FROM MEXICO, WITH LOVE

We're lucky to have Anni Raw as a Loca Creatives associate, amongst many other things because it gives us access to generously shared blog material inspired by her recent post-doctoral research. Her thesis - investigating 'core practice' amongst artists who work in community and participatory arts - included an exploration of artists’ practice in the UK and Mexico. Thanks to the Centre for Medical Humanities at Durham University for allowing us to re-blog this piece from one of Anni's recent study visits - it originally appeared on CMH's own blog on 25 November 2013. See also her previous guest post for us.

 

Paisaje Social     Photo: Miho Hagino

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Witnessing human compassion, connection and resilience, fostered in a harsh landscape of brutal inequality, and noting the contribution and impact of research.

Mexico City is a world of parallel realities – perceived in the extreme by travelling on one of the main autopistas from grand, tree-lined avenues in the cultural centre, out to the fringes on the East, where marginal scavenger communities construct themselves – whole families living literally inside and underneath the city’s rubbish mountains. Or, from convivial cafes and cosy residential courtyards, concealing their palms and passionate bougainvillea behind high street-front doors, taking a short few strides to the brutal night world of the soliciting strip at Nuevo Leon corner, where pin-thin transvestite prostitutes manage impossible heels, bearing the winter chill almost naked to earn pennies inside the black saloons that crawl past. The contrasts in parallel life experiences here are stomach churning.

Within this place are many self-organised groups, passionately keen to touch and highlight the ever-present social injustices. Some use ingenuity and creative skills to make contact with people living beyond the visible city life, as discussed in a previous blog entry, In and Out of Focus, in which inmates in a youth prison here in Mexico City were encouraged to make a film of their incarcerated everyday lives. On this trip I have been in close contact with an organisation of artists – ‘Paisaje Social’, roughly social landscape in English – who are beginning to develop sustained partnerships with State-run social institutions such as networks of children’s homes and care homes for the elderly. Working so far without payment but using huge creativity and ingenuity with minimal resources, they run workshops in teams, to create simple new experiences with people, and transform atmospheres and spaces.

My experience attending two workshops, one in a children’s home and one in an elderly care home found artists bringing playful and open-hearted humanity into bleak, dark corners: making small art works, together with groups of up to 20 participants, that reflect back the imagination and creativity people in these institutions rarely have the chance to explore or express. I was intrigued to see such open and uninhibited, tender relationships blossoming, touch and eye contact, laughter and teasing characterising interactions between everybody in the workshops. It’s particularly fascinating to see the cross-cultural interactions at work here: the teams include artists from Japan as well as Mexico, and language functions on many non-verbal and paralinguistic levels, in order to work around missing words or difficult accents, especially important in connections with the older people with dementia. Even my own presence bringing an English accent and another different cultural perspective seemed to enrich rather than disrupt the workshops: curiosity and good will were strong enough to straddle the language confusions. Although the participants themselves, and their works which adorn the shared living areas of the institutions, remain behind the locked doors, Paisaje Social uses a sophisticated website and social media strategy via Facebook and twitter to enable what goes on in these workshops, as well as the participants and their achievements, to be visible and celebrated in the world beyond.

 

My connection with Paisaje Social began on my last visit here 6 months ago, when one of the three co-founders of the organisation, Miho Hagino, attended a seminar I ran here in Mexico City, to disseminate the findings from my doctoral research for a practitioner audience. Miho saw the seminar advertised by chance, and attended hoping to find useful perspectives on the practice of the Paisaje Social associate artists. She was very inspired by the resonances she felt with the messages from my research, and since then we have been in touch by email. The ensuing relationship is inspirational for both parties: Paisaje Social has taken on with huge enthusiasm my model for how socially engaged arts and arts/health practice can be articulated and theorised, disseminating the ideas, debating their own approaches, and even engaging in dialogues with me about evaluation strategies, and professional development based on my work. For me, to be in touch with an organisation so serious about reflective practice, and finding such useful application for my research is an inspiration and a privilege. It is exactly what any researcher can hope for – that what we commit our focus and efforts to with such intensity can then find a useful application in the real world of practice.

