Art as a tool for a social development - A study on: “how working with arts can change and improve a social situation”.

Written By: Corinne Johnson
La Casa Amarilla – Barcelona, Spain

Translated from Spanish by: Isabel Higuera



The Art as a tool for a Social Development


1. Introduction

Development field is normally approached by the “basic necessities”, which are considered, of course, as vital. But, as a consequence, it is often forget that also there are other routes of development, like for example through the culture and the arts.

It is exist a consensus considering culture as a recognition paper in the social development but to determine and to explain the exact role and to reinforce it with arguments is not always so easy.

Already in 1945, with the creation of the United Nations for the Education, Science and the Culture (UNESCO) one was interested in the subject of the culture in the development process and went every time having more importance. It has been recognized that culture is part of development and that economic, scientific and technological growth can be reached without having to sacrifice cultural identities. Also each country can have several aspects that can help the economic and social development, must itself discover and work on it.In this work all can help, from governments to smaller NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organization).

Member countries have reaffirmed culture as an integral component of the development processes and democratization of the region. Today the subject of the culture shares its place with others of equal relevance, harmonizing the cultural progress with the economic and social development.

Culture and arts have a role in the development, and culture and media have gained more attention in “the war against poverty” in the last years, it increases the possibility of being able to influence and to participate in society, to feel like part of the society.

This work is an initiative of La casa Amarilla, a cultural association, an NGO active in Barcelona city. La casa Amarilla works with cultural projects in cooperation with different organizations with the fundamental idea of using the art as a tool for Social Development, creating and participating in the art area can provoke changes on social circumstances. Raquel Debart, the founder of the association, explains which first come great of the ONG’s that constructs schools and educates the children, give to food and clothes them etc. but, what happens later? People also need the opportunity to create, to participate and to be part of culture, to express themselves in different ways. That process also can be part not only developing people in an individual plan but also developing their social situation.


2. Intention

The main intention of this work is to bring to light the role of the culture in the social development, to show projects, organizations etc. who have managed to make the situation of artists better.


3. Why the art can be a tool of development

Culture, containing all forms of art, (plastic arts, dance, theater, circus, music etc.) it is connected to the economic, social and democratic development.What we're trying to say is that the development is not only a component related to the economic development to improve the situation but that is a mixture of the mentioned fields. Connected, it is a process where the different fields affect one another.

At the beginning of the Eighties it was discovered after examining the deficiencies of the development work that the economic and social development without the culture was like "development without soul".

UNESCO said that man is the principle and the aim of the development and that it is essential "to humanize development", the last aim is the person.



4. The art and the dimension of the social and democratic development

Cultural and artistic activities are often the result of the work of an organization which has its roots in the civil society or the communities. Civil society is like a network of organizations and institutions that have capacity to organize and to use in public life and have a voice in processes of decisions.

The result is on one hand to create norms and values, those values tie communities and create connections between different groups in the society something that can be called unity. The civil society also has an important role in the process of initiatives and social movements.

Art proposes a democratic and inclusive structure naturally, where the differences of sort, culture and socioeconomic level erased, and rescue values like the work in equipment, solidarity and the reciprocity.”

Another point of view of social development is that the arts is very are related to creativity, creativity is something essential not only in the work of creation. but also in being able to solve problems, something that is used in the daily life. Creativity is used in all fields of society and industry.

Creativity is a knowledge and this as well turns out in which people can activate their knowledge to find a job, to help others, to create something on their own. This also is a part of the process of the development, that activates people to contribute to the society, because the development of a country or a community cannot be obtained without people.

UNESCO also sees creativity like a great component in spiritual life and in economic and material life of people. In order to create interest in young people and to give them training UNESCO is campaigning to introduce education of arts in the schools.

Art and culture shows the activities of the artists and how they interpret the society and its existence, this is called cultural identity. It is seen that cultural identity increases the sensation of dignity and makes it possible, and allow participation. From century XIX anthropologists have studied how the cultures were organized to give identity, to affirm and to renew it in the societies.

