Reimagining Higher Education Curricula for Creative and Performing Artists: Creating More Resilient and Industry-Ready Graduates

Creative and performing artists often experience heightened levels of mental health distress, experiences increasingly recognised in the discourse and the academic literature. Some students studying the arts at the higher education level may even bring with them pre-existing mental health issues, which can affect their capacities for learning and career preparation. On completing their studies, graduates enter a sector that offers particular challenges in terms of significant competition for employment, non-linear work patterns, precarious resource bases and physical and mental stressors associated with the nature of artistic work. An artist therefore requires resilience and mental strength to cope with the realities of their practice. This chapter surveys recent research literature relevant to artists and mental health, it identifies several implications for higher education programs in the arts, and suggests ways curricula might be reimagined to respond to a post-pandemic world which is likely to offer significant challenges for artists. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Conceptualising Intergenerational Lived Experience: Integrating Art–Moving–Well‐Being across Disciplines, Communities and Cultures

Art and movement are motivating forces in, though, and beyond education. As populations age, there is an increasing need to support physical and social well‐being. Yet, since the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, there has been a reported exponential increase in feelings of loneliness across generations. Complex challenges require trans‐disciplinary solutions, and this paper represents a joint effort within and across disciplines, communities and cultures to find ways to ameliorate this silent epidemic. In this paper, we propose a cross‐disciplinary conceptual framework where Aboriginal Artists and Knowledge Holders, Teacher Educators, and Physical and Occupational Therapists come together to explore theoretical and pedagogical insights that encompass intergenerational art–moving–well‐being practices, reducing feelings of loneliness and improving social connections across generations. There are two main aims of this paper;first, to better understand current studies that report on integrating art–moving–well‐being practices, and the effect this has on health and well‐being of intergenerational participants (under 10‐year‐olds, 20+ year olds and 50+ year olds). Second, based on community needs, the long‐term aim is to propose a flexible art–moving–well‐being conceptual model that is scalable, sustainable and based on social and relational support systems. We propose a model that is flexible and adaptable within and across our local community and beyond. We argue that feelings of loneliness are unique to each individual, and there is a need to connect specific intergenerational programmes with art–moving–well‐being practices that readily engage and integrate varied communities and cultures in sustainable ways and thus, contribute to thriving communities. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Art & Design Education is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

We're All in This Together: Digital Performances and Socially Distanced Spectatorship

The digital performances forwarding discourses of "we're all in it together" proliferated in the opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic, performing the social legibility of pain and loss within the public sphere. The body takes on an indexical force in such performances, constructing a symbolic community defined by the shared experience of sheltering-in-place. This performs social distancing, culturally acclimating audiences to a world in which we connect virtually but remain apart in our bodies. This has a legitimate public-health utility. That said, such performances can inadvertently construct the "we" in "we are all in it together" in a way that centers the stay-at-home experience while flattening racial and economic divisions. This essay examines two digital performances focusing on the experiences of diverse artists in quarantined isolation: Mike Sears and Lisa Berger's Ancient and Emily Mast and Yehuda Duenyas's How Are We. Both performances situate the act of sheltering-in-place as the shared facet of community belonging, utilizing aesthetic strategies that either obscure or amplify the ways that hierarchical systems of power influenced inequitable lived experiences of quarantined isolation.

Steps in Incremental Activism

In "The Promise of the Green New Deal: A 21st-Century Federal Theatre Project," I argued that a reimagined Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was a necessary response to the multiple crises faced by the field: 1) ongoing lack of equity in funding across race, gender, and geography;2) racism, misogyny, ableism, transphobia, and other forms of bias that cause ongoing harm;3) abusive and exploitative labor practices;and, of course, 4) COVID-19's widespread devastation of the theatre. [...]it would serve as a communications resource center for professional, community, and academic theatre, thus enabling us to share information and resources with other theatres and community, religious, and civic organizations. [...]I map a preliminary plan for a structure of communications and support that demonstrates the potential of a shift from crisis rhetoric to incremental activism. Minimum operating expenses of $50,000 in most recently completed fiscal year Professional paid leadership, including at least one full-time paid professional director or manager (filled either by one individual or shared) Evidence of rigorous pursuit of theatrical form, as shown by artists' payroll activity of at least 15 weeks per year or by a minimum of 50 performances per year A commitment to the rehearsal process which is demonstrated by at least 30 hours of rehearsal time for primary production activities Minimum of one year's prior existence as a professional producing organization with continuity of operation Community vitality, as evidenced by local, state or national funding sources, local media coverage and/or community awards or other recognition of the value of the theatre's work Diversification of funding sources

