No description available.

<p> This dissertation explains and highlights a scholar-artist-practitioner research model that blends existing theories rooted in social constructionist, narrative, and creative arts therapies with cutting edge digital art practices that better serve the needs of transition age youth (TAY) within the foster care system. This dissertation is an accumulation of work that traverses the fields of child welfare, mental health, and digital media learning. Two research questions are answered in this dissertation (a) What does a digital artistic intervention look like? and (b) How can digital media art be used in therapeutic group sessions with TAY?</p><p> This dissertation draws on my background in behavioral health with youth, work as a videographer and my experience in the realm of hip-hop culture as a disc jockey (DJ). Throughout this dissertation an emphasis is placed on the idea and application of <i>remixing.</i> DJs use remixing as a technique of expression, taking existing songs and mixing them up (blending, cutting, fading, and scratching) to create something new and powerful in return. This dissertation uses the word <i>remix</i> as a metaphor for therapeutic techniques that play with the idea of narrative transformation.</p><p> In particular, I demonstrate how to use iPad applications and a process called digital storytelling (mixing audio and video formats) for the purpose of evoking a client&rsquo;s personal story construction and story transformation through a remix process. Two underlying themes comprise the framework of this dissertation: (a) the construction of narratives and (b) the remix (or creative transformation) of narratives using various forms of digital media.</p><p> The literature review discusses the disciplines of art therapy, expressive arts therapy, narrative therapy, and digital media art and digital art therapy. I also discuss a portion of the foster care system called TAY, and finally I discuss how personal stories and belief systems are subjectively created but more importantly remixed or recreated using the strategies highlighted in this study. The methodology of this dissertation is broken down into three sections: a pilot study, a case study, and a vignette, which display how digital media art is used as a therapeutic intervention.</p>

<p> In Taiwan&rsquo;s experimental theatre, the &ldquo;Grotowski phenomenon&rdquo; is too prominent to be ignored. The &ldquo;Grotowski method,&rdquo; as it is called in Taiwan, has nurtured a generation of experimental theatre workers ever since the mid-1980s. In this dissertation I will investigate the entire picture of how the Grotowski-to-Taiwan transmission began. This investigation begins with the American encounter between the Polish exile and two Taiwanese overseas students in the Objective Drama Program at U.C. Irvine in 1985 &ndash; and what subsequently developed from that encounter in the context of Taiwan&rsquo;s Little Theatre Movement and New Age Movement. Their encounter is not simply a manifestation of Western cultural hegemony. Grotowski&rsquo;s physical training fills a cultural need in Taiwan, a place in which the grand narrative of the Great China ideology was dissolving and liberation of both language and body was beginning in earnest. Taiwan&rsquo;s liberal religious and spiritual environment gave Grotowski&rsquo;s post-theatrical work, particularly the &ldquo;inner aspect&rdquo; of his work, a promised land full of fertile ground. And it was upon this fertile ground that the seeds of Grotowski&rsquo;s ideas fell, with time took root, grew vigorously and finally bloomed in a way that Grotowski could never have imagined.</p>

No description available.

No description available.

<p> As the political and economic landscape of the United States shifts in coming years, American society&rsquo;s perception of the arts will likely change as well. Arts advocates must be ready to adapt their arguments for arts&rsquo; value to changing societal priorities. This paper summarizes the two leading frameworks for current arts advocacy arguments: extrinsic benefits and intrinsic benefits. The paper then introduces practical benefits, a pragmatic third framework for arts advocacy that focuses on skills gained through the creation of collaborative art that prepare participants for careers in the creative class, as defined by Richard Florida. The paper uses student-run theatre organizations on college campuses as incubators and case studies for these benefits, using original ethnographic research and surveys to develop assessment protocols for these benefits, with the intention of growing their applicability to larger and more varied arts organizations.</p>