Paisaje Social is an organisation on the march, accumulating knowledge, experience and ambition in how to create new openings for good practice in community-based participatory arts initiatives – I will be in close contact with them, and hope they will become a Mexican outpost in our CMH arts and health network of colleagues and compañeros.

ENGAGING WITH COLOUR - Part 2

Last time Lesley Fallais made a heartfelt plea for an educated and informed approach in any situation where decisions about colour will have an impact on the public realm.  Three lovely project examples from her portfolio illustrate how exploring colour and teaching basic colour theory can be a great community engagement device and lead to well considered, locally distinctive design outcomes.

 

The aforementioned library incident and my work on other projects have convinced me of the importance and value of 'colour education' in any design or community involvement situation which impacts on the public realm or streetscape. And as I've got more interested in working with colour and colour theory in my design work with people, I've also discovered what a powerful focus they offer for inclusive, accessible community engagement and tenant involvement activities generally.

For Refresh Berry Brow (with Kirklees Council and Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing), Jane Revitt and I teamed up with Impossible Theatre and its amazing ChromaVan to work with residents on developing a colour scheme for the repainting of the external render on two tower blocks. It's a useful case study in how a well planned, imaginatively and accessibly delivered creative engagement process around colour choices can support tenant involvement objectives as well as good public realm design. As KNH's Estate Management Officer said several years on: "Refresh Berry Brow created an impetus in the local community and local services to continue the good work that was done.  This meant people wanting to be more involved in determining other projects for their community and deciding what these should be, how they should be created and how they should be managed."

Ravensthorpe in Colour (also for Kirklees Council) was a creative community engagement project which informed the design of a site-specific artwork by Jane and Andy Plant for a new Library, Information and Children’s Centre. It illustrates well how the idea of people exploring and recording colour can provide a really strong, fun engagement hook through which to connect with many local residents of all ages. In the words of a Library Service manager: "The simplicity and accessibility of the colour theme made it easy for people to take part. The project succeeded in creating a feeling of inclusion and shared involvement."

A third project brings the themes of public realm design, tenant involvement and informed decision making nicely together. On an estate undergoing a massive housing renewal programme where new homes were being built and five ‘retained' streets of old social housing were being refurbished, critical decisions on colour had to be made. Residents in the retained area had said they wanted to keep the existing grey render but this was clearly going to leave the old properties looking monotone and institutionalised against the adjacent new-build ones. I was pleased to be asked to work with Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing staff and other members of a creative project team to involve local people in the development of a colour scheme. As I introduced myself to residents I repeatedly heard “we don’t want it to look like Balamory” - people feared that using colour meant bright, vivid colours that would be totally inappropriate to the location. At the other extreme, I'd seen housing renewal areas where over-cautious choices had resulted in the whole estate being painted white and cream, re-creating the same overwhelming visual monotony and lack of character it had started with. For the retained streets we needed to find a path between the two extremes, create a scheme that was locally appropriate and distinctive, and carry people with us.

With our residents we set about recorded existing local colour, including the colours of the roof slates, local stone and in the surrounding natural environment - lots of rich possibilities for workshops and on-the-street activities there. We considered the layout of the streets and various site lines before mixing paint samples and testing them full scale, in daylight, on the side of some properties. Then we drew up a considered, street by street, block by block colour layout and presented it to the community. Having been through a creative, accessible engagement process residents were no longer fearful of using rich, saturated colours and they didn’t insist on their homes being painted cream. They could clearly see the rationale behind the selection of colours and very readily supported the proposed colour scheme. In this way we were able to challenge the preference for a 'safe', uniform look and visually link the retained properties with both the new housing and the surrounding natural woodland. The result was a striking, well considered and popular transformation of the five streets, and residents who understood, owned and supported the process we'd been through to get there.

I now regularly deliver colour based workshops and professional training, accessible to anyone of any age and useful to people who make decisions about colour in public spaces – architects, NHS professionals and public sector managers have been amongst recent participants. I'm currently developing a colour training package for Loca Creatives that can be tailored to community groups or professionals. I’d encourage everyone to talk a closer look at colour, its use in public spaces and its effects. Some basic colour knowledge goes a long way - in fact I'd say it’s a basic life skill, whether you're selecting a tie to go with your shirt or a cushion to give punch to your interior colour scheme, or are aiming to create the right mood and visual environment for a public space.

