The Arts and Social Work Research Initiative (ASWRI) brings together faculty and community agencies as partners and creates a space to collaborate and foster scholarly and community activities on arts-based research. Co-founded by Professors Adrienne Chambon, Izumi Sakamoto, and Ernie Lightman, ASWRI aims to nurture a network of faculty, students, community partners, and multi-disciplinary associates, to draw from the arts to expand knowledge at societal and interpersonal levels, and to encourage dialogue for social change.
The launch of ASWRI in November 2006 featured the Coming Together project (see the News article).
Practitioners, academics, students and community members explored
arts-based research as empowerment through conversations with the
project’s advisory board members, women/transwomen with experiences of
homelessness. Beginning in Fall 2007, ASWRI will host activities
including discussions of arts approaches, workshops, colloquia, a
website, and research projects: Heuristics of Art Practices for
Social Work, Coming Together: Homeless Women, Housing and Social
Support, Social Assistance in New Economy. Initial responses are
overwhelmingly positive.For more information on ASWRI, you can also read articles in the Reach Magazine -Spring 2007 issue.