Panel discussion: Art and Audience in Canada

For the class of Thursday, February 14th (Happy Valentine's Day).

What a great class! I just love panel discussions. Once Emma, Alex and Matt had presented their talks, the floor was opened to what ended up being a great class discussion (as per usual). Emma scanned across performance art and audience or crowd, Alex explored the gap between the usual art-going audience and the general public's art philosophy, while Matt presented a study that found that "the crowd seems to need reassurance from itself before being able to accept new art". Once they had presented their talks, the floor was opened to what ended up being a great class discussion (as per usual). All of the subjects sent me thinking in an array of different directions, multiplied by the comparison of art and music to which we kept coming back.

Another thing that kept coming back was the need for what we called "art education", and I definitely agree, especially since Matt's mentioned study seems to emphasize that familiarity with art breeds further acceptance of it. However it seems to me important to emphasize the social aspect behind art's popularity, and to add dimension to what might otherwise be a narrow institutional definition of "education".

Last year, I experienced another social and cultural environment by spending the year in Europe. Here, I found that people were generally more knowledgeable of what can still be called "mainstream" or "famous art" such as works from Picasso, Rembrandt, but also the modernists and, to my utmost surprise, even of performance art! All this without necessarily having had classes about art. Rather, as Matt and Alex suggested, the crowd seemed to have become its own motivator to learn about art. Have a few friends casually referring to Degas or Van Gogh? Well you'd probably want to be let in the loop, wouldn't you? Furthermore, the same applied to national and international politics and history.

Social context and play are and always have been powerful learning motivators. Indeed, when have you learned better than being tutored one on one, or when what you're learning is fun? Students learn best when they're actively practicing, and this is instinctively how we learn the very first things in life. During childhood (a time of extraordinarily condensed  learning), we learn by playing. We create a set of rules, design worlds of our own, and explore the boundaries and possibilities of these worlds, breaking the rules when appropriate. Entrepreneurs still use these skills. Lawyers use these skills. Are plumbers not just slightly more sophisticated versions of children playing with connect-a-sticks? Even socialite entertainers play by the rules of their world's books. Point is, everyone still learns and manoeuvres this way. Play encourages risk-taking and builds confidence, both of which have been shown to improve adult chances at success. So why not play still as an adult, then, and make institutional youth education more like play and more like our natural education through social osmosis?

Different understandings of knowledge, demonstrated by a Khan Academy mathematics map. Visit the website for some free learning on this and many more subjects.

My father works at New Brunswick's Department of Education. As a part of the francophone department, the team is small, ideas are shared readily, and changes are perhaps easier to implement. This summer, I was invited to a talk by a retiring senior member of the department, who has basically never stopped learning, and is also an amazing teaching. What a powerful combination! A respected hard worker deeply integrated into the social fabric of the department, he opened the minds of coworkers as he spoke positively of sustainability, (disguised) feminism, and new methods of learning. What I got out of it and what I would like to share with others of my generation, was the assertion that the world, when you look at the right places, is ready and indeed thirsty for the changes we so dearly wish to see. What we need to do is to back it up with researched knowledge and our enthusiasm for new technologies we've created.

Since this summer, I often get (non-confidential) emails being circulated from the department about innovative ideas, new technologies or pressing sustainable information and solutions. What I've noticed from these emails is that there is a lot of talk about re-defining "education". I recently found this playlist, and was very pleasantly surprised to see that I had been previously been introduced to much of its speakers by the mentioned emails. In case you zoned out, I'll mention it again: The older generation is listening, and even innovating. Have a look for yourself at this TEDtalk playlist on re-imagining education , or check out my favourite out of them all here below by the founder of the Khan Academy Salman Khan.

If we want change in the educational institutions, it isn't that far away from reality. There are receptive people working in positions of influence. To me, this Canadian Art History class has been a prime example of this, and I can recount other countless examples of great receptive educators. Maybe we only need to speak up.