ENGAGING WITH COLOUR - Part 1

An understanding of colour is a useful life skill for everyone, and critical for anybody making decisions about the use of colour in public realm design, says our Core Team associate Lesley Fallais. Having worked as an artist and designer on many regeneration projects where enabling intelligent use of and informed choices about colour has been a key aspect of her role, she's used her own learning to develop professional training sessions and community engagement workshops. A training package for Loca Creatives is in the making so we asked Lesley for an appetiser. It was so good we've made it a two-parter - come back soon.

 

As a visual artist working primarily on projects within urban regeneration and with an enduring commitment to sustainable place-making, I've often been shocked at how decisions on something so fundamental as colour are often casually made.

Having found myself drawn into decision making about the use of colour many times, I've made it my mission to learn more about hue, chroma and saturation, and to encourage others to really consider the successful use of colour in community buildings such as libraries, hospitals and schools, in external public spaces, on tower blocks, and on rendered walls and street furniture. For me sustainable place-making and successful public realm design are rooted in the recognition and utilisation of local distinctiveness, leading to a true sense of place. I'm convinced that selecting and using colour in public spaces (along with other key design considerations) has to be set in the context of a unique, contemporary story which records existing local colour, vernacular architecture, landscape and the cultural heritage of a site.

I’ve been lucky to collaborate on a number of significant projects with design professionals who have a real understanding of the use of colour, including designer Jane Revitt who I have seen transform several schools and healthcare environments with an intelligent and considered use of colour. In these contexts colour was used creatively to create an effective healing or learning environment, and to aid navigation around previously bland and institutional looking corridors and spaces. There is also a lot to be learnt from the commercial developers and designers of retail outlets and cafes who give so much attention to how colour affects people and their use of public spaces. If it is important to encourage the public to use, linger and revisit a building or space, theirs is essential thinking.

A few years back, Jane and I collaborated on the design of a series of site-specific artworks for a new community library, with the aim of creatively engaging with local residents and ultimately giving the building some identity which would encourage local people to use and love it. By chance we found ourselves in a meeting which was also making decisions about the building's external colour scheme (not part of our brief). A senior manager, in a laudable effort to include his staff in the building's development, spread out a colour chart and asked his colleagues to ‘choose’ the colours for the exterior window frames, security shutters and doors. I had seen ‘Tenant Choice’ in action many times, where tenants are invited to choose their own colours and finishes for kitchens and bathrooms, and realised in that instant that a similar approach was being used here to make critical decisions about architecture and public space design. Offering Tenant Choice about people's private, domestic interior decor is one thing, but I'm a firm believer that no aspect of public realm design should be ‘chosen’ in a vacuum. 

A secondary but equally important concern for me is that genuine, inclusive, engagement with people should be something much more considered, creative and meaningful, always designed to maximise learning opportunities, develop skills and create ways for people to fully participate in the decision making process. Enabling people to make informed decisions seems fundamental, and surely to make informed decisions about colour in public spaces people - whether as professionals or as residents and users - need some knowledge and understanding of colour, light, local distinctiveness and the unique local context?

Back to the library staff... They were clearly not comfortable about being given responsibility for this ‘choice’: “how should I know what colour to paint the doors and windows?” said one. Sitting in that situation a realisation dawned – is this why so many public sector community buildings often look institutional, with poorly designed interior and external colour schemes (no joke if they then fail and close because people don’t want to use them)? We've all seen the navy blue and black security shutters on youth centres, health centres and libraries that when closed at night look like military bunkers and contribute nothing to the urban townscape. If only we could get away from the standard colour chart and from slavishly sticking to institutional brand designs, and make our colour selections site-specific.

In the library meeting, with some trepidation, I stuck my head above the parapet: “you can’t make decisions about colour like this!” Jane and I were immediately challenged to come up with a colour scheme, urgently needed by the contractor for the following Monday morning. As we are trained visual artists and knew the site well we were able to do this. The project team could clearly see the difference in our approach and we believe the results contributed quite significantly to making the building successful.

