Research
Is able to facilitate ethnoarts research and other foundational learning activities with community members.
Completion of a well-designed and implemented guided experience, sometimes called an “internship,” results in three important benefits. First, the Arts Specialist builds relationships and develops skills that serve as emotional and professional anchors for the rest of her career. Second, though the Arts Specialist is in a primary learning phase, the community and program she works with will benefit from her participatory research and encouragement. Third, the entity can observe how EthnoArts approaches work in a particular context, allowing application to other language programs.
The Arts Specialist is guided by a mentor during this time in order to support, encourage and problem-solve situations as they occur. The community or program chosen could vary widely, ranging from an isolated monolingual village context to a multilingual urban diaspora. The primary intention for this item is for a new worker entering a cross-cultural context for the first time. It is possible that this requirement could be met in other ways by an individual coming into EthnoArts with prior field experience.
Is able to ethically create and archive fieldwork.
It is important and beneficial to capture elements of language and culture including the arts for research, posterity and preservation purposes.The EthnoArts Consultant should be able to make audio and video recordings with available equipment and store in archives. He or She is able to abide by ethical research standards, such as always obtaining Informed Consent and carefully considering (along with the performers or interviewees) how media will be licensed, shared, and distributed. Equipping community members to do this for themselves is also included in this.
Is able to communicate the results of research with a wide variety of audiences with a focus on application.
In EthnoArts, doing research “with” rather than “to” or “for” a community is emphasized. EthnoArts personnel are usually not doing research alone but rather in relationships with artists and their communities, and are following the lead of these individuals in choosing what to focus on. The best research is when the community is actively participating, even leading, the research process.