Art Heals: Arts as a basic need in humanitarian settings

 
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Art Heals: Arts as a basic need in humanitarian settings

Samar Bandak, Global Communications Manager, Community Arts Network

03-05-2024

For almost fifteen years, I have worked in the humanitarian sector in both Jordan and Lebanon, which have the highest refugees per capita in the world. During this time, I’ve learned thousands of life stories: of people who lost their homes, their possessions, and their established lives; of traumatized children and departed loved ones; of extreme health crises, both mental and physical. Yet, despite the hardships they reveal, these stories have always been more about bravery, strength, resilience, faith, and love.

Map of the region

The region’s peoples still have many needs, requiring massive humanitarian support. But perhaps the loudest among these needs—though rarely verbalized—is their longing for hope.

I remember the concert hall during the first performance of a refugee program in Jordan that I helped establish, the first of its kind there. Hundreds of Syrian, Iraqi, and Jordanian families attended. Parents expressed that they had never felt that kind of joy since leaving their homes in Syria. One mother, after watching her traumatized child, who used to be violent with others, interacting proudly and joyfully with peers on stage, said that even counseling could not have achieved such results. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

That day, I began to see the arts’ cascading impact on displaced people, from the child to their family to their community to their host community. Of course, like many others in this field, I have seen things go the other way as well. This raises questions: what are the ingredients of an impactful, helpful community arts program in a humanitarian context? And what distinguishes arts programs from psychosocial support systems or athletic programs that might achieve similar results? It’s crucial to explore answers to these questions—for advocacy and fundraising purposes, yes, but also for identifying the best kinds of support possible for specific groups.

 To share my takeaways from working on the ground in both Jordan and Lebanon, arts programs need to:

  • Be context-adapted, culturally sensitive, and locally led, respecting and celebrating the cultural heritage, traditions, and values. 
  • Plan short term and long term. Often, these groups experience multiple displacements, so it is important to assess the feasibility of long-term programs, implementing change gradually and reassessing at every step. 
  • Allow time for people to experience the program and its impact. Most programs will face initial rejection from parents, community leaders, and funders who consider the arts a luxury when many are deprived of ‘basic’ life necessities. Those opponents become front-line advocates once they experience the program’s impact.
  • Adopt a trauma-informed approach and safeguarding policies when working with displaced populations, especially children, to ensure that the program responds appropriately to emotional needs. This includes identifying educators/artists who have the internal instincts for a humane approach and providing them with specialized training. Integrating counseling/psychosocial support services with the program is also crucial, if possible (and, if not, applying to obtain such services).
  • Provide a supportive environment and services when launching the program. In my experience, the more a program can respond to community needs like transportation, snacks, health, and counseling, the more successful it will be. (These needs can also be met through collaborations with humanitarian organizations that offer these services, sometimes freely.)
  • Focus on the quality of your process as much as the artistic quality of your program. Considering the realities many programs face, achieving the same artistic quality as more stable programs is not a reasonable expectation. Instead, these programs redefine ‘quality’ in the traditional arts sector by weighing social impact as much as artistic refinement. 
  • Consider sustainability from day one. In humanitarian crises, it often feels impossible to think about your program’s sustainability early on. But doing so is an act of responsibility and care toward everyone involved. 
  • Embrace comparative research that allows us to understand the types of arts learning that work best in certain contexts.

It’s clear to me that community art programs are a basic need, in any context. In contrast to other initiatives, where people only ‘receive’ assistance, arts programs allow people to approach their adversity actively, with their strengths and talents. Participants are afforded basic human dignity and become agents of healing for both themselves and their communities. 

For these and so many reasons, arts programs must be an integral part of any humanitarian response plan, equal to medical, educational, and other sectors. These are much more than community arts programs. They are healing spaces that create positive ripple effects—not only in displaced communities, but in host communities as well.

I am so fortunate to be working with the Community Arts Network, where we advocate for the fundamental role of arts for social impact—a mission I believe in!

Community Arts Network, Community Arts Programs, Editorial, Jordan, Lebanon, March 2024, Social Connection and Mental Health

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