On a number of other projects I've had the chance to make exploring and learning about colour an integral part of the community engagement process, and have discovered what an empowering and inclusive - not to mention fun - tool it can be in that respect. A couple of my favourite examples follow next time.

SETTING THE SCENE: IMAGINATION

We've been keeping tabs on associate Anni Raw's doctorate research into artists' practice in community-based and participatory settings, listening with curiosity and envy to her tales of travel to Mexico as part of this research, and waiting eagerly to see it all published. Imagine our delight when she offered us a series of guest blogs drawing on some of her exploring, deep thinking and deep-reaching conversations with practitioners over the past three years. Here's the first.



Imaginative life-size papier mache sculpture ('alebrije') in Mexico



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The process of constructing the set for the animated scene is fascinating. A large box is retrieved from a back room behind the school kitchen, and from it spill numerous oddments which to me look like the leftover remnants of an outdoor jumble sale: several large pieces of rough-cut cloth of different colours and textures, pieces of moss, twigs, a box of small animal figures, two half-formed miniature Pleistocene figures – one of a dog and one a person – and a cardboard model hut with dry mud glued to the roof. This rough paraphernalia contrasts sharply with the high-tech camera and professional lighting equipment being set up on tripods, focus trained on a small table, and at first I am confused: surely a set made from these materials will not be adequate to produce a film of high enough visual quality! Seeing the box, the team of five lads - involved in their customary chaotic behaviour and constantly confrontational interactions - suddenly abandon their hyperactivity to begin building the scene. Bryan helps two of the boys organise cloth, moss and twigs (crumpled cloth backdrop strewn with bits of outdoor woodland material, precariously balanced, and a tiny twig campfire constructed centrally, with what look like orange and red Pleistocene worms protruding through the twigs.) Meanwhile Kath is piecing together arms, legs, bodies and heads of the main character and his dog, with industrious input from the other three lads. They finally draw onto paper and cut out four small circles depicting different cartoon-style facial expressions: smiling, shocked, angry and asleep. The first of these (asleep) is roughly tacked to the head of the small figure, and some brushed sheep’s wool attached above (for hair). He is positioned reclining on a rock by the campfire, his dog nearby. Abdul is at the camera, and meticulously focuses the lens on the ramshackle scene, clicking one shot – meanwhile Imran darts a hand in and bends the Pleistocene fire worms very slightly. Another click. Imran darts in again, another slight tweak: another shot.

The stop-frame scene is unfolding before my eyes, these are the flames of a flickering campfire! The miniature world created by the group becomes more and more real within the pool of light. Yet stand back, and with a dissociated eye it looks like a jumble of rubbish. The earnestness with which the group creates a complete imaginary world from ad hoc bits and pieces here in this large, empty school dining hall is impressive. I am completely drawn in. We have to stop intermittently and laugh when main character Mr Martin’s arm keeps falling off, then his head, and people keep inventing surreal potential storylines to accommodate these minor catastrophes. But we all know they’re just messing about with ideas – each team member is holding the map of the agreed storyboard in their mind’s eye, waiting until the story can proceed. The shared humour feels very bonding. There is one highly surreal, spontaneous development to the plot when a plastic lion figure enters stage left on the inspiration of Imran, in response to which one of the other boys rapidly exchanges Mr Martin’s facial expression to ‘shocked’, and the dog falls over. This moment remains in the film – everyone satisfied that it adds something indefinable.

(Field notes from observation of stop-frame animation project, UK, 31/5/12, quoted from PhD thesis: ‘A model and theory of community-based arts and health practice’, Anni Raw, Durham University, 2013. Artists were Bryan Tweddle and Kath Shackleton; participants’ names are changed to protect their anonymity. The project was part of a family learning initiative by Artworks Creative Communities.)

