The impact of culture on the Art & Soul experience : expressive arts in a multicultural environment

Degree Name

MA in International and Intercultural Management

First Advisor

Ryland White

Abstract

This paper addresses the questions: What is the impact of culture on participants' experience of the Art & Soul expressive arts process? Does culture in fact, have a significant impact and what aspects of culture do participants perceive as significant? Are there certain aspects of the Art & Soul process that appear to be more culturally sensitive and is that sensitivity extreme enough to make Art & Soul exclusionary on the basis of culture? Art and Soul is an expressive arts process that utilizes ritual, art processes, creative writing, imagery and rites of passage to explore a question that an individual is facing in their life. The research methodology utilized was a grounded theory approach. Thirty two participants attended four Art & Soul classes and completed questionnaires which asked them describe themselves in relation to five cultural lenses: nationality, gender, race/ethnicity, religion/spiritual tradition and age. They were then asked to assess the impact of these lenses on their experience and critique the various components of the class, as well as the class as a whole. The great majority of participants in the study were female, and they cited gender as the most important influence on their experience. Aside from this perception, the limited number of male responses was largely consistent with those of females. The data indicates that Art & Soul is non-exclusionary on the basis of culture, and may be an effective transcultural tool for change.

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