The intersection of visual arts practice and adaptive leadership theory in education: A phenomenological study

By exploring art practice in tandem with Adaptive Leadership Theory (ALT), the study helps justify the practice of the arts, clarifies the value of artistic thinking, suggests improvements for leadership development in education, and connects the fields of the social sciences, education, leadership studies, and the arts. The study explores how making art and leading, the dual practices of visual artists who are also education leaders, offers insight for educational institutions grappling with change. Educational organizations are ideal settings for analysis using ALT, a theory in which change is accepted as inevitable and urges leaders to mobilize their organizations to address it. The practice of visual arts fosters creativity and being open to change but is undervalued in educational hierarchies. Meanwhile, leadership in education suffers from high turnover. Improved leadership development programs are needed to prepare new leaders to deal with increasing volatility in education, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and demographic shifts. The research examines how the studio practices of visual artists intersect with ALT, leadership pathways, and leadership development. Twelve visual artists who are also leaders in educational organizations were interviewed for the study. The study uses the qualitative method of interpretive phenomenology to investigate how the participants made sense of their dual actions: making art and leading. The study analyses and delineates the artists/leaders' approach to solving problems and identifies it as a vision/revision cycle. The study explains how the vision/revision cycle (a) encompasses strategies similar to ALT, which builds on the work of ALT progenitor Heifetz (1994),and (b) can be applied to field of leadership development with implications for improvement. By explaining how artists/leaders merge their practices while leading in educational institutions, the study supports Freedman (2010), who argued reflective thinking and creative problem-solving is strengthened through art practice and transfers to other aspects of the practitioner's life, particularly leadership and social agency, a notion grounded in Dewey (1934). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Artist residencies as specialist accommodation: cultural entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: Artist residencies comprise a unique accommodation type and a form of cultural entrepreneurship which remains overlooked from a hospitality perspective. This exploratory study aims to examine the phenomenon of artist residencies as specialist accommodation, as well as their operators' motives as cultural entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Creation theory is used to explore how artist residency operators create entrepreneurial opportunities. Design/methodology/approach: Asynchronous email interviews were conducted with 20 artist residency operators from 18 countries. Purposive sampling was used to select interviewees and thematic analysis to analyze the primary data. Findings: The results showed that with few exceptions, artist residencies address all criteria of specialist accommodation, and that social interactions among artists and operators are fundamental in running an artist residency. From a cultural entrepreneurship perspective, most of the operators declared that their priorities were to promote artistic creativity and cultural knowledge exchange, confirming the main elements of creation theory. Practical implications: Managerial implications are discussed to enhance the resilience of artist residencies and strengthen their financial viability, as well as to support them to overcome the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: This study extends the hospitality literature by adding the artist residencies to the existing types of specialist accommodation. It also examines creation theory and concludes that artistic creativity and cultural networks are prominent in artist residency entrepreneurial activities.

The Labor Regime of People Dedicated to Artistic Activities and Technical and Auxiliary Activities for Their Development Special Reference to Royal Decree-Law 5/2022, of March 22

the special employment relationship of artists has recently been modified through the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 5/2022, of March 22, in order to adapt to Royal Decree-Law 32/2021, of December 28, and therefore, to the new social and labor realities. Therefore, the objective of these lines is to contribute to the knowledge of the labor regime of artists, analyzing the regulatory situation prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the regulatory evolution from March 2020 to the present. All this with the purpose of knowing and reflecting on the current regulatory situation of this sector.

