Homelessness in Performance, Art and Society investigates the contemporary context of homelessness in England and how performance and the arts can engage with this complex issue to advocate for, value and foster the lives, creative identities, and artistic ambitions of people who are, or have been, affected by homelessness.
The book offers critically informed analysis of the artists, theatre-makers, social enterprises, investigative journalists, and cultural, heritage, and charitable organisations, drawing on socially committed arts practice. It highlights, documents, and investigates artistic interventions that provoke new ways of perceiving homelessness and examines projects that offer those who have experienced homelessness an opportunity to showcase their stories, heritage, creativity, and cultural leadership. Capturing the breadth of socially committed arts practice in England, this book engages with arts and homelessness through a consideration of autobiographical performance, photography and graphic novel projects, performance installations and festivals, as well as digital and embodied memorialising outputs and events.
Homelessness in Performance, Art and Society is ideal for students and scholars of applied theatre, socially engaged theatre, and broader humanities studies that interrogate the intersections between homelessness and the arts, as well as artists and community activists with an interest in this field.