Rachael Van Fossen awarded SSHRC funding
Rachael Van Fossen, part-time faculty member in the Department of Theatre, will be working as part of a national team for a five-year research initiative in art for social change (ASC) in Canada. ASC refers to the broad spectrum of ways in which the arts are used to engage people and encourage positive change.
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through its Partnership Program, Art for Social Change: A Research Partnership in Teaching, Evaluation and Capacity-Building, is the first large-scale, systematic project of its kind in Canada. Lead researcher Judith Marcuse, whose International Centre of Art for Social Change/Simon Fraser University partnership made the funding possible, says that "the work we complete and the resources we create will benefit not only artist-researchers, but also individuals and organizations in diverse sectors who are already using arts-based practices in their work for positive change as well as those who are interested in adopting these approaches."
The research program will involve the participation of community members, students and change makers from a wide variety of sectors, including the health and justice systems; civil society, environmental, intercultural, elder and youth-focused organizations; and professionals working in the fields of social innovation, social enterprise and public policy.
Case study projects involving arts-based dialogue, performing, visual arts and social circus, as well as the creation of a learning institute, will enrich both research and the resources to be created. On-line videos, publications, public gatherings, exhibitions and performances will contribute to the work of ASC practitioners while bringing knowledge of this potent and effective form of change work to a wider public.
In addition to her role as co-investigator with the national team, Van Fossen will head up The Encounters Project, one of five field studies in art-for-social-change practices. In collaboration with Concordia's Theatre and Development program, Encounters aims to link research creation and public performance more fully with social activism. An ensemble of professional artists and students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, life experiences, and values will, through a series of workshops in both undergraduate and community settings, assess in what ways the act of performing another person can build relationship, and lead to transformed understanding.Encounters will also investigate how these experiences may be effectively communicated through public, theatricalized performance. Concordia undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in intercultural exchange across differences of racialization, immigration, gender and gender construction, sexuality, age and other common marked and unmarked perceived and actual differences. The Encounters research initiative proposes that we can move beyond ideas of assimilation through two deceptively simple acts: a mutual listening to the very human stories of others; and the impossible but necessary task of attempting to see the world through another's eyes.
Related links: