Outside the Lecture Hall: Community Engagement in the Art History Curriculum

Research shows that community-based service-learning projects improve student outcomes on assessments of critical thinking, communication, civic responsibility, and global understanding (Robinson and Prentice, 2010). In addition to clear benefits to student learning, such projects can help community arts organizations satisfy unmet needs and build relationships with young audiences. While the journal Art History Pedagogy & Practice offers a few excellent essays on community-engaged art history (Borland and Siddons, 2018; Kingsley 2019), most pedagogy conversations focus on the classroom and not the community. This panel will disseminate adaptable models for community-based art history projects. We ask: How do we build community-engaged art history projects? How do they support our existing learning outcomes? How do we ensure that community-based art history is done ethically?

We invite short, pragmatic seven-minute talks outlining one art history project used to foster student-community engagement. Topics could include, but are not limited to: Community-Based Learning, museum-university partnerships, K-12 student engagement programs, student-led public art tours, oral history or interview projects, art history as social practice, and service learning projects. Presenters are also encouraged to address both how to fund these projects and how to assess their efficacy.