All we need is something says that we belong to a culture or nationality, something that makes us feel united with others and that also we identified it as a part of our being, this sensation create wanting to be part of society and contributing to its good.



5. The children and young people in this process

The nowadays young people generation is greater than ever, almost half of the world-wide population; 3000 million have less than 25 years and approximately fifth of the world-wide population between 15 and 24 years. An alarming factor nevertheless, is that in the Declaration of the Millennium of the United Nations the adolescents are not mentioned and are almost invisible in the Objectives of Development of the Millennium.

It already seems a “cliché”, something that totally lost its sense but the children and young people are the future! It is important to work for the social inclusion of the young people, so that they have knowledge sufficient to be able to obtain a work more ahead. As one is going away to see in examples later the cultural work that is made improvement at the same time lives and contributes to improve the social situation. The results of the social cultural work are more visible in Third World Countries where there are more children and young people living in difficult situations, more poverty and less social security, but it is not to forget that this work also exists in developed countries.

How can societies help young people, make use of them, how to assure their economic participation and its activity in the civil society?
If an opportunity occurs to young people to express themselves, they will give results. There is much potential with this generation of young people today, in spite of the inequalities are more conscientious of the present world, the policy and the conflicts that the previous generations, they live the multiculturality and are more sources of intelligence than before. Minds and attitudes of children and adolescents are still forming, absorbing information and knowledge, needed for their own good and being able to participate more in development of their country access to information and services.

Young people want to participate in civil society according to the Commission of Culture and Development, but of a way that less is imposed, related to concrete subjects, they want to have a role in the process to make decisions. The challenge is to diminish the inequality, the education must include to “the non approachable ones”. Here when it appears to organizations and associations of the civil society, to give children and young people a possibility of learning and an opportunity of being integrated in society through its activities since situations of poverty or marginality make them unable pay for school.



6. Art and economical development

In order to reduce poverty, it is not sufficient only to deliver economical efforts, because causes of the problem are also social, cultural, civic and political. If the support to culture according to the human rights and has approach in making participation of people possible in their community there are possibilities for changes that they can be reflected in a reduction of poverty.

The real economic aspect, the arts and their contribution to the society are the work production and sale or spectacles, so it has an important part in the economic sphere, also integrated in the sphere of the tourism (concerts, spectacles etc. to promote the country or the city to the tourists).

The important thing is to create structures and institutions to protect creators rights and producers and to give the opportunity to develop their cultural industries that can compete with others. Artists who sell their works or practice their form of art can obtain more material resources as a pay.

In Brazil the Ministry of Culture has started up a program to offer to craftsmen and local craftswomen the possibility of forming in basic knowledge of management, of learning to select and of professionalizing its products and of opening themselves to markets to obtain a decent benefit. Social cohesion of craftsmen with the common project has been obtained, it has rescued offices that help to preserve the “matogrosense” culture and in addition the quality to life of the population has increased.

What the state has chosen to do is to professionalize art and to help in that way to its artists and the community.What they have done in Brazil is to contribute to the economic development of the community through the arts. World Bank has between its primary targets for aid through the right culture that provides new opportunities to poor communities letting them being able to generate income from its own culture.

In many countries in Africa there is a tradition to produce crafts of all type, musical jewels, baskets, instruments and leather objects, using local raw material. The art works have a social and economic meaning and are often young, women and marginalized people those that benefit. The fast increase of people who work in the sector and the expansion of the national and international markets shows that there is much potential in that area and since consequence are many associations in the countries that have arisen to offer small credits, help to develop products and with marketing. In the field of cooperation for international development the crafts are like a strong element of sustainable development.


7. The art and the poverty

People are used to resign material properties and to make significant sacrifices to be able to participate in cultural activities, to maintain social contacts and also to feel emotional and physical security that the activities offer.Although the activities are important for the cultural identity that as already has been seen, and that includes an economic part, the connection between the poverty reduction and the arts are recognized.

