Music Workshops as Social Aesthetic Contributions to Cultivating Community Sensibilities

Abstract. Human connection and mutual exploration through engagements in the arts, in general, and music, more specifically, have been core features of community life in many settings for millennia. The importance of such modes of collective engagement has also gained renewed interest among psychologists. This article explores the use of arts-based practice in Brazilian organizational settings. Embracing the theoretical perspective of the bricoleur, we adopt a social aesthetic perspective as a basis for considering the cultivation of a sense of community and togetherness through music workshops. Our focus is on shifts in the social sensibilities of participants as they engage with each other through music. This article contributes to qualitative research in community and critical social psychology, where a turn to community arts is gaining increasing traction.