During the past three and a half years I have had the opportunity and enormous privilege to undertake doctoral research, looking into the creative processes – both seen and unseen – which artists create, initiate, and guide when working with people during community-based participatory arts projects. Based with Durham University’s increasingly renowned ‘Centre for Medical Humanities’, this research was instigated as an element of the centre’s study of the contribution of the arts to public health and wellbeing – how, in fact, is it that artists work with their groups, in order to produce such often remarkable outcomes? The excerpt above is from my observation work, and is used in the thesis to point to the importance of placing the imagination centre-stage – giving time and license to the minute details which allow disorder to become a story. The artists in this work, when working well, support participants’ explorations of their own imaginations. If imagination is a muscle, artists are elite athletes. They train/stretch their own imaginations daily, and are able to model by example the importance of playing with the imagination, so that participants young or old can value their own imaginative capacity. In my study I highlight this as a key element of the way in which artists have a special and valuable contribution to make in enabling people to tap into their own resources for building resilience and making changes in their lives. By ‘working’ the imagination, and in some cases reconnecting people with their imagination when they have lost the ability to flex their imaginative muscles, arts practitioners empower their project participants to ‘dream up’ new perspectives, new outcomes, and new questions, which can shift life into a different gear. Artist Lou Sumray wrote to me recently: ‘I think that most people like to play - they just forget they don’t need permission to do so.’

Over the coming months, and beyond, I hope as a visiting contributor to this blog to share some magical moments from excellent project work. Other reflections on my research can be found on the CMH blog.

 

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

by Tracy Shaw, Loca Creatives Director

The blanket of special gifts      Photo: Talya Rochester

School's out for summer, which brings a momentary lull in our Social and Emotional Health projects with children and young people and breathing space to take stock of, and write up, the past few months' work. There have been projects to support transition and help Year 5 and 6 children prepare for change; projects with a language and literacy focus; projects designed to enable children to explore their identities and the gifts they have to give to each other and their wider community; and an extended programme focused on strengthening family interaction by giving space for children and parents to enjoy family-themed conversations and meaningful time together.

Like a golden thread, continuous reflection has run throughout all the doing and making, talking, laughing and learning - reflection with participants, with school staff, and amongst ourselves as the practitioners managing and delivering the work.  Within all our Social and Emotional Health work reflection plays a crucial part in how we do evaluation, capture the project stories, develop our professional practice, and gather evidence for the obligatory post-project reports that the work is effecting change and delivering tangible outcomes.

Reports are good, of course. They have a value not just in themselves as a means of documenting and promoting the work, but also for how the writing of them helps distil our own learning and inform future project planning. But looking back through the material that's been captured recently through the reflective processes embedded within each project, I'm reminded that there's something to be said, too, for simply letting the voices of participants and close observers speak for themselves. 

"We weren't natural leaders at the beginning but we were by the end."

"I wasn't confident with language - working with words gave me confidence."

"J is really benefitting from having opportunities to shine but also learn the consequences of his actions on a small group."

"P had an all round improvement thanks to the project. His interaction is massively better and his self-confidence and self-esteem have increased. He was a target for bullies before but he's much more confident now."

"I feel positive, that's new for me." 

"K wouldn't speak at all before, she didn't have much input, was almost 'invisible'. Now she is speaking her mind and contributing more. She has more confidence."

"L gradually really developed self-control without missing out on the enjoyment. He was able to separate himself from trouble and became more mature."

"I look forward to Thursdays. You can let it all out - all your feelings about High School and things."

"The project helped B to become better at mixing with other children, he got better and better at this as the weeks went by."

"N loved it from day one, always looked forward to the session and was consistently proud of the work he did. He was chosen because he tends to be quite immature and choose friends that are much younger than him, but to us he seem to be the most mature in the group. His confidence and faith in his abilities have really improved."

"J challenged himself every session. He is normally very insular and quiet around others but he shared with the group, was happy to speak in front of everyone and worked really well in partnership. It was great seeing him just chat about general things while he was making and doing. He relaxed with others and the project really helped him to enjoy being with other people."

"M had a safe space to experiment with different aspects of her personality and let her hair down around other children. She cares for younger siblings so it was a good reprieve for her and she had fun."

"This is the beginning of regular rituals for these children and their blanket of special gifts. It will become part of school life and its stories will be their stories."

