Making Space for the Possible: Artists-in-Residence in Community College

• Published in: Art education (Reston) 2018, Vol.71 (1), p.24
• Main Authors: Ungemah, Lori D, Stokas, Ariana Gonzalez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Art Education; Art History; Artists; Community Colleges; Creativity; Disadvantaged; Experiential Learning; Immigrants; Low Income; Minority Group Students; Museums; Music; Nontraditional Students; Student Attitudes; Theater Arts; Two Year College Students; Visual Literacy
• ISSN: 0004-3125
• DOI: 10.1080/00043125.2018.1389589?journalCode=uare20

Offering art education and art experiences to marginalized student populations provides a break from the academic familiar and creates space for radical possibility both in the art classroom and across academic contexts. This article shows the value of artists-in-residence within community colleges, which tend to serve low income, racial minority, immigrant, and older students. Arts in New York City is part of the first-year curricular pathway for all students at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College. It explores the arts through art history content, visual literacy, experiential visits to art museums and institutions, an introduction to various art forms (film, hip-hop culture, and theater have been topics of study), and artists-in-residence who engage the students in the process of exchange and creation. The findings presented in this article, culled from observations of the artists-in-residence and a student survey, reveal that the experience developed another type of possible world for students. After a mere week, only six hours, of class dedicated to a creative, artistic process allowed community college students to embrace the radical possibility that the higher education classroom was a space where their multiple ideas were valid, where they belonged, and where they could have fun while learning.