8/7/2019 Entrepreneurial Strategies for Advancing Arts

1/2

Entrepreneurial Strategies for Advancing Arts-Based PublicEngagementas a Form of University-Sanctioned Professional

Activityin the New Creative Economy

Elizabeth Manley Delacruz

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A.edelacruz@illinois.edu

This article is available in PDF format at the Open-AccessInternational Journal of Education & The Arts.

To access the article, follow the link belowhttp://www.ijea.org/v12i1/index.html

Citation: Delacruz, E.M. (2011). Entrepreneurial strategies foradvancing arts-based public engagement as a form of university-

sanctioned professional activity in the new creative economy.International Journal of Education & the Arts, 12(Interlude 1). Retrieved[date] from http://www.ijea.org/v12i1/.

AbstractWritten in the first person and drawing from an autoethnographicmethodological framework, this essay shares aspirations, experiences,and reflections on a faculty member's professional work in a large U.S.public research-oriented university, focusing specifically on herattempts to reconcile her service-oriented civic engagement work withher university's priorities and workplace conditions. The author

positions her work within a larger community of practice in arteducation higher education, a community dedicated to embracingcultural diversity and social justice, and whose work now takes place inmultiple sites, including but not limited to schools and universities. Theauthor establishes linkages between contemporary art educationvalues and aims, and recently popular writings about the creativeclass, the new creative economy, and the contributions of culturalcreatives to community development. These connections help theauthor establish a personal philosophical foundation for her currentwork and to explore an entrepreneurial framework-both as a means offacilitating her own public engagement projects and for advancing

public engagement as a legitimate form of university faculty work. Theessay is written as a reflective narrative about lessons learned inpursuit of these aims. Through utilization of short stories (or vignettes)of some of the author's public-engagement-oriented work, sheidentifies entrepreneurial strategies that have facilitated this workalong with problems encountered, uncertainties, and failures. Theessay concludes with an optimistic but untested proposition thatuniversity faculty members may make a difference in the world not

mailto:edelacruz@illinois.eduhttp://www.ijea.org/v12i1/index.htmlmailto:edelacruz@illinois.eduhttp://www.ijea.org/v12i1/index.html

8/7/2019 Entrepreneurial Strategies for Advancing Arts

2/2

only through their service-oriented civic endeavors, but also in theirability to help shape and improve university institutional conditionsthat make this work possible. As the author concludes, beingconnected to a community of practice beyond ones current place ofemployment is central to these goals.

About the Author

Elizabeth Delacruz is Professor of Art Education at the University ofIllinois, Education

Associate at the UI Krannert Art Museum, and Adjunct Professor of ArtEducation at the University of Florida Online Masters Degree Program.She is recipient of the 2011 United States Society for Educationthrough Art National Edwin Ziegfeld Award, the 2009 NAEA HigherEducation Division Art Educator of the Year Award, and the 2009 NAEAWomens Caucus June King McFee Award. Prior to coming to theUniversity of Illinois, Elizabeth taught K-12 art, English, and graphicdesign in Illinois and Florida, working with diverse student populationsin both urban and rural schools. Her recent work focuses on theinterface of art education with contemporary art and new mediapractices, globalization, and community life. These interests resonatein her latest book, Globalization, Art, and Education (2009), a 40-chapter anthology co-edited with Alice Arnold, Michael Parsons, andAnn Kuo. Elizabeth may be reached at edelacru@illinois.edu.