mentors and peers you will have the opportunity to identify the issues in your community and develop an artistic project that has value both aesthetically and socially. This will culminate in the creation of a magazine featuring your input as to how social artistry can impact both your life and your community.
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Course Schedule
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Present:
Offer insight into the negative implications and realities of environmental degradation, discourse around it, and how it impacts individuals and communities. How people have responded to this issue, best practices, solutions, etc. Write questions that students have to answer.
Practice:
Introduce the concept of photovoice and highlight its use/benefits/basis through examples. Go into the community and document an occurrence of unsustainable development or environmental degradation through a photo and write two paragraphs on why this is negative and how you would like it to change. Recorded interviews, writing, etc etc
Produce:
Further actions or engagement, real actions that could be taken to solve this problem, shareable to either the group or an outside organization, what questions that they still may have around the issue. Ways to share, social media, community engagement, advocacy, youth initiatives, volunteering, day to day actions, political actions, propose an organization that could help. What tools are needed to fill the gaps, people that they could talk to in community
Create a quiz that tests the concepts learned, submit the paper that you wrote and choose another student’s paper and write ways in which this issue could be minimized or mitigated, who the key people or groups that could help make change, draft a short letter to one of these individuals or groups describing the problem and a proposed solution.
Course Goals
By taking this course you will gain a deeper understanding of the social issues that exist in different international contexts and you will develop a
By the end of the course, you will have developed numerous journalism skills, including but not limited to: investigating, reporting, interviewing, feature writing, fact-checking, copy editing, and magazine design. You will have a byline and material to add to your portfolio. In doing so, you will achieve a greater connection to the local community around you, and the artistry that can be found within.
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