To begin with, the role of theatre, and especially popular theatre, is contextualised within the theory of art and society and the debate about 'popular' and 'mass' culture. The thesis attempts to reassess the possibilities for positive and dynamic relations between audience and theatre within this context, through an investigation of some actual relationships between them. What is defined as 'mainstream' theatre is the basis of the research. The three major productions studied are A Day in the Death of Joe Egg by Peter Nichols, Bloody Poetry by Howard Brenton, and Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. Qualitative research on audience responses for each play resulted in 37 in-depth interviews. A chapter is devoted to the problem of methodology for such a qualitative study; in particular, to the lack of any model method for analysis. The interview material is presented and discussed play by play. Initially, a broad 'consensus' view of each play, provides a background to the description and analysis of responses. Analysis is carried out under the headings of different 'cultural profiles', determined in relation to the play as 'accordant', 'discordant' or 'neutral' in orientation. The influences of such cultural profiles are shown in some cases to predetermine the perceived meaning or effect of the play, independently of the executants' intentions. Some responses are more readily understood as determined most importantly by a personal 'inner history', which can be even more resilient to change. Despite the predominance of habitual notions, it is found that particular kinds of theatrical technique are more successful than others in overriding biases corresponding to cultural profile. This is especially true of theatricality which raises the emotional identification of respondents with characters or events on stage without mobilising stereotypes. Findings indicate the importance of the cultural profile and personal history of audiences in any theory of the theatre's social function. The innate conservatism which characterises cultural profiles is seen to be a crucial factor. Conclusions suggest a need for models which do not rely on preconceptions or hidden assumptions about audience response. In addition, the emphasis which emerges on the autonomy of audience as critic and creator raises questions about the function and aspirations of certain types of theatre.

<p> The aim of this project is to explore throughout the course of the period between 1976 to 1986 the evolution of punk and postpunk music in Britain, and how patterns of change occurred over time through examining the music and historical events that inspired it through regional, gendered, and political lenses. The project involves the analysis of how musicians were able to transcend the socio-cultural constructs and prejudices of their region, class, or gender through the transformative nature of punk music and its subset, postpunk; both through performativity and the smashing of Britain&rsquo;s preoccupation with the collective memory of Empire that was more representative of being romanticized than the actual historical reality. The project involves the use of song analysis, album covers, artwork, and videos to dissect how these brazen musical genres allowed marginalized new voices to be heard in postwar Britain as a whole.</p>

In the internship proposal submitted prior to the active internship, the area of emphasis was specified as being in the Marketing Department at the Saenger Performing Arts Center. The primary objective set forth for the intern was to act as advertising representative for Playbill -- the company under contract with the Saenger that produces and publishes the program for all of the subscription events -- and to devise a marketing strategy targeted at increasing and soliciting greater participation of businesses in program advertising. Additionally, the intern proposed to investigate the possibility of including other arts organizations in a unified effort to most profitably utilize the services of Playbill. Tasks that would accompany this effort would include public relations with advertising agencies, direct communication with representatives from Playbill, and continual interaction with the press agents of the production companies. A secondary objective of the initial internship proposal set forth the intern's involvement with the ongoing, in-house marketing effort. This was to have encompassed participation in the group sales campaign and the corporate sponsorship campaign.

<p> Ideally, undergraduates view their elective courses in general education curriculums as having value. Unfortunately, scant research exists on the value of theatre arts appreciation courses. This study addressed that void through hermeneutical exploration of experiences of a purposeful sample of seven students enrolled in theatre arts appreciation courses. Two research questions guided this study: &ldquo;For undergraduate students taking a general education theatre arts appreciation elective, what experience(s) allowed the course to transcend from perfunctory to inspirational?&rdquo; and &ldquo;To what degree did taking a general education theatre arts appreciation elective impact the students&rsquo; perception of their overall higher education experience?&rdquo; Methodologically, hermeneutic phenomenology was used to uncover data through conversational interviews with undergraduates. The works of Nakkula and Ravitch (1998), Seidman (2006), and Van Manen (1990) provided a foundation for data collection and analysis. </p><p> The findings of the study are represented through a one-act play to (re)present educational research that &ldquo;bring[s] the text to life in ways that the reading of it could not&rdquo; (Bagley &amp; Cancienne, 2002, p. 7) and to treat research participants as more than just &ldquo;text to be read or interpreted&rdquo; (Moustakas, 1994, p. 19). Profiles of the seven subjects were created to allow the reader to become more familiar and engaged with the participants. From the words and conversations of those participants, I amalgamated four characters, with a fifth, the facilitator, serving as the researcher&rsquo;s voice. </p><p> The results of this study suggest that students entered passively into their theatre arts appreciation course, engaged with it through discussions with students and the professor, and came out with the trajectory of their life changed. The findings suggest that becoming life-ready is a phenomenon that occurs when seemingly nonengaged or passive students enroll in a course that is broad, detailed, and subjective enough to allow them to transcend their world visions. This qualitative study offers insight into students&rsquo; thinking and feelings and contributes to the overall conversation and assessment of higher education elective courses in performing arts and the unique contributions they offer undergraduates. Based on these findings, conclusions and recommendations are offered.</p>