Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art: The British Community Arts Movement

Based on the words and experiences of the people involved, this open access book tells the story of the community arts movement in the UK, and, through a series of essays, assesses its influence on present day participatory arts practices.Part I offers the first comprehensive account of the movement, its history, rationale and modes of working in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; Part II brings the work up to the present, through a scholarly assessment of its influence on contemporary practice that considers the role of technologies and networks, training, funding, commissioning and curating socially engaged art today. The community arts movement was a well-known but little understood and largely undocumented creative revolution that began as part of the counter-cultural scene in the late 1960s.A wide range of art forms were developed, including large processions with floats and giant puppets, shadow puppet shows, murals and public art, events on adventure playgrounds and