Arts and Academia: The Role of the Arts in Civic Universities

Art schools in our universities play a big role in many ways and not only within the institutions they are situated in. When considering that the act of engaging in arts and culture has a demonstrable but indirect effect on innovation, welfare, social cohesion, entrepreneurship, local identity and the knowledge economy, our universities can and do use arts to make themselves more permeable and to provide co-created spaces of learning.

This book is a timely exploration of where creative practices and the arts live in our higher education communities. How do creatives shape this creative education ecosystem? How does art provide an interface between what is within and outside our knowledge institutions? And why should all of this matter for our communities, for the economy and for our society, specifically in a post-pandemic recovery?