Research in Cultural Education – 16th Network Conference at Medical School Hamburg

Cultural Education and Aesthetic Practice are – in research, teaching, and practice – directly embedded in societal contexts. This means they are confronted, both in everyday interactions and within organizational and institutional frameworks of professional action, with the diverse crises of our time: massive political, ecological, economic, cultural, and technological upheavals. These crises generate uncertainties, resistance, and polarization, along with tendencies toward de-democratization and political radicalization, as well as the emergence of social and violent conflicts. Such developments pose major challenges for the various fields of Cultural Education, including social work, cultural work, media education, child and youth work, formal education, socio-culture, adult education, cultural geragogy, and more.

The often very threatening crises unfolding on multiple levels are shifting perspectives and discourses within Cultural Education. They call on us to critically question existing assumptions, convictions, theories, and concepts, and to further develop them toward new pathways of democratic engagement, artistically participatory approaches, and social inclusion—opening up spaces for social and cultural agency, both in the everyday lives of participants and in the contexts of research, teaching, and professional practice.

The 16th Conference of the Cultural Education Research Network asks: To what extent does a radical, resistant, and contentious self-understanding of Cultural Education contribute to a new “art of societal transformation” (Schneidewind 2018)? What foundations are required for this, and what consequences follow for cultural and aesthetic educational practices? What implications and limitations do guiding concepts of Cultural Education have for an active stance against discrimination, polarization, and radicalization? How do responsibility for action and the potential of Cultural Education as an actor in cultural and social transformation manifest themselves? In short: how radical, resistant, and contentious do we want—and should we want—to be in our artistic, educational, aesthetic, and social research, teaching, and practice?

Contribution by Hannah Goebel
Hannah Goebel will present insights from the Interreg BSR project “Arts on Prescription / Kunst auf Rezept in the Baltic Sea Region” (2023–2025). Building on the WHO’s 2019 report on the role of the arts for health (Fancourt & Finn 2019), which synthesized evidence from over 900 studies, this project pilots and evaluates the Arts on Prescription approach in Bremen. Here, medical and psychological practitioners, as well as counseling centers, issued “arts prescriptions” to people experiencing psychological distress, enabling them to participate free of charge in art courses at the Bremen Adult Education Center (vhs). The program combined structured art courses with a dedicated reflection group, allowing participants to share experiences and explore the impact on their well-being.

Initial evaluation results highlight the dual significance of creative engagement and the social dimension of the program. Arts on Prescription fosters cultural participation and opens up access to art and culture for people who might otherwise remain excluded, positioning the arts as a valuable resource for health and inclusion. While offering innovative possibilities for health promotion and service provision in the healthcare sector, the approach also provides the cultural sector with new impulses in the areas of diversity and inclusion.

Hannah Goebel is a psychologist (B.Sc.) and social scientist (M.A.) with extensive experience at the intersection of cultural education and health promotion. She currently leads the “Arts on Prescriptionin the Baltic Sea Region” project at Bremen Adult Education Center (vhs).

See here the full programme.