Public Value Creation in Arts-Integrated Community Learning

Abstract

This study investigates how arts-integrated community learning creates public value beyond individual skill acquisition. The study is designed to collect data from approximately 40 community learning projects involving 2,000 participants, 160 instructors or organizers, and 20 community institutions over one year. Data sources include participant surveys, community-event records, program documents, interview transcripts, social participation logs, and follow-up feedback forms. The quantitative section measures five dimensions of public value: community interaction, intergenerational communication, local identity, civic participation, and cultural confidence. Expected data include around 2,000 pre- and post-program survey responses, 400 community activity records, 1,200 participant feedback entries, and 80 semi-structured interviews. The study applies paired-sample t-tests, factor analysis, social network analysis, hierarchical regression, mediation analysis, and qualitative comparative analysis to examine whether participation in arts-integrated learning improves community connection, cultural belonging, and public participation intention. Key indicators include community belonging score, interaction frequency, cross-age communication frequency, civic participation intention, cultural confidence score, and social network density. The innovation of this study lies in moving public creative learning evaluation beyond individual satisfaction or skill outcomes and building a measurable public-value framework that connects education, community cohesion, and cultural participation.