ABSTRACT
This chapter examines several themes in the discourse on connecting to social work and art in community practice relating to social work and community and to art and community. It reviews two strands of theory relating to arts-based practice, namely, community cultural development and arts-based community development. The literature on art and community takes many forms, including community arts, community animation, community-based arts, cultural work, cultural action, participatory arts projects, community cultural development, arts-based community building, asset-based community organising, creative community building, and arts-based community development. The model for community practice in social work was consistent with participatory social change strategies that acknowledged people's right to self-determination. It aims to achieve improved social welfare and created processes whereby individuals and groups might participate in social change and development. Community social work and community cultural development differ, since social work's primary goal is not active participation in cultural life, an essential goal of community cultural development, but rather broader participatory engagement.
