From: Arts engagement supports social connectedness in adulthood: findings from the HEartS Survey
Themes and (sub)sub-themes | Description |
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1. Facilitating social opportunities | The arts facilitate social opportunities |
1.1 Meeting new people | The arts provide opportunities to meet new people and to make new friends |
1.2 Socialising and interacting with others | The arts encourage and facilitate generalised social interactions |
 1.2.1 Conversing about art | The arts can act as a catalyst for conversations |
 1.2.2 Negating pressures of social interaction | The arts facilitate interaction and connection without pressures of social situations |
2. Facilitating sharing | The arts facilitate opportunities for shared experiences |
2.1 Sharing experiences | The arts act as a shared experience creating bonds between those involved |
 2.1.1 Sharing emotions | The arts allow people to share emotional responses and to express feelings |
 2.1.2 Sharing art with others | When artists share their art, it creates a sense of connection between them and their audience |
2.2 Shared purpose | The arts provide people with a sense of shared purpose |
3. Facilitating commonality and belonging | The arts facilitate feelings of similarity and belonging |
3.1 Being part of something | The arts allow people to feel part of, and belonging to, something bigger than themselves |
 3.1.1 Enabling proximity to others | The arts elicit feelings of direct and indirect proximity with other people and times |
3.2 Connecting through common interests | The arts connect people with common interests, specific to the arts activity |
3.3 Connecting with likeminded people | The arts connect people with common tastes and opinions, regardless of the arts activity itself |
4. Facilitating collective understanding | The arts facilitate learning from and about other people |
4.1 Learning from and with others | The arts allow people to learn new skills and knowledge from and with others |
4.2 Relating to others | The arts allow people to relate to others |
4.3 Learning about others | The arts provide a means of learning about other people, places, and times |
4.4 Connecting with different people and cultures | The arts expose people to different cultures and bring together people from different backgrounds |
4.5 Connecting with different viewpoints | The arts expose people to different viewpoints and opinions |