The impact of amateur arts on individual and community

Jenny Phillimore and Hilary RamsdenNCVO 21st March 2012

Northern Hordes Break Dance Competition

photo by Handle with Cake

The impact of amateur arts

• Increased policy and academic attention on civil society

• Impact of small scale civil society and mainstream arts little studied

• Gaps in knowledge around amateur arts – self managed

• Are amateur arts just for fun or do they have wider social and economic impacts?

The approach• Literature review – post 2005

– Policy – Grey literature– Global and multidisciplinary – arts, humanities, social

sciences, medicine, maths, IT..........• Documentary analysis of 33 AA publications• Workshops and World Cafe with 31 people from AA

world• Use of Guetzkow’s (2002) framework

– Impact of direct involvement– Impact for audience– Impact for community

Individual Individual and community CommunityPhysical Health Cognitive/

psychological Interpersonal and self development

Aesthetic Cultural Economic Social

Direct involvement

Improved physical health i.e. pulmonary Increased fitnessRelieves stress

Improves memoryFosters joy and happinessFeel good endorphins and emotional balanceOpportunity to externalise problemsBeing “in the flow” reduces anxietyImproves self-confidence and self-esteemHelps the elderly retain cognition

Builds individual friendships and networksParticipation in virtual networksCan include or excludeDevelops skills: self-directed learning, technical skills, communication skills, and leadership skillsImproves children’s academic performance

Transitional mechanism for making that which formerly did not existEncourages risk taking and new forms of creativityBeauty and adornment bring people together and fosters joy and happinessDevelops innovation and experimentation skills

Can create new individual and group identitiesOffers an alternative identityProvides an opportunity to self-define or connect by ethnicity or culture

Reduces GP visits and aids public purseEnhances employability via development of transferable skills and improved CVRoute to employment or self-employment or income supplementation

Creates a community of spiritBrings people together across generation, class, ethnicity and other boundariesCreates links across locales, regionally, nationally and internationallyEvolution of virtual communitiesActivities can be gendered or racialised

Audience benefits

Music, colours and rhythm provide stimulus and increase happiness

Beauty and adornment bring people together and fosters joy and happiness

Maintains tradition. Engenders feelings of connection to diasporic communities

Revenues earned at events help to pay upkeep of community buildings

Community of spirit develops around live performances

Presence of amateur arts

Can improve the appearance and attractiveness of place

Can improve the status and image of a place. Enables reconstruction of place identity

Artists spend benefits local and regional economies and local venues etcFosters creative economy and professional artistsFosters civic participationPromotes urban renewalCan help reduce crime levels

Brings people together around common goals

Some impacts• Improved health of individuals – physical via dancing, singing,

alleviation from symptoms i.e. Parkinsons, stroke and cancer patients

• Audience impacts – watching beauty brings people together and is pleasurable; crafts are tactile and bring vitality; laughter and wonder reduce stress levels

• The presence of AA – improved attractiveness and appearance, attracting tourists and residents, arresting decline and reducing crime i.e. People’s Republic of Stokes Croft

• Community and individual impacts – development of social networks and creation of new communities i.e. re-connection of homeless men, the “village” feel of online Anime communities

• Negative impacts – physical risks, frustration of failure and exclusionary forces

Conclusions• Self-generation, self-sufficient, unintended but

significant• The importance of beauty, fun, laughter etc for

social and (possibly) economic impacts• Lack of empirical research.......or the desire to

prove anything• How and when do impacts occur? Are there

pathways to impact?• How do individual impacts accumulate to impact

at community level?• What next?