About - Artsequal
ARTSEQUAL: The Arts as Public Service: Strategic Steps towards Equality
Art doesn't have to be a privilege for the few. What if arts were understood as public service, accessible to anyone?
What is it?
- The Arts as Public Service: Strategic Steps towards Equality
- A multidisciplinary research project, coordinated by the University of Arts, one of the largest research projects of art and art education in Finnish history
- Duration: 6 years, May 2015 – April 2021
- Financier: The Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland
Who's in it?
- Consortium partners: University of the Arts Helsinki (the coordinator), Foundation for Cultural Policy Research Cupore, Lappeenranta University of Technology, University of Turku and Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (until August 2019).
- The director of the project: professor Heidi Westerlund, University of the Arts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy
- The vice director of the project: professor Kai Lehikoinen, University of the Arts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy
- 6 research groups:
- Arts@School; team leader, professor Eeva Anttila, University of the Arts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy
- Arts Education for All; team leader, professor Marja-Leena Juntunen, University of the Arts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy
- Arts in Health, Welfare and Care; team leader, professor Kai Lehikoinen, University of the Arts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy
- Socially Responsible Arts Institutions and Artists; team leader, docent Sari Karttunen, Foundation for Cultural Policy Research Cupore
- Impacts on the Arts on Equality and Well-being
- Visions – Systems Analysis and Policy Recommendations; team leader, professor Heidi Westerlund, University of the Arts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy
- Researchers: over 90 during various research periods
What does ArtsEqual do?
- Changes perspective radically. Examines arts and art education as equal basic public service from a new, holistic and systemic perspective.
- Examines how art as a public service could advance equality and well-being in society.
- Analyzes new kind of art and art educational interventions implemented at schools, in basic art education, in eldercare, in multicultural youth work, in disability services and in prisons, and their effects on equality and well-being.
- Makes new art and art education based social innovations visible, and examines the expanded roles of art and art education, as well as their social impact.
- Encourages us to cross institutional borders (between art, education, social, care, culture)
Interaction
- Acts in close cooperation in a with more than 50 collaborators, such as Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish National Board of Education, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the cities of Espoo, Helsinki and Turku, Regional State Administrative Agencies, NGO's and research communities.
- The project will make new cooperation agreements all through its duration.
- Our partner organizations listed
Abstract
Six research groups in the ARTSEQUAL project reinterpret the traditional position of the arts in Finland by regarding them as a basic service that should be available equally for all and that contributes to well-being across a wide range of life domains. From the perspectives of equality and well-being, the project produces new knowledge on how already existing arts services can be developed in order to enhance citizen creativity and communal engagement. The research groups will apply systems thinking in order to comprehend the social impacts of the arts, and analyse how participatory artistic and arts-educational interventions in schools, basic arts education and in social and health services impact well-being. The project will propose policy recommendations to support political decision-making and consolidate new arts services. The project is carried out in close collaboration with ministries, regional state administration, municipalities, and NGOs.