Influence of Grit on Physical Activity, Sitting Time and Dietary Behaviors: A Multi-Study Analysis

Engaging in physical activity (PA), minimizing sitting time and consuming a healthy diet are behaviors associated with health and wellness across the lifespan. The present multi-study analysis examined the relationship between grit and PA, sitting time and dietary behaviors in several populations that included US adults, active-duty military personnel, veterans, college students and performing artists. The four research laboratories administered an internet-based survey between spring and summer of 2020. The common questionnaires on the surveys were the Grit Scale Short Form, International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form and the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants Short Form. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between grit, PA, sitting time and dietary behaviors. PA was associated with grit for US adults, civilians and college students but not for performing artists or active-duty military populations. Sitting time was associated with grit for US adults and active-duty military personnel. US adults, college students and performing artists were found to have a positive association between healthy dietary behaviors and grit. Overall, the findings indicate that grit has a positive influence on PA, sitting time and dietary behaviors across the unique populations;however, the relationships indicate some nuanced differences between the populations.

"The show must go on!” dance talent development in the context of coping during the COVID-19 pandemic

Lay Summary Psychobehavioral skills are acknowledged as useful for coping within talent development pathways, but the idiosyncratic nature of challenge experienced across individuals makes it hard to evaluate their use and efficacy. This study aimed to explore the impact of a generic stressor, the COVID-19 lockdowns, on dancers within a talent development pathway. We were interested in how dancers were perceived to have coped with this challenge and what skills, if any, they used. Fifteen practitioners (11 females, 4 males;M age = 42.3 years;M experience = 18.4 years) were interviewed across eight Scottish performance/educational government-funded organisations. Data analysis used reflexive thematic analysis. Findings revealed important perceived impacts on physical and psychological health and wellbeing, with the majority of participants reporting surprise that some coped differently than expected. Coping well was perceived to result from taking advantage of developmental opportunities, facilitative environmental factors, and possessing key psychobehavioral characteristics. Performers who were perceived to struggle did not cope well with teaching, interpersonal, physical, and psychological factors which were exacerbated by social/environmental contexts, leading to pathway disengagement/derailment. Data suggest a need for greater and proactive integration of psychobehavioral skills within this pathway to better support those advancing to professional status and those who do not.This study explored practitioners' perceived use and relevance of performance psychology for dancers during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Dancers were perceived to be impacted both positively and negatively, notably reporting high relevance and use toward psychological and social aspects of the experience.Implications for Practice Transitional challenges need to be recognized and embedded within the dance talent development pathway Psychological Characteristics for Developing Excellence are yet to be formally exploited in dance practice A psychobehavioral curriculum should be explored in tandem with, and through, technical skills training Transitional challenges need to be recognized and embedded within the dance talent development pathwayPsychological Characteristics for Developing Excellence are yet to be formally exploited in dance practiceA psychobehavioral curriculum should be explored in tandem with, and through, technical skills training [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Research in Dance Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Journey to Cuba

NEHA offers an exciting opportunity for environmental health professionals to join their private delegation to Havana, Cuba, on Nov 2-6, 2023. They will explore Cuba's rich and varied cultural heritage and go beyond tourist corridors by engaging with local environmental health professionals, officials, engineers, entrepreneurs, musicians, and artists who will offer indepth commentary on health policies, economics, environmental justice, art, history, architecture, and culture. The trip is being organized by CLE Abroad, a provider of customized educational travel programs around the world. The trip is open to all individuals over 18 years.

The Body as Memory: Breast Cancer and the Holocaust in Women's Art

The Holocaust is a living trauma in the individual and collective body. Studies show that this trauma threatens to be reawakened when a new and traumatic experience, such as illness, emerges. The two traumas bring to the fore the experiences of death, pain, bodily injury, fear of losing control, and social rejection. This article examines the manifestation of this phenomenon in art through the works of three Jewish artists with autobiographical connections to the Holocaust who experienced breast cancer: the late Holocaust survivor Alina Szapocznikow, Israeli artist Anat Massad and English artist Lorna Brunstein, daughters of survivors. All three matured alongside the rise and development of feminist art, and their works address subjects such as femininity and race and tell their stories through their bodies and the traumas of breast cancer and the Holocaust, transmitting memory, working through trauma, and making their voices heard.

Key Concerns for Critical Disability Studies

The International Journal of Disability and Social Justice is a timely intervention into the interdisciplinary field of Disability Studies. Any new initiative, especially in a pre-existing and maturing field of inquiry, should encourage us all to think critically and reflexively about the key questions and issues that we should be grappling with today. This paper offers an inevitably partial take on some of the key concerns that we think scholars, activists and artists of Disability Studies should be engaging with. Everything we do these days takes place in the shadows cast by the global pandemic. While it is important to acknowledge the centrality of COVID-19 – and the threat this poses to the mind-bodies, politics and everyday realities of disabled people – we want to foreground some preoccupations, ideas and debates emerging from within the field of Disability Studies that will have resonance beyond the pandemic. We will begin the paper by offering a perspective on the contemporary nature and state of Disability Studies;suggesting that many of us are Critical Disability Studies thinkers now. Next, in order to narrow the focus of the discussion in this brief paper, we choose one emergent and popular theoretical orientation – posthuman Disability Studies. Then, we introduce and elaborate on four broad concerns that we think we should engage with;desire, alliances, non/humans and their implications for conceptualising social justice. Throughout the paper we will work through some of the power dynamics, questions of accountability and requirements for a generosity of engagement that these concerns provoke.

ADREINNE WAHEED RECENT WORK

An interview with visual activist Adreinne Waheed about his series of photographs is presented. Waheed mentions "What's been urgent for me: justice for Black lives. Before I am a photographer, I'm a Black woman, so justice for Black lives will always be most urgent. 2020 has been particularly hard on Black and Brown folks, as we are dealing with two pandemics: COVID-19 and structural racism. After George Floyd's murder, I was drawn into the streets like so many Americans. As a photojournalist I felt especially called to capture the Black Lives Matter movement during these unprecedented times. The urgency of the moment drew me out of quarantine. I felt my anger and frustration building up, so to sit idly by was not an option. My people were out en masse, raising their voices, and I had to join them.The pursuit of justice is what pushed me out into the street. I consider myself a visual activist. I'm capturing the movement from a Black woman's perspective, and I believe it is just as important for us to control our narrative as it is to raise our voices."

UK street art and the meaning of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-21

This paper contributes to social and cultural geographies of the COVID-19 pandemic through an exploration of the role of UK street art in documenting the remarkable shifts in the practice of wearing facemasks, the tensions and emotions involved, and the transformations in the meaning of facemasks during the pandemic. Street art has become an important outlet for political critique and social engagement, capturing the public mood in response to policies and recommendations attempting to stem viral transmission, including the requirement to wear facemasks in some public places. Drawing primarily on image analysis of street artworks produced during 2020 and sourced using online search tools, and qualitative interviews with UK street artists in 2020 and 2021, the paper first explores the changing geographies and politics of street art during the pandemic. It then examines the ways in which street art portrays mask-wearing simultaneously as reassuring, protective and fear-inducing, and reflects the meaning of masks in relation to protecting public health, managing anxieties concerning health risks, boosting morale, and symbolising solidarity and public spiritedness. The paper argues that pandemic street art contributes to public dialogue by articulating emotion and deeply held concerns, and communicating the intimate politics, semiotic meanings and social properties of objects associated with disease.

