Inspiring Soulful Communities through Music: Connecting Arts Entrepreneurship Education and Community Development via Creative Placemaking

Abstract

Due to its focus on business topics such as entrepreneurship and management, arts entrepreneurship education has often focused on economic motivations and market-driven rationales (Beckman, 2007;Manjon and Guo, 2015). The same often holds true for the community development field (Phillips, 2003). This article examines an interdisciplinary collaboration between courses in two disparate units of a university: music and community development. Creative placemaking activities are presented as pedagogical tools for connecting arts entrepreneurship and community development goals. At the heart of the experiences described was a desire to extend beyond the dominant paradigm of both arts entrepreneurship and community development in relation to economic development of the individual and collective. In so doing, it is suggested that these projects represent a soulful approach to learning and community building (Westoby, 2016;Westoby and Dowling, 2009) via creative placemaking.Our charge [as arts entrepreneurship educators] is to prepare students for a professional life of means, meaning, and the opportunity to give back, equipped to thrive within the world they will soon inherit, a world rife with challenges, yet ripe with opportunities.-Mark RabideauRecognizing the importance of weaving arts activities into the fabric of community development practice, the National Endowment for the Arts introduced a focus on "creative placemaking" in 2010. Markusen and Gadwa (2010) describe creative placemaking as a process whereby:[P]artners from public, private, non-profit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities.Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired. (p. 3) ArtPlace America, a ten-year collaboration between a number of foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions, has been at the forefront of efforts to advance creative placemaking. Drawing on the urban planning ideas of Jane Jacobs, ArtPlace America suggests that community development work "must be locally informed, human-centric, and holistic," and that in creative placemaking projects, "art plays an intentional and integrated role in place-based community planning and development",(ArtPlace America, 2016) Due in part to the relatively large investment of economic capital in creative placemaking projects over the past ten years, creative placemaking has become an important conceptual and aspirational ideal influencing arts entrepreneurship and arts-related training programs in higher education.Arts entrepreneurship education (AEE) is an area of growing interest in arts education and pedagogy research that resonates with the discourses of creative placemaking. In part, AEE is a response to the creative industries placing value on the consumption of arts, entertainment, and cul...

Entrepreneurship Education in the Arts: perspectives and challenges

“…However, their lack of entrepreneurial skills configures a limiting factor (Brown, 2005). We find the current expectation of arts educational institutions contributing to develop the creative economy (Comunian et al, 2014), rendering teaching entrepreneurship a vital necessity for arts sectors (Damasio & Bicacro, 2017; K. Wilson & Mantie, 2017).…”

Educação Empreendedora nas Artes: perspectivas e desafios

“…Entretanto a falta de habilidades empreendedoras destes graduados é um fator limitante (Brown, 2005). Existe uma expectativa atual de contribuição das instituições educacionais artísticas para o desenvolvimento da economia criativa (Comunian et al, 2014), o que tornou o ensino do empreendedorismo uma necessidade vital para os setores artísticos (Damásio & Bicacro, 2017;K. Wilson & Mantie, 2017).…”

Suggestions for Incorporating Entrepreneurship Education in the Classical Performance Studio

“…Many intriguing possibilities exist for music student-led entrepreneurial ventures when they are working in tandem with engineers, filmmakers, dance majors, environmental science majors, or even business majors, to name a few. Wilson and Mantie (2017) describe an example of this type of collaboration in which music students and community development program students of the same university work together to set up community music events. Wilson and Mantie observe that university students' involvements in the community not only foster greater entrepreneurship skills, but also achieve various positive outcomes within the community.…”