FLYING THE FLAG

With applause from a mightily successful Field of Flags project finale still ringing in her ears, Loca Creatives Core Team member Mary Robson offers some reflections on Paul Tough's recently published book about child development and 'character-building', makes the links between modern neuroscience and the attachment theory that underpins our Social and Emotional Health projects, and flies the flag for work that creates all-important spaces for conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given its title How Children Succeed - Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, and its New York Times Bestseller banner, you would be forgiven for thinking this is another self-help manual for middle class parents. However, Tough has consulted educators, economists, psychologists, and neuroscientists who are making connections across academic disciplines and together illuminating the complexities of child development in new ways.

So it isn’t a how-to book, but rather a treatise on why ‘character’ qualities such as perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism and self-control are more likely to ensure a child’s success in life than 'cognitive’ teachings.

Tough is an investigative journalist in the States, and his very readable book brings together some compelling evidence. Here is one example:

The effect of good parenting is not just emotional or psychological, the neuroscientists say; it is biochemical.

Neuroscientists’ experiments with rats have led the way to a deeper understanding of attachment. Separated from their mothers at twenty two days, the rats were then tested at maturity. The rats who were licked and groomed more as babies were more likely to independently explore a new cage or eat in an unfamiliar environment.

They were better at mazes. They were more social. They were more curious. They were less aggressive. They had more self-control. They were healthier. They lived longer...When [they] examined the brains of the adult rats, they found significant differences in the stress response systems of the high-LG and low-LG rats, including big variations in the size and shape and complexity of the parts of the brain that regulated stress.

It didn’t matter if it was the birth mother or another rearing rat who did it – it was the licking and grooming that was important, to the point that it ignited the parts of the pup’s genome that controlled the way the rat’s hippocampus would process stress hormones in adulthood.

The scientists went on to apply their findings to humans and recent longitudinal studies clearly show that how children are able to handle stress is directly related to the quality of their parenting. And that environmental stressors - overcrowding, poverty, family turmoil - fall by the wayside if your mother is sensitive to your emotional state. So here is the link between modern neuroscience and attachment theory as developed in the sixties.

Of course, this is music to the ears of those of us engaged in community-based arts in health and especially to those of us interested in the social and emotional development of children. It helps to strengthen the theoretical base of our work with children and their families. Whilst early, secure attachment to a parent is ideal, work can be done in later years that can help to ameliorate the effects of insecure attachment.

Tough is clear that we have a big job on our hands. He is advocating the reform of the American education system, and as we well know in the UK, education is a political matter. Conservatives often cry that character is all, and use it to barrack the poor and disadvantaged to “pull yourself up by your boot straps” or “Get on your bike”. But the scientific evidence is that

 . . . the character strengths that matter so much to young people’s success are not innate; they don’t appear in us magically, as a result of good luck or good genes. . . they are moulded, in measurable and predictable ways by the environment in which children grow up.

So we all have a say in the development of our children. Artists, teachers, social workers, clinicians, neighbours all have a part to play. Our communal work is subversive on one level, taking place under the radar of the latest curriculum developments that are counter to so much research and practice.

Over the last ten months the Loca Creatives team has worked alongside parents, children, teachers and local businesses to help nurture a sense of community centred in a primary school. It culminated in the school field being populated by flags and bunting that represented all the children and their families. It literally created a level playing field, a space where conversations could take place between children, parents, teachers and locals.

It is a very complex business, but helping to create such spaces is one of the ways that our work helps to make a contribution to how children succeed.
 

 

PLAYING FOR TIME - AND OUR FUTURE

True to our word we've been lining up some guest posts to bring some perspectives from the field, contributed by practitioners whose work and professional concerns relate to some of the 'creative practice and social change' themes we've been exploring ourselves in recent posts. Ruth Nutter, one of our fab Creative Associates, very kindly offered to dive in first.

 

Photo: Leon Lockley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a creative practitioner who works in a broadly defined area of helping people unearth 'new stories to live by' I am constantly challenged to define what I do succinctly and accessibly. In short, I offer ways for people to see a more positive, sustainable future that they can shape and be a part of. Much depends on your interpretation of sustainable - I've adopted it over the years to mean connected, resourceful (rather than resource-less), fair, and with an eye towards a flourishing future for all living things.

