Designing for play in an informal arts environment

Abstract

The ArtQuest gallery is a space at the intersection of informal learning and arts education, built for all ages, but especially for young children. At first glance, it appears to be highly successful at achieving some of its goals, and less successful at others. Specifically, it appears to encourage material exploration, but not the “higher-level” components of high-quality arts curricula such as aesthetic awareness and reflection. In this essay I explore some of what is known about high-quality arts education, designing for informal learning environments, and the innate characteristics of play in an effort to explore whether play as a conceptual framework might be fruitful in approaching the design of an informal arts space to better promote meaning-making and meta-awareness.