Contemporary Youth Cultures Artistic Activities & Well-Being

1. Contemporary Youth CulturesArtistic Activities & Well-Being Sirkku Kotilainen AdjunctProfessor, Ph.D. University of Jyväskylä & FinnishYouthResearchNetwork sirkku.kotilainen@jyu.fi

2. For the Young, itseems to beessential (onlineoroffline): • to show yourselfpublicly • to express yourselfpublicly • to haveyoursaypublicly ...and Public Space is offeredOnline (Kotilainen& Rantala 2009)

3. Media and Digital Culture Media (traditional and/ or digital technologies) are an integral part of young people’s daily life = mediatedsociety and culture. (cf. Hodkinsonet.al. 2007) Media = production & technologies + ways of expression + uses of media (f. ex. McQuail 2000) http://irc-galleria.net/index.php

4. The Power of Media = Publicity • The pluralistconcept of publicity: peoplecanbevisibleall in fulldifference at the sametime (f.ex. in youthculturesonline) • The young are seen as active, participatory audiences sharing and exchanging information, ideas, experiencing as media consumers and public agents • For the young, it is challenging to reach the cross generational publicity, for example initiating discussions on political matters. (cf. Arendt 1958; McQuail 2000)

5. Links to the discussions of citizenships 'non-political contexts of civil society can have a bearing on how people engage and manage in political contexts' (Dahlgren 2006, 273) The question of how individuals self-create themselves into citizens then gets on the agenda, additionally their skills to talk and express themselves (cf. Arendt 1958)

6. “Political” should be understood also in terms of cultural and even artistic actions and talk (i.e. public expressions), including communal elements of life sphere (cf. Arendt 1958)

7. Thin Civic Self-Image Strong Civic Self-Image Thin Mediated Civic Connectedness Seekers: looking for civic issues to engage, communities to connect and spaces to act Communalists: influence in their own small life sphere, do not consider more public acting important Strong Mediated Civic Connectedness Communicators: connected via media to communities, do not see this interaction in political terms Activists: the young who have common issues they want to make public and public spaces to act Four Types of Civic Identities of Young People in Relation to Media (cf. To Arts) (Kotilainen & Rantala 2009; cf. Livingstone et. Al. 2005)

9. Storm 2008-2011 Young people aged 13-17 having their say via artistic activities, funded by Finnish Cultural Foundation (private) Over 40 projects funded with 2,3 million euros around Finland (f.ex. theatre, dance, circus, music) Special focus on the young normally not participating to arts and special groups like immigrants and young people living in institutions.

10. Media publicity included • Online, the most popular youth picture gallery (focus on youth artistic work and the process): http://irc-galleria.net/channel.php?channel_id=2925167 • On mainstream media (focus on the projects and youth artistic activities in society): local and national newspapers, radio and television

11. MultimethodresearchbyFinnishYouthResearchNetwork the experienced effectiveness of the young participants from the view points of identity creation and well-being 2. the pedagogic encounters between artists and the young 3. artistic youth activities as policy processes, i.e. exploring the questions of integration of youth cultural participation to policy planning

12. Having, loving and being = well-being Self-actualising (part of ”being”) the subjective feeling of necessity feelings of getting respect from others acting in hobbies and in other free time activities political resources, i.e. possibilities for having your say (Allardt 1976)

13. Artistic activities can increase well-being Self-actualizing has happened through creation and public presentation (writing the play, dancing and acting, i.e. participating to the process) The personal narratives (private) have broadened to public presentations. (F. ex. processions of personal problems have moved forward to the stage: expressing oneself publicly) The key force has been the social support of the project, i.e. peer group and adult actor together. (Kotilainen 2008; cf. Bamford 2006; Delft 1998; Konlaan 2001)

14. Quotations from the interviews “...I ever didn’t think of my lyrics and me singing on a public video...this was the best part of the project” (Boy, 15) “…I doubted to read it myself on the stage…but I was encouraged while listening the others reading their texts while training” (Girl, 15) “... Dancing is the most important to me. When you dance, you can forget all your worries” (Girl, 17)

15. References Allardt, E. (1976) “Hyvinvoinninulottuvuuksia. “ [Dimensions of Well-being] Porvoo: Werner SöderströmOsakeyhtiö. In Finnish. Arendt, H. (1958) “The Human Condition. “ University of Chicago Press. Bamford, A.(2006) “The Wow-Factor: global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education. “ Munster: Waxmann. Dahlgren, P. (2006) “Doing Citizenship. The Cultural Origins of Civic Agency in the Public Sphere.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 9: 3, 267-286. Delft, M. (1998) “Community art: implications for social policy. “ Helsinki: Stakes. Livingstone, S. & Bober, M. (2005) “UK Children Go Online: Final Report of key project findings. “ [http://www.children-go-online.net] Hodkinson, P. & Deicke, W. (eds.) (2007) “Youth Culture. Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes.” London: Routledge. Konlaan, B. B. (2001) “Cultural experience and Health: The coherence of health and leisure time activities.” Umeå University Medical Dissertations, No. 706. Kotilainen, S. (2008) “Increasing well-being? Enhancing Youth Cultural Participation”. Arts, Culture & Public Sphere –conference (ESA), The University IUAV in Venice and the EPOCA - Centre of Economics and Advanced Cultural Policy Research – IUAV University, Venice: 4.-7.11.2008. Conference presentation. Kotilainen, S. & Rantala, L. (2009) ”Seekers and Activists: Characteristics of Young People in Relation to Media.” Information & Society. COMING. McQuail, D. (2000) “McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory.” Sage Publications.