Education + Community

Around the world, research is mounting that demonstrates the importance of community connections, creativity and music for mental health, wellbeing, learning and education.
Find below some of our favourite research highlights and articles on the topic:

• We lost more than just music during the year choirs were banned – The Guardian, Feb 2021
• The Loneliness Epidemic – Mercola Magazine
• How Loneliness begets Loneliness – The Atlantic
• Loneliness study finds one in five Australians rarely or never have someone to talk to – The Guardian, Nov, 2018
• How Loneliness Is Tearing America Apart, The New York Times, November 2018
• How Can Stay Connected Amid Increasing Chronic Loneliness – By Mahsa Fratantoni, The New Daily, Nov 2018
• Derelict School Becomes National Leader By Making Music Compulsory – By Justin Brown, Ideapod
• Bringing People Together in “The Age of Loneliness” – By Planet Local / medium.com / Apr 21, 2017 
• How Social Isolation Is Killing us – By Dhruv Khullar December 22, 2016
• Prescription for living longer: Spend less time alone – Joe Hadfield, BYU News
• Loneliness and social isolation Results– http://www.relationships.org.au/
• All the lonely people Loneliness in Australia–  Baker, D Institute Paper No. 9
• Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness – Elizabeth W. Dunn, et al., ‘Science’ Journal
• Old fashioned neighbouring means no one gets left behind – The Age
• A Snapshot of the Future of Australian Families, Work and Learning – Jeff Gilling
• Developing and revitalizing rural communities through arts and creativity 
• Embrace it – Leunig sees downturn’s silver lining
• Mapping Social Cohesion – The Scanlon Foundation Surveys, 2009
• Understanding How the Arts Can Enhance Learning – S.H. Magsamen, A.M. Battro
• The Seoul Agenda – May 2010
• Wellbeing and Social Capital – Helliwell, 2004
• The Arts as Part of Our Everyday Lives: Making Visible the Value of the Arts in Learning for Families – Susan H. Magsamen, Feb 2011
• ‘Focus on national tests robs children of true learning – Wake up, Australia, or we’ll have a nation of unimaginative robots’ – Richard Gill, The Age, Feb 2011

Video
Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award.

Entrepreneurs can change the world. At its best, entrepreneurship captures the essence of childhood imagination and adult endeavor. This slick video below, written and produced by Sonja Jacob and designed by Ben White, reminds us that creation and determination, fused with possibility, can create great success.