Arts in Health, also known as Arts for Health, is an umbrella term used to describe the domain of using the arts to enhance our (mental) health and well-being. It involves a heterogeneous range of professionals who use the arts in various ways, with different goals and outcomes. The practices of these professionals can be placed on a continuum based on the variety of goals and outcomes, ranging from promoting social connection or well-being to treating (mental) health conditions. Recent discussions in the Netherlands have raised questions about the position of creative arts therapists on this continuum. This opinion paper addresses this issue by providing a brief overview of the development of the profession of creative arts therapists, the working areas of creative arts therapists and the growing evidence base of creative arts therapeutic interventions. The practices of creative arts therapists are positioned on the continuum, where the emphasis on and accountability for the clients’ (mental) health increases and evidence-informed use of the arts within a more clearly delineated and legally safeguarded professional framework are present. Knowing where the practices of creative arts therapists are placed can assist in identifying when to choose creative arts therapists, other professionals combining arts and healthcare, or a combination of professionals.
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The road to science for the arts therapies requires research on the full breadths of the spectrum, from systematic case studies to RCTs. It is important that arts therapists and arts therapeutic researchers reflect on the typical characteristics of each research paradigm, research type and research method and select what is appropriate with regard to the particular research question. Questions rather differ. Finding out whether a certain intervention has a particular effect with a large group of clients differs from wanting to know which change occurs at which moment by which interventions in the treatment of an individual client. Research in practice remains close to questions encountered by arts therapists in their daily practice. It concerns questions arts therapists have about their lived experience of acting due to the complexity and variability of practice. By carrying out research in practice that links up with those questions, evidence evolves; evidence that enables the professional to proceed and that makes explicit what often remains implicit and unsaid. What is explicit can be communicated, can be criticised and tested. The professional himself does the road to science of the profession. The investment in professionals’ research in practice is the motor of knowledge-productivity that bridges the theory-practice gap. Research in the arts therapies should lead to ‘knowledge’ in which the ‘art’, nor the ‘subject’ of therapist and client have been lost.
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Different unexpected combinations between industry, local government, private participants, educational institutes and artists resulted past year in challenging opportunities for transitions in urban and rural areas. The power of art with the perspective of the artist approaching challenges evokes a chain of thoughts and (cascading) events, affecting systems. This results not only in innovative sustainable social &industrial products but also in change of systems. Panarchy is the paradigm of transition and change (Holling). Panarchy is interaction of countless interconnected and nested complex adaptive systems. Panarchy is the paradigm where small actions can have major effects for good or worse. It is to expect the unexpected. Panarchy holds the promise of positively changing the anthropocene. By being prepared we can anticipate upon unexpected emerging phenomena which can be used as leverage for creating change. SDG-labs are the environment where we can experiment and create new resilient concepts for adaptation to the antropocene. SDG-Labs have two aspects, the first is creation of concepts for change within the lab-setting, its content; the second is the process of organisation of the lab within its environmental and societal context. The Lab itself can be regarded as a complex adaptive system while the organisation of the SDG-Lab is within panarchy, acting on multiple levels and on different scales. Both faces, content and context, of the SDG lab have their own emerging properties. For facilitation of the SDG-lab we organised workshops where creative methods based upon TRIZ ("Theory of inventive problem solving") and CPS (Creative Problem Solving) were applied. TRIZ makes use of pre-established thinking patterns and proven abstract solutions to sets of abstract problems. TRIZ provides a toolbox for solving complex (wicked) problems. TRIZ uses the heuristics of intrinsic technological and societal evolution once a concept emerges. CPS is used for application of the TRIZ toolbox, by making concrete problems abstract and abstract solutions, concrete. TRIZ and CPS makes use of analytical and design thinking. Results of these workshops are emerged pre-concepts which have the potential to create change. Contextual settings of the SDG-lab determine its rate of success. Many good ideas perish in the “valley of death”, before they can realise their full potential. The contextual setting determines acceptance and hence increases probability of idea realisation. The action of organising SDG-labs generates curiosity, enthusiasm, resistance and other emotions with people and organisations. This lead to disturbances in panarchy, which is rendered in emerging opportunities that can be seized by imaginative people. Sarasvathy and Simon (2000) coined for this approach the concept of effectuation as an entrepreneurial principle for seizing opportunities which emerge from entrepreneurial actions in contrast to causation where managerial thinking obscures seeing opportunities. Effectuation is actor dependent where given specific means, choice of effect is driven by characteristics of the actor and his or her ability to discover and use contingencies. This approach is also recognised in innovation theory where the concept of “exaptation” is explored. Exaptation is the attribution of a new functionality to an existing artefact (or organization, scientific achievement, or
