Cultivating the Arts in Education and Therapy

"The educational constituency for the arts is rapidly expanding beyond the conventional school setting to include the wider community. Cultivating the Arts in Education and Therapy is a much needed textbook for courses in the training of arts teachers, arts therapists and community artists. Malcolm Ross brings together the latest research on human empathy and creativity to reposition the arts as central to the effective initiation and management of change in contemporary society. The book integrates traditional Chinese Five Element Theory, also known as The Five Phases of Change, with contemporary Western psychological and cultural studies, to form a new Syncretic Model of creative artistic practice. Ross sets empathy and authenticity at the heart of thecurriculum not just the arts curriculum but the whole curriculum. The Syncretic Model is explored and validated through an analysis of interviews with practising, successful artists, and in a comprehensive review of the latest neuro-scientific research into human consciousness and emotion. Finally, drawing upon his extensive experience the author offers practical help in using the Syncretic Model to educational and therapy professionals working and training in the arts.For training and practising arts therapists the book will supply a much needed comprehensive rationale at a time when the need for a new research and theoretical underpinning of practice is recognised to be urgent. With the demand for their services growing and pressure to demonstrate effectiveness mounting, the arts therapy community is looking to build bridges between the different therapies and across national boundaries. This book offers a coherent, co-ordinating framework for a comprehensive reflective practice"--

Malcolm Ross is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK.