Event Details

Works of art can provoke inquiry into the forces that shape civic life. These forces include the values, social conventions, power dynamics, institutions and systems that shape how we live together—and how we aspire to live together—at every level of community life, from the local to the global. The Arts as Civic Commons (ArtC) project offers strategies and resources to help learners explore civic life through looking at and making art. ArtC materials can be used in person or online, and are suitable for use in school, museums, galleries, or anywhere else learners gather to explore art together.

In this 90-minute interactive online workshop led by Shari Tishman you will be introduced to core ArtC ideas and practices, and will engage in activities and reflections that bring these ideas to life.


What past participants are saying:

“Shari presented research through examples that allowed us to participate, providing a deep connection that sparked many new ideas and a desire to learn more.”

Independent School Teacher, South Korea

“Arts as Civic Commons was inspirational. It gave me a lot of new teaching ideas.”

Independent School Teacher, Japan

“Shari brought a new way to look at the arts through identities, systems and visions.”

Independent School Teacher, Brazil

“Emotionally powerful.”

Non-profit Educator, United States

Workshop Designer & Facilitator

Shari Tishman is a Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Project Zero, where she formerly served as Director. Her research focuses on the development and teaching of of thinking, the role of close observation in learning, and learning in and through the arts. With Flossie Chua and Carrie James, she currently co-directs Arts as Civic Commons, a project that explores how learners can investigate civic themes and develop civic agency through experiences with contemporary art. With Liz Dawes Duraisingh and Carrie James, she also co-directs Out of Eden Learn, a digital cultural exchange program that, to date, has reached over 30,000 students aged 3-18 from over 60 countries. Past notable projects include Agency by Design, which explores the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning; Visible Thinking, a dispositional approach to teaching thinking that foregrounds the use of thinking routines, and Artful Thinking, a related approach that emphasizes the development of thinking dispositions through looking at art. The author of numerous books and articles, Shari Tishman’s most recent book is Slow Looking: The Art and Practice of Learning Through Observation.