Artful Truth-Healthy
Propaganda Arts Project
Executive Summary 2000
An innovative
tobacco-awareness curriculum, Artful Truth–Healthy
Propaganda Arts Project, designed and implemented by The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, has made a measurable,
positive impact on the 3,000 Florida students who participated in the art
education program, according to an evaluation prepared by Burhans and Curva
Associates, a Tallahassee-based survey research and analysis firm specializing
in health and social services. The report was commissioned by the University
of Miami’s Office of Tobacco
Control, Research and Evaluation Coordinating Center with funding from the
Florida Department of Health.
The Artful Truth curriculum, which recently finished its second year, is geared
toward fourth- through sixth-grade students. It introduces students to the
concepts of “visual literacy,” whereby students analyze the role played by signs,
symbols, logos, and type styles in advertising. “The program activities are intended to heighten student
awareness of the communicative intent of images in their environment,” notes the Burhans and Curva report. “The underlying assumption of Artful Truth is that
making students more sophisticated and critical consumers of the advertising
images in their environment will provide them with the tools to deconstruct
and resist the appeals of tobacco advertising.” The Burhans and Curva evaluation addressed “the program’s effectiveness in transmitting new knowledge and skills in interpreting
the messages contained in visual images and the effect of the program on participants’
attitudes toward tobacco and tobacco use.”
Some of the key findings from the study are:
- The fifty-three percent of the students who were
tobacco users at the beginning of the Artful Truth project had quit using
tobacco by the end of the program; only four percent tried smoking during
the course of the curriculum.
The Artful Truth anti-tobacco message reached more than 20,000 students, over and above the 3,000 directly served, according to instructor estimates.
- There was a statistically significant increase
in students’ visual literacy skills over the course of the two-month
Artful Truth project.
- The more lessons covered from the Artful Truth
Instructor
Resource Portfolio (IRP), the higher the visual literacy scores.
- Students with higher visual literacy scores better
understood that advertisements can change people’s minds about smoking.
- Moreover, the IRP material was sufficiently varied
for the instructors to adapt to their students’ needs.
The Artful
Truth–Healthy Propaganda Arts Project was funded by the State’s
Division of Health Awareness and Tobacco from its landmark
settlement with the tobacco industry in 1997. It provides participating educators
with an Instructor Resource Portfolio, including lesson plans keyed to the
Florida Sunshine State Standards, as well as training, supporting materials,
and financial resources. A student workbook, “Blast from the Future,”
containing hands-on art activities, helps students to develop a conceptual
framework and vocabulary for understanding the messages conveyed in visual
images and design.
Numerous objects from the museum’s collection, including period posters
and advertisements, were used in the curriculum to demonstrate how persuasive
messages can be delivered by a variety of forms.
Commented Cathy Leff, Director of The Wolfsonian–FIU, “We were
thrilled to have the chance to not only work with Florida educators and students
and the Office of Tobacco Control on such an important endeavor, but also
to demonstrate how our collection and expertise can serve K-12 education.
This year Artful Truth provided funds to 49 projects in public schools, museum,
after-school, and other community programs. An exhibition of some of the student
projects created in this year’s program is on view through August 13
at the Tampa Museum of Art. The artworks also will be on accessible through
the program’s website,
www.artfultruth.org.
A copy of the full Program Evaluation Report is available on request
