AUAS Contributes to HOGENT’s Festival on Art and Justice
During the International Days at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Flanders (HOGENT), students and professionals from all over Europe came together with one shared theme: how does art contribute to social justice? With an invitation from the organizers, the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) was involved and thus made a substantive contribution to the festival.
A group of students and staff -from the ‘Social Professional in Art and Culture’ minor- travelled to Ghent. This minor, which is a collaboration between the Social Work program, the Centre of Expertise Just City and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, challenges students to develop and utilize socio-artistic interventions in order to contribute to a more just city.
The Power of Imagination in Social Work
AUAS’s involvement as a knowledge partner was sought, due to the content overlap and the common thread between the minor and the festival’s theme: Art-based learning in relation to social justice. AUAS members Niek Putman and Chimira Natanna Obiefule organized a workshop in which they presented the design and vision of the minor. The central theme was the idea of radical imagination as an engine for social justice. How can art help imagine alternative futures, question existing structures and imagine new forms of [peaceful] co-existing?
The session also reflected on the AUAS-COA collaboration in Amsterdam Osdorp, in which students from the minor organize and participate in art classes with the residents of the center. In these collaborative efforts, students and residents work together as equal partners who are aiming to contribute to accessibility, community building and mutual learning.
"Not only do the students learn about art and justice, but they also learn from each other," explains lecturer Niek Putman. "In Ghent, we created space for sharing personal stories, different perspectives, and building new connections."
Justice as a Common Thread in Education
The minor allows students to explore that art can be much more than merely ‘doing something creative’. It is about visibilizing stories that often remain unnoticed, self-reflection and finding new ways to be socially engaged. It is precisely this imagination that is essential in working towards a more just city.
The Centre of Expertise Just City is working closely with the minor to contribute to the deepening of such perspectives and to highlight the importance of ‘urban justice’ through education. Participation in the festival in Ghent, provided the possibility to share this approach with a wider, international audience, and allow students to engage in a broader exchange of ideas.
The exchange in Ghent underlined how powerful art can be, both as an initiative for social work and as a carrier of change. In addition to inspiring students’ imagination and creative processes, it further instilled confidence in them that their efforts do in fact matter –be it within or beyond the city.
In June, the students will be presenting their socio-artistic interventions in Amsterdam. In doing so, as they conclude the minor, they will hopefully embark on a new path, i.e. a future as a social worker who dares to imagine and is unafraid to collaborate with others and call for justice, in the public sphere.
More Information
Would you like to know more about the minor ‘Social Professional in Arts and Culture’ or about collaborative opportunities with the Centre of Expertise Just City? If so, please contact Carin Rustema at