The Future of Arts Integrative Work: Creating New Avenues for Advancing and Expanding the Field

There are numerous researchers engaging in high-quality interdisciplinary collaborations, where the arts have been integral to the processes and products. However, these innovative collaborations often lack institutionalized support structures of disciplinary academics; hence, the onus sits with the individual to disseminate findings and create discourse around the work. In this think piece, the authors posit that the community should band together to formalize a peer-review structure that supports the diverse works they create. First, the chapter begins by identifying the key shared challenges that must be addressed during the development of any peer-reviewed structure. Then, we provide a suite of frameworks that frame out institutional considerations for the peer-review structure at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels. These frameworks address the critical interaction mechanisms and conditions that aid in fostering productive interdisciplinary collaborations where arts are integral. Finally, we discuss an example, Ground Works, an online peer-review platform, and the contribution we envision it can make to advancing the field. Ultimately, we believe that through creating a hub for the distribution and discussion of collaborative arts integrative research, we can facilitate research sharing and best practice identification. In addition to information dissemination, we believe that the discourse created through this platform will solidify and advance the field of arts and design integrative research.