Arts education and the wider community

Abstract

A central tenet of this book is that arts education is sometimes seen narrowly, and inappropriately, as taking place only in schools without embracing the importance of partnership, community projects and adult education. This section shows aspects of the breadth of the field of arts education. The accounts here provide implicit evidence that the traditional distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic justification for the arts (discussed elsewhere in this book) is a false dichotomy. It is not helpful to set up a contrast between an intrinsic, formalist 'pure', 'art for art's sake' view and one that sees the arts used for specific purposes. A distinction of that kind does not do justice to t..