Document Type
Oral Presentation
Department
Social Work
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Caroline Shanti
Keywords
art, drawing, economic empowerment, feminism, mutual aid
Abstract
Economic Empowerment Through Art: Final Abstract
Ava Ellis, Shaw Innovation Fellow, USM, MSW graduate student
My research project focused on using drawing and one-to-one art workshops as a way into discussing money habits. Participants shared their beliefs about money and responses to questions about money. They considered ways they may want to alter habits related to money within the 1 hour workshop, art was used as a scaffold to envision future-oriented economic goals. Participants mentioned uncertainty regarding financial planning and a lack of education regarding money in childhood. All felt they often needed more financial insight, in terms of developing more sophisticated long term planning around money.
This was a small-scale, cohort approach. Participants often expressed feeling uncertain about how to think about their finances and how to approach money and financial planning. The workshops encouraged them to think about how align their actions with values, begin to consider their options and think about modalities or routes to saving towards their goals and/or sharing their wealth. Art provided a way into deep values that resonated with folks in a more significant manner than a mundane, basic budget template. Art allowed one to consider core values and beliefs which may foster behavior change differently, then tracking expenses in a mechanical, rote way. The workshops were meant as a way into generate ideas and reframe mindsets (the question about childhood helped to bring up connections to upbringing, as also influencing their current mindset), rather than ask for an immediate shift in habits.
The research project demonstrated the potential for art to be used as a way into discussing money habits. The project highlighted for me the need for even earlier, comprehensive and creative approaches surrounding values, money habits and financial literacy. This initial research was meant to consider money habits through art rather than provide an intervention. Yet it demonstrates on a small scale, the need for more creative emphasis when discussing money habits and the need for more education regarding long term financial planning, since all participants expressed uncertainty and/or feelings of overwhelm and/or avoidance related to money and tracking funds. I look forward to using what I have learned as a Shaw Fellow to continue to consider how to creatively address financial literacy through alignment with ones’ values.
Included in
Art Practice Commons, Behavioral Economics Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Economics Commons
Economic Empowerment Through Art
Economic Empowerment Through Art: Final Abstract
Ava Ellis, Shaw Innovation Fellow, USM, MSW graduate student
My research project focused on using drawing and one-to-one art workshops as a way into discussing money habits. Participants shared their beliefs about money and responses to questions about money. They considered ways they may want to alter habits related to money within the 1 hour workshop, art was used as a scaffold to envision future-oriented economic goals. Participants mentioned uncertainty regarding financial planning and a lack of education regarding money in childhood. All felt they often needed more financial insight, in terms of developing more sophisticated long term planning around money.
This was a small-scale, cohort approach. Participants often expressed feeling uncertain about how to think about their finances and how to approach money and financial planning. The workshops encouraged them to think about how align their actions with values, begin to consider their options and think about modalities or routes to saving towards their goals and/or sharing their wealth. Art provided a way into deep values that resonated with folks in a more significant manner than a mundane, basic budget template. Art allowed one to consider core values and beliefs which may foster behavior change differently, then tracking expenses in a mechanical, rote way. The workshops were meant as a way into generate ideas and reframe mindsets (the question about childhood helped to bring up connections to upbringing, as also influencing their current mindset), rather than ask for an immediate shift in habits.
The research project demonstrated the potential for art to be used as a way into discussing money habits. The project highlighted for me the need for even earlier, comprehensive and creative approaches surrounding values, money habits and financial literacy. This initial research was meant to consider money habits through art rather than provide an intervention. Yet it demonstrates on a small scale, the need for more creative emphasis when discussing money habits and the need for more education regarding long term financial planning, since all participants expressed uncertainty and/or feelings of overwhelm and/or avoidance related to money and tracking funds. I look forward to using what I have learned as a Shaw Fellow to continue to consider how to creatively address financial literacy through alignment with ones’ values.
