International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Sanders-Bustle, L., Meyer, J., Standafer Busch, L. (2017). Exploring the relational complexities of Learning ART Together: A museum based art program for migrant women. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 18(10). Retrieved from http://www.ijea.org/v18n10/.

In this article, researchers discuss how relational theory (Bourriaud, 2002) can be used to understand the experiences of five migrant women participating in a museum art program called Learning ART Together. We posit that museums and art centers, like many institutions, are constantly working in tension with rigid institutional structures, financial demands, and formalized curricula as they strive to provide programming for migrants. Such structures challenge possibilities for relationship building and transformative practices. Findings reveal that by using a relational lens, we are better able to understand how dialogue creates alternative social exchanges which honor and challenge “everydayness” and shape new ways of being in the world. Our research revealed that relational theory offers insights into the ways participants create alternative sites of sociability suggesting implications for pedagogy that aims to create equitable and just experiences.