Love Talks and Neighbourhood: Promoting encounters, tolerance and social inclusion by means of art in daily life and the living environment in Finnish Lapland

This article will introduce the Love Talks and Neighbourhood (later Love
Talks) project, part of the AMASS, Acting on the Margin: Arts as Social
Sculpture project. Love Talks was realised in Finnish Lapland in 2020, as
part of an effort by local artists and art education students to explore how
arts initiatives can build tolerant, community-focused neighbourhoods,
while reflecting on how such activities can be scaled up to larger
initiatives. The artists and art educators involved in the project took on
the roles of teachers, developers, enablers, curators, facilitators, producers
and creators of a new dialogic operational culture. The project asked
whether socially engaged art can provide new tools for social interaction
and increased collaboration. Can it lead to a new dialogue, critical
discussions and new forums for participation? This paper highlights the
importance of paying attention to how activities are organised and
realised in the diverse and often challenging environments characteristic
of socially engaged art and community-based art education. It explores
how to promote encounters, tolerance and well-being through the use of
art, and the role of culture and art in promoting social inclusion, capacity
building, networking and participation in daily life and living
environments.