Ecologies of Care: The Art of Belonging in a Studio Classroom

The MSc Art Psychotherapy course at Ulster University incorporates hospitality in the form of tablescape art installations, which assemble nature, refreshments and objects of curiosity to enhance student classroom experience. An ecology of care is an interdisciplinary term used in architecture, the health professions, education and the humanities to describe environmental enhancements offering support, sanctuary and rejuvenation. Care and hospitality, represented through arts-based classroom displays, is an innovative approach to fostering belonging in higher education classrooms. These installations serve as gathering places where educators and learners can connect, share, and seek respite while creating a sense of community. Academic resilience is supported by a whole university approach to belonging, with an emphasis on how environmental factors are crucial for resiliency. Finding meaning within a learning environment supports students' personal and professional aspirations. This interactive display offered an experience of how making together develops a focussed centrepiece facilitating a community of practice within classroom interior design.