Faced with the economic pressures of most of our daily lives, it's hard to find time to consider whether we really want to live with so little time for each other and the wider natural world. And even harder to consider how it might be different, how we might change it. In all the work I've done, the most common feedback is of gratitude for safe time and space to think and be differently. And the key ingredient for 'seeing differently' within the time and space offered is creativity.

I've devised and run experiences that afford these opportunities over periods of weeks, days or even hours to groups of families, friends and strangers, adults and children, in woodlands, in schools and on high streets.  

On a cold November night in a wood in Sheffield, I've offered space for a local community to chat about how they live, around a fire, in the midst of an art installation inspiring new perceptions of our relationship between home and the wider natural world. With pioneering participatory arts practice Encounters, from a disused shop on the high street, I've asked hundreds of people in Dewsbury what the spirit of their town is, who they'd like to thank in life, and what keeps them going. We offered many ways to respond: through scrawling on a giant blackboard, tying 'fruits of their achievements' on a real tree inside the shop, or sowing seeds of their aspirations in plant pots - all for the rest of their community to see and add to. And I've invited environmental educators to imagine futures they'd like to see through making a gift for themselves of something they'd like to know still existed in the world in 100 years time.

The nature of the space and group of people I work with varies, but the key ingredients of warmth, authentic interest, attention to visual aesthetics, exploration of different dimensions of time and place, strengthening relationships, precision of questions, and a range of hands, head, heart engagement is always pulsing at the heart of any project.

Each project demands that I evolve the skills to best achieve its aim. So, at times I need to switch seamlessly between roles of guide, curator, facilitator, maker, gardener, leader, follower, birds-nest maker, host, cleaner, bridge builder, problem solver - and always, always a space holder - taking responsibility for making sure everyone feels safe within the frame we're working in.

A new book, Playing For Time, which I'm currently contributing to along with over 20 creative practitioners, led by Lucy Neal, will draw together a range of some of the projects and processes which are defining an emergent 'transitional arts practice'. This practice embraces all the 'sustainable' values and community building processes which Loca Creatives holds dear, and will provide a useful picture of an 'arts and regeneration' practice which is responding in the broadest context to the social, economic and environmental regeneration challenges of our time.

CREATIVE PRACTICE AND SOCIAL CHANGE: Part 3 - Artists treading boldly...

by Tracy Shaw, Loca Creatives Director

Photo: Leon Lockley courtesy of Ruth Nutter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picking up where I left off in my musings about specialist creative practice, the big social change agendas and how best to articulate the link between the two... 

There are some things about artists and arts practice that most people I'm likely to fall into professional conversations with, including the ones with the 'what are you doing here?' look on their faces (see 28th March post) readily get - things about artists as observers, communicators, questioners, lateral thinkers, skilled technicians, makers of beauty and celebration, conveyors of universal human experiences, bringers of enjoyment, creators of work that touches emotions, and so on. I'll leave it to stand as read that those are all reasons why I love working with artists and love the work I do.

But there's much more to it than all that, which is what I've been groping towards over the course of several posts that have seen me examining the 'Arts and regeneration' tag, concluding that it's still a valid short-hand for describing Loca Creatives' work, and attempting to unpack it in order to explain the claims we make about how our work helps bring about social change. So read on, dear reader, because this is where I'm going to try getting to the point. None of what follows is new or original if you've ever been around debates about community arts/participatory arts/socially engaged arts practice, but perhaps it will serve as something to point people towards when they ask me the What are you doing here? question. And hopefully it can open up some blog contributions and conversations based on actual practice in the field, to illustrate and add depth to some of what I'm about to merely skate over. This is my own take on things, as someone who firmly believes that there's a place for creative engagement practice across the whole spectrum of policy themes and social agendas touched on in my last post (and more besides). What's yours?

The artists who do the kinds of 'creative engagement' work that Loca Creatives is about bring not only all the fairly obvious and readily understood creative assets and practical skills but also facilitation techniques, tools and processes which are devised and delivered with thought, care and expertise so that people find them appealing, inclusive and non-threatening. Such artists are adept at using those skills, techniques and processes to facilitate conversations and interactions, giving people ways of exploring, expressing and exchanging ideas and views that they might otherwise struggle to articulate. They gather people's personal stories and experiences and re-tell them so that a light is shined upon them and they can be witnessed by others. They offer accessible, engaging ways of asking questions and investigating issues and possible solutions, and in so doing they enable people to see, think, debate and imagine in new ways.

