Resources

Interested in reading more about Public Humanities and the Arts, see these helpful collections.

Professional Development

Reports

  • "Creating Healthier Places with Art and Artists [pdf]." The Kresge Foundation recently launched a new creative placemaking resource to use when meeting with decision-makers. It outlines how creative approaches work, examples from the field, and action steps to enhance creative local solutions. 
  • In the new American Association of Colleges and Universities report “The Effects of Community-Based Engagement in Higher Education: What We Know and Questions that Remain,” the authors focus on the effects of various forms of community-based and civic engagement in higher education, identifying positive outcomes across six broad areas: increased personal and social responsibility; development of positive mindsets and dispositions; improved graduation and retention rates; learning gains; improved intellectual and practical skills; and increased career-related skills.

Articles & Books

Anthologies

  • Aagje Swinnen, Amanda Kluveld and Renée van de Vall, eds. Engaged Humanities: Rethinking Art, Culture, and Public Life (2022) is a new volume edited by Aagje Swinnen, Amanda Kluveld, and Renée van de Vall and published by Amsterdam University Press. This work presents accessible case studies that demonstrate what humanities scholars contribute to concrete and pressing social debates about topics including adoption, dementia, hacking, and conservation. These “engaged” forms of humanities research reveal the continued importance of thinking and rethinking the nature of art, culture, and public life. 
  • Cameron Cartiere and Anthony Schrag, eds.The Failures of Public Art and Participation (2022) is a new Routledge, Taylor and Francis volume edited by Cameron Cartiere and Anthony Schrag. The anthology brings together practicing artists, curators, activists, art writers, administrators, planners, and educators from around the world to offer differing perspectives on the many facets of failure in commissioning, planning, producing, evaluating, and engaging communities in the continually evolving field of art in the public realm. The volume includes case studies from the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Cuba, and Denmark, as well as discussions of digital public art collections.
  • Suzanne Lacy's edited collection, Mapping The Terrain: New Genre Public Art (1994) and "New Genre Public Art" an overview by the Tate Museum
  • Bartel, Anna Sims and Debra A. Castillo, eds. The Scholar as Human: Research and Teaching for Public Impact. Cornell UP, 2021.
  • Smulyan, Susan, ed. Doing Public Humanities. Routledge, 2020.

Organizations

Journals

  • PLATFORM is an open digital venue for exchanging new ideas about working with, researching, teaching, and writing about buildings, spaces, and landscapes. As a public humanities venue committed to exploring urgent topics, PLATFORM has published Back To School 2022, a public humanities guide that showcases teachable articles they have previously published on pedagogy, social justice and equity, and creative solutions to precarity.

  • Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship

  • PUBLIC: A Journal of Imagining America 

SJSU Resources

SJSU offers other opportunities for service learning and engaging with the surrounding community to serve those underrepresented or underserved communities.