Intensive Learning in El Sistema Develops Citizen Artists

 
The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.

Intensive Learning in El Sistema Develops Citizen Artists

12-10-2017

Intensive learning in a Sistema program develops citizen artists! Does that sound like hype? Well, new research from psychologists from the Universities of Kent and Lincoln in England suggests the claim may well be true. “The Arts as a Catalyst for Human Prosociality and Cooperation” finds that people’s greater engagement in the arts predicts ‘prosociality’, whereby people were more likely to volunteer and give to charity over a two-year period. The study provides evidence that the arts can act as a key social psychological catalyst that fosters and maintains social co-operation.

“Engagement in the arts predicted prosociality ‘more strongly than a large set of demographic variables such as gender, individual resources such as personal income, core personality such as openness, and sports engagement.’ Arts participation and attendance independently were ‘among the strongest predictors of charitable giving and volunteering,’” the researchers found. Only age and monthly savings had larger effects than arts engagement on charitable giving, and only educational level and working hours had a larger effect than arts engagement on volunteering.” See full report here.

Date Published: 9 December 2017