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These are hard days for companies: they have to survive in a market that has been hit by a financial crisis. Many countries in Europe have severe problems trying to overcome this financial crisis. The main remedy applied by governments is to cut back on expenditure, but on the other hand it is said that it is important for a country, and especially for companies, to invest in innovation. These innovations should lead to innovative products that will lead to profitability turnovers for these companies and, as a consequence, improve the economic conditions in a country. Universities provide students with engineering competences, like develop innovation, with which they can show a higher degree of ability to answer complex questions such as how to become players in the market again. Teaching students to become more innovative engineers, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Department of Engineering, has designed a curriculum in which students are educated in the competence innovation. An important element in the process of teaching innovation to students is the approach of inquiring into possibilities of patents. In the second semester of the first year, students can decide to join an innovative project called: ‘The invention project’. The basis of this project is that students are given the opportunity to create their own invention and with their previously acquired knowledge and skills they design, calculate, prototype and present their invention. In a research project, the experiences of students in this Invention Project have been analysed. The goal of this study was to understand what the success factors are for such a project. The basis of this inquiry is a questionnaire to identify the opinions of students. The research was carried out in the spring semester of 2012. In total 31 students were involved in this research. The results show that there was a high degree of student satisfaction about the Invention Project focused on innovation development. Success factors for this project in the first year of the curriculum were seen: 1 to work on own inventions, 2 development of student’s perception of the total product creation process and 3 to make students see the relevance of contacts with real professionals from industry and from the patent office in their own project. Improvements can be made by: 1 helping students more during the creativity stage in the project and 2 to coach them more on the aspect of engineering a successful invention of which they can be proud. This Invention project is an interesting with which collaborations with other universities can be set up.
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In line, online, off the grid contributes to the discussions on evaluation of doctoral projects in the arts. The title of the book refers to the challenging variety of artistic research projects. Some projects are easily in line with the degree requirements, whereas others might include elements that complicate the evaluation process both conceptually and practically: unstable online spaces, ephemeral processes, or events realised in remote locations, completely off the grid. The book embraces this challenging but also desirable variety through four cases and a selection of invited reflections. The mix of Finnish and English in this book reminds the reader of the co-existence of several modes of articulation that all parties involved need to deal with.
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This book – Complexity and Territorial Development – tells the story of how academic staff and students at the Van Hall Larenstein university of applied sciences deal with complexity and planning in education and research. It is intended for everyone who is involved in complex projects, but in particular for current and future students at the university who will be trained in how to handle complex projects. In this book we want to show why planning has become complex, what theories about this subject are relevant, and how this fits in with the practical experience of staff and students.
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What is the role of Teachers of English in Bilingual Streams (TEBs)? What challenges and opportunities are there for English teachers in their own lessons or when they collaborate with subject teachers? And how could teacher education prepare English teachers for this context? This publication is for English teachers, subject teachers, bilingual stream coordinators, teachereducators and others who would like to know more about the role English teachers can play in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) context.The publication presents information, resources, and suggestions for teacher development with CLIL teams and Teachers of English in Bilingual Streams based on my PhD research. The research explored what it means to be a teacher of the target language in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) context.
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This book seeks to communicate what we learned, what I learned, in the hope that readers (particularly musicians in training) can find ways to learn for themselves as they challenge themselves to try new, and different, things.
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From the article: Abstract. This exploratory and conceptual article sets out to research what arguments and possibilities for experimentation in construction exists and if experimentation can contribute towards more innovative construction as a whole. Traditional, -western- construction is very conservative and regional, often following a traditional and linear design process, which focuses on front-loaded cost savings and repetitive efficiency, rather than securing market position through innovation. Thus becoming a hindrance for the development of the sector as a whole. Exploring the effects of using the, in other design-sectors commonly and successfully practiced, “four-phased iterative method” in architectural construction could be the start of transforming the conservative construction industry towards a more innovative construction industry. The goal of this research is to find whether the proposed strategy would indeed result in a higher learning curve and more innovation during the - architectural- process. Preliminary research indicates that there is argumentation for a more experimental approach to construction.
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The term crowdsourcing was introduced by Jeff Howe (2006). It is the act of a company or organisation to take a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined, and usually large, network of people in the form of an open call. As communication tools to organize work have become widely available, and a well-educated global work force has come online, crowdsourcing has become an increasingly important mechanism to organize work. We discuss a categorisation of crowdsourcing, its costs and benefits and several examples. The use of crowdsourcing begins with the question which strategic goal an organisation wants to achieve, and whether the benefits outweigh the costs. We give some recommendations for adopting crowdsourcing. This usually requires a certain amount of restructuring of existing workflows and a willingness to become more open which may or may not be a welcome side effect.
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