Inclusive Practice and Comparative Social Impact of Disability Arts: A Qualitative and Abductive Approach

Abstract

This study comparatively examined two disability arts partnership projects’ stakeholder perspectives on inclusive practice and social impact. It did so through an innovative abductive research design to visualise the qualitative findings of a comparative social impact assessment of active citizenship. In this paper we examine the inclusive practices of the disability arts partnership projects and an inclusive methodological approach. The approach sought to visualise the social impact footprint, or scope, of disability arts projects on radar diagrams. In developing this approach, we were able to document the enabling outcomes for the lived experience of artists with disability. The research has implications for the inclusion of artists with disability as part of disability specific art projects, ensembles of artists with disability together with nondisabled artists, and the way that creative process outcomes have social impact on the stakeholders and communities where they are performed. For the organisations involved the project demonstrates the wider outcomes of the artistic practice through the social impact of their disability arts programs on their internal and external stakeholders. Further, for arts funders it provides a tool for comparative understanding of social impact across programs.