Development and perceptions of rural arts experiences: a case study of the Marshall County Arts Cooperative

Abstract

Various challenges face rural areas when providing programs similar to those offered by their suburban counterparts. It is difficult for rural areas to provide experiences that larger urban and metropolitan areas can offer. Cooperation is vital to developing arts programming in rural areas. Development and Perceptions of Rural Arts Experiences: A Case Study of the Marshall County Arts Cooperative (MCAC) represents a unique setting where students, teachers and community members were given opportunities to collaborate for the common good of all participants. On September 2nd, 2005 a two-year plan was approved to make a Community Arts Program a reality and operational in all parts of Marshall County, Kansas. Under the guidance of Kansas State University Music Education Department, the researcher developed and studied the Marshall County Arts Cooperative (MCAC). Perceptions of Marshall County students, parents, educators and community members were analyzed. MCAC programs worked in continued cooperation with area public and private schools and eleven arts organizations within Marshall County. The plan provides for the documentation of the project with a completed doctoral dissertation entitled: Development and Perceptions of Rural Arts Experiences: A Case Study of MCAC. The research design is framed into four main categories: (1) MCAC Development, (2) Rural Locale Codes, (3) Arts Experiences and (4) Perceptions of MCAC. A diverse collection of samples include, direct and indirect observation, interviews, documents, artist rosters and audio/video artifacts. Following a thorough analysis, emerging themes provide insight into the development and implementation of the MCAC. Results indicate that cooperation from a variety of people including staff, artists, students, educators and community members played a significant role in the success of MCAC and experiences created diversity in remote and isolated areas.