Often it is seen that poor people like the primary target of the efforts that becomes by the reduction of the poverty but with civil society activities and their institutions poor people are considered capital and collaborators in the development process.

As we have seen and discover along the document, arts also can affect the reduction of the poverty, not in giant plan like a cancellation of a national debt, but in simple plan. An NGO or an association that educates a person in arts of music giving him the opportunity to gain and pay with its knowledge, that helps its private economy being considered as a poverty reduction.

“The problem” is that result is not of great amount for humanity or that result is not seen directly and for that reason it has not a direct attention to relationship between arts and sufficient reduction of poverty.

Cultural activities and cultural identity that takes place have a stabilizing effect in communities and alleviate the psychological stress that the poverty produces. Also maintains “alive” the spiritual area of people.


8. Relationship between art/culture and media communication

In that area it is that onething can provide people with information that soon can turn knowledge.

Media ones makes participation possible of people in society and serves as platform for discussion and debates, in addition it acts like a supervisor in the society, reporting of the corruption, injustices etc., that it can as well cause preoccupation and participation between people in society that can be in a change of public attitude.

In order to spread arts, exhibitions, discs of music etc. etc. and also to artists along media (radio, press, Internet) are the greater tool because they can reach too much people in different parts from the country and the world.

It is like a giant forum that transmits information, songs, paintings, organizations, poems and at the same time ideas, knowledge, counting on the present situation. It is not only dance or songs which transmits but something deeper. A space is created to communicate its message for artists and others to receive and to think and in the end to act. Media is used to spread “voices”.

Changing social situations, the result can have a greater impact if media can be used. Considering the different areas from development the one of the economic one enters here also.

If an artist can use the media to spread his songs also can sell more, an artist of circus attracts more people to the spectacles and a musician can sell more discs, which improves the economic situation of the artist who also develops the economy of the community.

The problem is that in all countries media does not work in this way, a requirement is that media is free and that is freedom of expression and an obstacle is often the access to media, which it depends on the economic level of people.



9. Conclusion and final contemplations

• Work with artistic and cultural activities can have as an aim development of people in individual plan, development of communities and countries.
• The effect can be democratic, social and economic, as all type of development is connected. Several organizations have reaffirmed it and they have noticed an increase of organizations who work in that area and that argument is gaining more recognition.
• Children and young people are the group that more needs the possibility of participating in that type of development, as they are a so great part of the present population and being the future it is not to ignore them.
• Activities animate to an active participation, stimulating curiosity and creativity, the involved people can also share knowledge “one with the other” but also outside interchanging activity and creations.
• Finally Arts educate and award knowledge that can be used nowadays and through the rest of our life and also can be used it to educate and form others. It is not only knowledge related to artistic terms but also to requisites of respect, responsibility as citizens.
• The role of the NGO’s, associations, foundations etc. is to act like a moving body that starts up all type of activity, have a role in civil society, initiating processes “from underneath”, being the Non Governmental Actor of Development, also have a voice in processes of decisions, they create norms and values and they help and they educate people.
• With its work they contribute in several ways, from giving more quality of life to a boy of the street to obtaining a political change of development in a community, the aims are thus more quality of life, less poverty, more education/knowledge and more conscience.
• Their work needs to be more recognized and must have more support because without support work will be more difficult and would reach less people.
• Work is recognized, but not in the scale that would have to be, as the development is complicated would be necessary to accept different ways to develop, to apply new theories and methods.

How it is possible that with so many organizations known, that they support to the argument of which the arts transform, like the World Bank, UNESCO, ASDI, United Hands, NGO’s that have considering that art can transform and culture is more than significant to development that already has still not been able to emphasize clearly, and once and for all, that this work is necessary?

It can be that still we are in such thoughts of which what an activity has been considered playful (the arts) cannot make political and/or social a difference?

It can be that this thought is very deeply rooted in people and who is going to take time and work before it is going away to recognize importance of cultural and social and cultural work, but is working and removing results so walking by the correct way.


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