What matters? Empowering non-artists to use arts-based learning: Leading developmental projects in schools and workplaces

Abstract

Tomorrow’s schools and workplaces need people with new ideas who are willing to be courageous and who can challenge the status quo. This paper suggests that increased use of art-based learning in schools and workplaces can be a solution. There is, however, a shortage of teachers or facilitators with the required expertise and competence in this field. This paper demonstrates how non-artists may develop the competence required to fill this gap. Four empirical cases will exemplify how arts-based learning interventions can activate processes of change individually and collectively in workplace settings. The cases illustrate how involvement in arts-based processes can enhance the creation of new perspectives and ideas and change practitioners’ views of perceived challenges in their fields of work. The outcome of these projects reveals how arts-based learning approaches used in a workplace or school setting are well suited to activate moves from the present situation towards the emerging future.