This years graduating students worked alongside people from across generations with profound and multiple learning disabilities, challenging behaviour and complex communication needs. The artist practitioners have applied their skills for the purpose of creative expression and inclusion within the broader aspects of the arts world and society at large. Each artist practitioner produced a book that captured their practice-based research, including recommendations to others on how to apply the research outcomes for maximum impact.

Inclusive Arts Practice may be defined as follows: Providing creative opportunities between marginalised and non-marginalised people through artistic collaboration and facilitation for the purpose of challenging existing barriers and promoting social change.

A key feature of Inclusive arts practice research is that it is mutually beneficial, supporting knowledge creation and exchange rather than knowledge transfer.  This places the artist practitioner in the more radical role of collaborator or framework holder/facilitator, thereby proposing a shift away from the more traditional notion of ‘worthy works’

‘Arts-based inquiry is uniquely positioned as a methodology for radical, ethical and revolutionary research that is futuristic, socially responsible, and useful in addressing social inequities’. (Finley, 2009)

All students on this course have the unique opportunity to work alongside the established learning disabled Rocket Artists Group in supported practice based sessions.  See the Rocket Artists work at www.rocketartist.co.uk

Alice Fox
Course Leader

For further details and how to apply to the MA Inclusive Arts Practice course contact: Liz Adams, email: E.Adams@brighton.ac.uk Tel: 01273 643097
For information of the course: www.brighton.ac.uk/arts

To see examples of student work