"A Guide to Collaborative Art"

This process guide is a story—a story of how Passion Works approaches collaborative art as creation, vocation, community integration and social change.

Like other activities supported by Passion Works, this book represents a collaborative effort. The idea for the guide emerged when Patty Mitchell, Art Director, and Joyce Frank, Studio Coordinator, approached Dr. Lynn Harter from the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University about a request for proposals issued by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC).

In early 2005, the Office of Grants Administration of the OAC issued an Arts Partnership request for proposals (RFP) that would support joint efforts between institutions of higher education and arts-based organizations. Patty, Joyce, and Lynn, with the support of the ACBMRDD, proposed a grant that would fund the creation of a comprehensive process guide outlining the Passion Works model. Lynn and several undergraduate and graduate students had been volunteering and doing research about the studio for approximately nine months at the time the grant was submitted in February 2005. Once awarded, the Arts Partnership grant provided monies to create and produce this guide that could be used by other sheltered workshops interested in developing an art studio for both programming and vocational purposes.

The value of the guide, however, is not limited to those working with the MRDD field. It is accessible to anyone interested in developing collaborative community arts programming in venues including, but not limited to, retirement centers, schools, and even hospitals