The title of this section has been chosen to ensure that educators do not limit their potential choices to any particular artistic expression. The only differentiation between this section and that dealing with street theatre lies in the setting and, therefore, the resources available for performance.
Rock concerts, plays, poetry readings, dance (traditional and modern expressions, music, and other forms of artistic communication can all be used to promote civic participation.
In most cases, they have been used to celebrate or commemorate political events, to mobilise support (personal and financial) for political causes, and to gather people together in order to convey, however briefly, educational messages. It is in this last category that there have been some examples involving voter education and mobilisation, especially aimed at a youth culture.
The performance in most has been secular, unrelated to the educational message, which then becomes an intrusion into the event. This does not necessarily make it irrelevant; 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down,' as the song says. But performance where medium and message come together to convey a democratic vision, while less frequent and with greater staging demands, provides greater educational benefits.
In schools, historic tableaus and reenactments of social events can be used to provide information and to educate. At the other end of the scale, political theatre has played a role in mobilising support for causes, or awareness of injustice. But we look forward to seeing a resurgence of art that speaks to and on behalf of the present condition of people in modern existing or emerging democracies.
In this, educators will have to provide support and freedom to artists working in their communities. There can be tensions between those planning for a very focussed and time-bound set of programmes with limited and unambiguous messages and the artist. But collaboration can have its value in establishing a whole new network of allies, in identifying educational themes of special power, and in ensuring that education takes place in a variety of sites and for a wider variety of people.
