Journal of Arts & Communities - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2014

This essay engages collaborative art projects in a field of settler/indigenous relations: drumming and performances of self at a Michigan language revitalization symposium, Native Women Language Keepers; Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore’s iconic video performance work at the Canadian pavilion of the Venice Biennial; and the Australian community cultural development project Ghost Nets, which emphasizes relationships while cleaning up fishing debris off beaches. The essay argues for reading strategies that acknowledge relational living, in the flow of history, speaking from webs of more than one voice, and attending to gaps.

In an examination of how witnessing autobiographical stories through a performance onstage affects audiences, this article considers the function of narrative in public space. Its key focus lies on exploring the concept of witnessing through an analysis of the audience’s reception of two autobiographical storytelling performances in Northern Ireland. Drawing on the affirmative response to the portrayal of suffering, the argument is developed that, in today’s ‘therapeutic culture’, people are used to, prepared and therefore keen to hear from personal experiences and emotions but are, at the same time, yearning to return to ‘real’ emotions in an environment of emotional commodification.

Musical participation is a powerful form of community engagement, offering agency in positive ageing. Community music endeavours usually involve active music-making and acquisition of musical skills and understandings. Participants in such programmes elect to become involved, often taking responsibility for the survival of the group. This case study explores the understandings of members of a community band, the Second Wind Ensemble, formed in 1998 in Adelaide, South Australia. Initially, the band offered late starters the opportunity to learn an instrument. The ensemble now has approximately 60 players with a regular programme of concerts, rehearsals, tutorials and social gatherings. The band conductor is a professional music educator. This study chronicles the development of a community of practice with the band members gradually assuming responsibility for their ensemble. This discussion considers only the first two years in the history of the ensemble, during which time the roles of participants evolved. In this case study, the founder, conductor, organizer and a number of participants were interviewed and data analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The themes identified from these multiple perspectives focus on well-being, active engagement with community, the development of musical skills and understandings, and the formation of a community of practice.

Refugee Performance: Practical Encounters, Michael Balfour (2013) Brisol: Intellect, 316 pp., ISBN 978-1-84150-637-1 (hbk) £45

Applied TheaTRICKs: Essays in Refusal, Syed Jamil Ahmed (2013) Kolkata: Anderson Printing House, 123 pp., ISBN: 9788190671927, Rp300, USD10 outside India + postage

Forum on the Teaching Artist: Navigation, Innovation, and Sustainability, New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development Program in Educational Theatre, 25–27 April 2014

Conference Review of the TaPRA Applied and Social Theatre Working Group’s Interim Event on Heroism and the Heroic in Applied and Social Theatre, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 22 March 2014