Person-Centered Arts Practices with Communities

Are you an artist who works with a variety of communities? Are you interested to deepen and expand on the meaning of your work? This book presents a pedagogical framework which aims to guide the practices of artists who work with communities. It presents the social personal cognitive and cultural dimensions of a person-centered approach in a dynamic interwoven manner which will enrich your practice through a thorough process of reflection evaluation and co-creation. In my journey as a dance therapist I have pondered the issue of professional boundaries - where does the dance artist end and the dance therapist begin? My inclination has veered towards a democratic perspective recognizing the great work community artists - 'non-therapist' - can achieve. At the same time I have been aware that artists working with groups such as I (people with dementia) required something beyond arts skills in order to facilitate inclusive participatory and life-enhancing activities. Dr. Low addresses this issue exactly. She provides a coherent and impressive theoretical framework to underpin the work of the person-centred arts facilitator and offers practical guidelines for setting up and running arts programs which are sensitive to context. The aim of this book is a worthy one in its encouragement to develop arts activities which become in Dr. Low's words 'an active means of growth' for the participants. From my experience I also know how enriching a person-centred approach is for the arts facilitator which is why the following remark by Dr. Low on the value of working in a person-centred way resonates with me for this is 'a practice that will never stagnate never come to a closed conclusion because communities too never stagnate and come to closed conclusions'. Dr. Heather Hill dance movement therapist for over 30 years now consultant in dance and person-centered practice in dementia.