Abstract

Artist-teachers can inspire diverse audiences to adopt innovative teaching practices through artist talks fueled by a social justice and awareness-raising agenda. This article presents ways to incorporate social problematics like mass displacement and pressing international immigration policies into diverse art classrooms and unconventional pedagogical platforms (in this case, through artist talks). It focuses on an artist talk given in collaboration with the Immigrant Workers Centre, a non-profit organization of newly arrived immigrants and refugees located in Montreal, Canada, and explores how the artist-talk platform reaches communities outside the traditional classroom and creates space for an exchange of ideas, artistic intervention, and learning from diverse participants. Additionally, I discuss my observations on potential pedagogical exchanges based on experiences from the event, concluding by further exploring the relevance and potential development in personal artistic and teaching practices for and with this specific community.

Keywords: artist talks, social justice, pedagogical platforms, diverse audiences

How to Cite:

Garcia-Fialdini, A., (2018) “Educating Diversely: The Artist Talk Platform”, Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education 35(1), 113-131. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jcrae.4866