How does
EA&L work?
ex·peri·en·tial: adjective
1. relating to, derived from, or providing experience.
Experiential Arts and Learning (EA&L) is a conceptual framework and educational methodology that explicitly places the WHO and WHY of artmaking at the heart of arts and arts education experiences, being participants and their intrinsic meanings and purposes for experiencing art.
EA&L is an integrative approach that aims to dissolve divisions in arts and arts education experiences, including the illusive “fourth wall” that separates artists from audiences.
EA&L establishes an immediate sense of belonging by inviting artists to make art with audiences — as opposed to only for audiences. This in turn makes artmaking inclusive rather than exclusive, communal rather than individualistic, and participatory for artists and audiences alike — as opposed to only presentational.
EA&L can be applied to all art mediums and areas of arts education and requires minimal resources or expenses to facilitate.
EA&L can be facilitated in fields outside of the arts and help respective organizations cultivate meaning and purpose within their work and populations they serve.
EA&L embraces advancements in science and technology, including Artificial Intelligence, and works in harmony with these powerful tools rather than stand in opposition to.
Jung
at heart
NO FEAR’s four-part methodology for Experiential Arts and Learning (EA&L), applies psychologist Carl Jung’s theoretical framework of the individuation process, to arts and arts education systems as they’ve developed in westernized societies, including his theories of “dual personalities” and the “transcendent function.”
We relate Jung’s concept of “Personality No. 1” to what NO FEAR calls the “Science” of artmaking, being the intellectual WHAT and HOW of arts experiences. This includes artistic subject matters, theories, instruments, and methods of production and presentation.
Reciprocally, we relate “Personality No. 2” to the “Soul” of artmaking, which comprises the instinctual WHO and WHY of arts experiences, being the participants and their intrinsic meanings and purposes for experiencing art.
Finally, we relate Jung’s concept of “transcendent function” and the fully individuated “Self,” to the “Spirit” of artmaking, being the ancient, universal, and humanizing force that manifests when “Science” and “Soul” are in balance.
At the heart of his life’s work, Jung believed individuation to be a process of renewal that could restore balance between conscious and unconscious forces of the mind and dissolve divisions in society created by highly intellectual, technological, scientific mentalities of modern times.
NO FEAR believes the individuation process can help to restore balance between the “Science” and “Soul” of artmaking, dissolve divisions in the arts and arts education, and renew the “Spirit” of artmaking which has connected, reflected, and related human experiences for hundreds of thousands of years.