Arts Based Health Research More Synergy Across Canada

"transformation" Photo C. McLean


C. McLean, Publisher IJCAIP

Having been active in the creative arts in interdisciplinary practice for several years, I'm very encouraged by all the recent buzz about arts based health research as we see a number of new investigative initiatives springing up across Canada. Artists, health researchers, scholars and educators are meeting at the same conference tables to explore new and creative forms of arts based research to discuss the work, approaches and processes. One recent meeting agenda described their workshop as "a unique opportunity for researchers of multiple disciplines to bring to bear, under one collective umbrella, matters of meaning and communication, matters of methods and matters of theoretical knowledge that feed and enrich the area of arts based research."

On October 26, representing The International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, IJCAIP, I was invited to attend a workshop on "Exploring Transformative Potential of Arts based Health Research" hosted by Scientist, Katherine Boydell, ( The Hospital for Sick Children), at Hart House, University of Toronto. I was pleased to note that among the participants were social scientists, scholars, nurse educators, students as well as many artists in attendance including nationally recognized dramatists, visual artists, artist researcher/poets, dancers and others lending their voices and opinions to the animated discussions at the workshop. On November 20, another workshop took place in Vancouver at The University of British Columbia called "Arts Based Methods in Health Research" hosted by investigators Susan Cox, Centre for Applied Ethics and George Belliveau, Language and Literacy Education. Dr. Belliveau is also an Advisory Board member for The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, IJCAIP.

These recent meetings in Canada, attended by educators and leaders across disciplines, are yet another encouraging indication of the growing interest globally in the field of the creative arts in interdisciplinary practice. We will hope that as a result of these new initiatives, successful creative arts, science and health research alliances will be forged within our country and beyond, partnerships that could help create enriching and innovative opportunities for learning and the potential for future programmes benefitting individuals and communities worldwide.


Cheryl McLean, Publisher IJCAIP, http://www.ijcaip.com
Editor, "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change"
http://www.creativeartpractice.blogspot.com

Aesthetic Quality Important for Ethnodramas About Human Condition

Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice
Contributor Features

"Some scholars in the social sciences may employ the term “performance” in casual ways that irk the sensibilities of those deeply involved in the culture of theatre, for mounting a theatrical production, regardless of its magnitude, is hard work. Nevertheless, theatre is one of the artistic media through which fictionalized and non-fictionalized social life—the human condition—can be portrayed symbolically and aesthetically for spectator engagement and reflection."

"The art of writing for the stage is similar to, yet different from, creating a dramatic narrative for qualitative reports, because ethnotheatre employs the media and conventions of theatrical production. A researcher’s criteria for excellent ethnography in article or book formats don’t always harmonize with an artist’s criteria for excellent theatre. This may be difficult for some to accept but, to me, theatre’s primary goal is neither to educate nor to enlighten. Theatre’s primary goal is to entertain—to entertain ideas as it entertains its spectators. With ethnographic performance, then, comes the responsibility to create an entertainingly informative experience for an audience, one that is aesthetically sound, intellectually rich, and emotionally evocative. Ethnotheatre reveals a living culture through its character-participants and, if successful, the audience learns about their world and what it’s like to live in it."

Johnny Saldana
quotes from: Ethnodrama: an Anthology of Reality Theatre, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2005.
protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Please contact the publisher for permission to copy, distribute or reprint.

Johnny Saldaña is a Professor of Theatre in the School of Theatre and Film at Arizona State University where he has taught since 1981. He is the author of Longitudinal Qualitative Research: Analyzing Change Through Time (AltaMira Press, 2003), a research methods book and recipient of the 2004 Outstanding Book Award from the National Communication Association’s Ethnography Division; Ethnodrama: An Anthology of Reality Theatre (AltaMira Press, 2005), and The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (Sage Publications, 2009), a handbook on qualitative data analysis. His forthcoming textbook, Understanding Qualitative Research: The Fundamentals, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2011.

Johnny Saldana is a contributor to the recently released book, "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change", eds. Cheryl McLean, Robert Kelly, Detselig Temeron Press. ("Ethnodramas about Health and Illness, staging Human Vulnerability, Fragility and resiliency" pg. 167-180) ) He is also an Advisory Board member for IJCAIP, The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice

http://www.ijcaip.com