Community Engagement through the Arts

Slought Foundation, the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies in the faculty of Humanities and Education at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, and the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania are pleased to announce the formation of a working group in Trinidad and Tobago focused on creative methodologies for community-centered knowledge production, engagement, and social change. The first gathering of the working group will take place in Trinidad and Tobago on October 4th and 5th, 2018. It will be facilitated by DADA & Projects, and will consist of site visits and a workshop.

The goal of this two-day event is to identify potential resources and concrete opportunities for creative intervention within the partnering institutions and participating community groups. On the first day, the group will visit community partners in Aripo, La Horquetta and Freeport -- three locations representing rural, peri-urban and urban conditions in Trinidad. These site visits, facilitated by artist Dean Arlen from DADA & Projects, will provide community members and working group participants with opportunities to discuss shared urgencies and priorities, and the potential value to these communities of efforts foregrounding art and social justice. The site visits will also lay the groundwork for the formation of a community action board.

The second day will take the form of a cross-disciplinary workshop at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine drawing on the experience of the site visits. It will enable conversants from the partnering institutions and communities to become more familiar with each other and engage in dialogue about possible programs and curricular collaborations.