#thefutureisnow: A Model for Civically Engaged Art Education
We’re excited to offer this article with a practical discussion of how to design an arts+civics curriculum for your classroom.
#thefutureisnow: A Model for Civically Engaged Art Education
Let us not forget that young people are at work developing practices in their own lives that support them in creating the future for which they hope. In response to thinking about the future of curriculum, we propose to look at the future-oriented practices of youth and continue to take our cues from them.
ABSTRACT
Our provocation for the future of art education is to suggest that by directing the field toward civic engagement we can do more to intentionally harness young people’s drive to impact society. Social media use, activism, and critical digital making are areas where artmaking can serve as both a mode of expression and a civic practice. In light of this context, we wonder how art curriculum can both draw on and support this form of civic work. We acknowledge that this work aligns civic practice with a form of social justice–oriented activism (Kuttner, 2015), which is not representative of all civic participation. However, as we hope to demonstrate in this article, social activism is a highly visible form of cultural production and resistance that many young people are exposed to across different media channels. Our work aims to incorporate young people’s engagement with this form of activism to support curriculum development in the field.