Embedding Socially Engaged Pedagogies for The Future of Art and Design Practice

Abstract

This paper describes the shifting approaches to student and teaching experience on the MA Art and Design programmes at the University of Salford, (North West of England), in the wake of the global covid19 pandemic. The paper offers a series of case studies from both staff and students, which seek to employ socially engaged approaches to their practice. Each case study focuses on how individuals navigated their way through delivering projects whilst physically separated from each other and the communities they wished to engage with. The projects discussed were delivered both during and in the wake of the pandemic in the UK – which has left an indelible mark on the discourse students want to raise through their work. Case studies cover themes such as the role of creative technology as a democratized learning tool, visual communication as a powerful enabler of access and inclusivity to culture, and projects at the intersection of art, environment and health. The paper addresses conflicts, creative solutions and any emerging ethics of practice involved as a result of these projects. Ultimately the paper seeks to champion and argue how embedding socially engaged approaches to higher education (HE) pedagogy is crucial, even more so since the pandemic, to support staff and students to create art and design work which is not simply for society but work which is made with society. The paper also questions where and how art and design can exist in the world today.