Artistic Citizenship: Artistry, Social Responsibility, and Ethical Praxis

This first-of-its-kind compendium unites perspectives from artists, scholars, arts educators, policymakers, and activists to investigate the complex system of values surrounding artistic-educational endeavors. Addressing a range of artistic domains-including music, dance, theater, visual arts, film, and poetry-contributors explore and critique the conventions that govern our interactions with these practices. Artistic Citizenship focuses on the social responsibilities and functions of amateur and professional artists and examines ethical issues that are conventionally dismissed in discourses on these topics. The questions this book addresses include: How does the concept of citizenship relate to the arts? What sociocultural, political, environmental, and gendered ＂goods＂ can artistic engagements create for people worldwide? Do particular artistic endeavors have distinctive potentials for nurturing artistic citizenship? What are the most effective strategies in the arts to institute change and/or resist local, national, and world problems? What obligations do artists and consumers of art have to facilitate relationships between the arts and citizenship? How can artistic activities contribute to the eradication of adverse ’ism’s?

A substantial accompanying website features video clips of ＂artivism＂ in action, videotaped interviews with scholars and practitioners working in a variety of spaces and places, a blog, and supplementary resources about existing and emerging initiatives. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, Artistic Citizenship is an essential text for artists, scholars, policymakers, educators, and students.

David J. Elliott is Professor of Music and Music Education at New York University. He is the author of Music Matters: A Philosophy of Music Education, editor of Praxial Music Education: Reflections and Dialogues, founder and editor of the International Journal of Community Music, and an award-winning composer/arranger with works published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Marissa Silverman is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Undergraduate Music Education at the John J. Cali School of Music of Montclair State University. A Fulbright Scholar, her research interests include urban music education, music and social justice, interdisciplinary education, community music, and topics in the philosophy of music and music education.

Wayne Bowman’s primary research interests involve philosophy of music and the philosophical exploration of issues in music education. His work is extensively informed by pragmatism, by critical theory, and by conceptions of music and music education as social practices. He is particularly concerned with music’s sociopolitical power and with ethically informed understandings of musical practice.