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This chapter analyzes a specific form of contemporary art, the one that is created and exhibited in the community, conceived and visualized outside of the art market and independent of the agenda of creative industries and art galleries. The motivation, purpose and meaning of such art practices, for both the artists and the community, are discussed and examples of community art projects are analyzed in order to understand how art became, in this first quarter of the twenty-first century, such a valued collective asset, so accessible and present in the daily life of the common man. Two Portuguese case studies have been chosen as illustrations: the first one is a funding programme of projects focussed on artistic practices for inclusion (the PARTIS programme, by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) and the second is a self-financed and self-curated artistic collective, Pescada n^º 5.

This paper argues that structural and institutional reforms imposed by the military regime and accepted by the Concertación impose substantial impediments to collective action among Chile's popular sectors. In particular, labor market and social welfare policies exacerbate social stratification, deprive the public of vital resources, reinforce workers’ vulnerability to market forces and undermine social trust. These dynamics and the state structures that perpetuate them indicate the state's role in either facilitating or impeding collective action among subordinate segments of the population. They further suggest the negative impact neoliberalism has on the quality of democracy by constraining popular participation.

Among the compromises raised at the Education for All Conference held at Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990, and signed by Mexico and the rest of the countries that attended this Conference, were the reduction of the adult illiteracy rate by the year 2000, with sufficient emphasis on female literacy; and the expansion of provisions of basic education and training in other essential skills required by youth and adults, with program effectiveness assessed in terms of behavioral changes and impacts on health, employment and productivity. Based on a general revision of the things that the National Institute for Adult Education (INEA) reports have been its main policies and programs in the last few years, and on the results of a formative evaluation of the so-called “Programa Cero Rezago Educativo” (Zero Educational Delay Program), this chapter discusses some of the main strengths, weaknesses and challenges faced by INEA in order to address the compromises acquired more than 15 years ago.