Social Foundations in Urban Arts Education

Catalog description

The course will explore the history and purpose of arts education in urban contexts and how arts education has been impacted and implemented. Through critical analysis the course will explore how the dynamics of in-and out-of-school learning structures relate to larger social, cultural, economic, political and historical forces. This course will investigate the ways that social class, race, gender, community, ability, ethnicity, immigration, and sexuality intersect and impact educational experiences and the roles of arts education in that process. The course is taught by using arts integration techniques to further model using the arts as a tool to teach. This course will also explore current educational policies and their impact on arts education at the international, federal, state, and city level, and how the arts can be solution-oriented in the school reform movement in urban settings. Includes 15 hours of fieldwork. 3 hr./wk.