FlumeRide: Interactive Space where Artists and Fans Meet-and-Greet using Video Calls

Recently, artists and fans meet more often online owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, fans need to engage closely with artists and enjoy rich content. FlumeRide is a mobile application that helps artists and fans meet and greet through video calls. Beyond simply connecting the two, it provides detailed features similar to that fans experience in face-to-face meetings. We first investigated the overall contexts and challenges faced by fans during online meet-and-greets and derived the design elements. Then, we designed and implemented a system that supports various communications and contents in situations before, during, and after the conversation between fans and artists. FlumeRide incorporates various features to support communications in highly immersive and efficient ways, such as chat, video calls, streaming, and recordings. Our user study results demonstrate that FlumeRide enables fans to have private video calls with artists and experience rich interactions. Author

Discrimination and financial, occupational, and emotional well-being in strip club dancers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A call for policy reform

Due to the sexual nature of their work, strip club dancers have long been subject to marginalization and occupational stigma. During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, dancers faced unique stressors due to their status as contract workers within the stigmatized commercial sex/adult entertainment industry, and these stressors have likely impacted their financial, occupational, and emotional well-being. We surveyed 102 strip club dancers across 35 U.S. states and Puerto Rico to examine how their well-being has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and to guide recommendations for policy reform. Findings revealed that during the pandemic, dancers experienced occupational stigmatization, structural and systematic exclusion from financial support during the pandemic, and numerous obstacles in obtaining employment outside of their industry, all of which contributed to reported financial and occupational stress. Furthermore, results demonstrated that strip club dancers experienced significant financial loss, and associated financial concern was associated with poorer mental health outcomes. Structural changes to financial relief packages are necessary for inclusion of strip club dancers, and there is also a clear need for more efforts to decrease discrimination and violence toward strip club dancers generally, including legal recognition of sex workers as laborers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

CHITRA GANESH: A CITY WILL SHARE HER SECRETS IF YOU KNOW HOW TO ASK

Chitra Ganesh's installation A City Will Share Her Secrets If You Know How to Ask. Ganesh's 2020-1 iteration of QUEERPOWER, the annual site specific public art installation at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, imagines a queer space and futurity that is abundant and temporally layered. The installation grounds the future in the present moment, including images of those trans and gender-nonconforming people who have been violently murdered in 2021, as well as historic queer and trans activists, including those who were lost to COVID.

TikTok and Public Health Storytelling: An!Educational Tale

Though information technology has been edging its way into English education for years, students and teachers were thrown into new digital dilemmas in 2020 when the onset of COVID-19 normalized digital learning. The emergence of TikTok as a primary communication tool, especially for high school youth, quickly became worrisome. Not only was the app used for entertainment and surrogate social interaction, but it also became a platform for public health mis- and disinformation concerning COVID-19. English teachers have much to learn from the precarious endeavor of using social media to address urgent literacy issues, including public health literacy. What can or should English educators do about the amplification of dangerous content on TikTok? What are the risks, challenges, and affordances of supervised engagement? The pandemic amplified global precarity, highlighting disproportionate vulnerabilities based on age, race, gender, and other intersectional factors. Humans' interdependence underscores the need to examine unequal conditions in the English classroom.

What is to Hand: The Fold as Landscape Within Textile Imagination

This article explores the fold and textile imagination within art by using as main case study the author's project Imaginary Landscapes. This work consists of a series of photographs taken during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK in 2020 and was motivated by a longing for spaces and places at a time of confinement. It provided an opportunity to work with "material to hand”, pointing to Martin Heidegger and Barbara Bolt's discussion of his theory regarding "handling.” The cloth as arranged or folded allows for light to enhance form whilst suggesting landscapes such as shorelines, mountains, forests, deserts or volcanoes. The discussion refers to Gilles Deleuze's reading of Leibniz, Christine Buci-Gluckmann's observations on the Baroque, and to various theoretical and artistic positions concerning the fold, drapery, and textile imagination within different visual contexts, including Giuliana Bruno's observations on the fold in relation to the screen. Imaginary Landscapes is explored with particular attention to contemporary artists Christo and Jeanne Claude, Christian Boltanski and Angela de la Cruz. The argument concludes that the fold as visual and conceptual process allows us to engage in spatio-temporal relations where the appreciation of materiality through handling/folding informs ideas of movement within and across media.