Artists who are skilled in creative engagement have enticing, canny ways of inviting and welcoming people to join in, of bringing them across the threshold and making it safe to take part. They work in ways intended to ensure that people feel not only able to contribute but also that their contributions are significant and valued, and they put a commitment to 'co-authoring' at the heart of their practice so that processes and outcomes are developed with and genuinely owned by the people they are working with. They create neutral spaces for people to come together in, often across difference and in ways that enable people to both explore that difference and to discover the shared interests and experiences that connect them.

I'm not done yet. Artists bring design skills and design quality - to temporary and permanent physical spaces, yes, but also to processes and to ways of presenting information and ideas. They are generally very generous about sharing practical skills, know-how, resources and ideas - all things that people can take away and use. They offer people enjoyable creative and collective experiences, through making and doing, that result in feelings of achievement, pride and self-validation and sometimes even stretch people to places they never dreamed they would dare to go - often seeds from which people begin to feel that it's possible for them to do other things in their lives and communities that they perhaps hadn't imagined themselves capable of. And they create communal 'happenings' which bring people together for celebration, fun and connection-making in ways that strengthen their sense of belonging to place and/or community.

The artists we work with investigate, capture, record, reflect, analyse and interpret - constantly throughout the course of any given project and in ways that generate rich documentation, evidence, information and insights which can be put to further uses. They are often natural and enthusiastic collaborators who are interested in and inspired by opportunities not only to collaborate with other 'creatives' but also to work in inter-disciplinary ways - and in our experience the combining of artists' creative specialisms with the skills and specialist knowledge of other personnel on a project always makes for a rich, more multi-skilled team approach. Last but not least, the artists we work with (and of course many, many others besides) bring endless energy and commitment, a love of challenge, curiosity about people and a love of working with people in group situations, frequently without quite knowing where things are going to go and without being scared of that uncertainty - all attributes that make them willing and well-equipped to work at the sharp end and in situations that many other professionals would balk at.

Now I'm not for a moment saying that every project or every artist does all those things, but some of those ingredients will always be present in every one of Loca Creatives' projects. And I'm certainly not suggesting that artists and artist-led processes per se provide the solutions to the big social change agendas sketched out in my last post. But what I do say is this: artists who choose to work in particular, socially engaged ways bring skills, experience, qualities, values and approaches which help make big changes happen, because the ways in which they work create the conditions in which people can begin to see, talk about and believe in the possibilities - for themselves, their communities, their organisations and services. In that sense, artists and the creative engagement projects and interventions they design and deliver can - frequently do - act as catalysts for change, by opening new doorways to walk through and enabling people to take the first steps towards making transformative things happen, both big and small.

There, that's that off my chest. It hasn't got me any closer to finding the diamond phrase I started searching for as a replacement for 'Arts and regeneration' but it has seeded some ideas for guest blog posts, to spotlight and drill deeper into some of the angles and illustrate some of what I've been talking about with some real-life examples. I'm off to seek some out right now, so if you've got possible contributions and suggestions to send my way please do get in touch.

 

CREATIVE PRACTICE AND SOCIAL CHANGE: Part 2 - Grappling with the big stuff

by Tracy Shaw, Loca Creatives Director

 

As I was saying last time, I'm a little preoccupied at the moment with the challenge of explaining, in succinct and persuasive ways, how the kind of 'creative engagement' practice that is at the heart of Loca Creatives' work actually contributes to big-picture social change agendas. The succinct bit's still eluding me, so I'm working on persuasive instead.

Since 'Arts and regeneration' became a label for a broadly defined but particular field of practice - somewhere back in the nineties - the policies and agendas that regeneration links to, and the language around them, have of course shifted. Quite rightly the creative practice has evolved to keep pace. Yet it strikes me that despite shifting agendas and practice there are some constants about how and why artists contribute - not in marginal or icing-on-the-cake ways but fundamentally and crucially - to the big regeneration-related issues and themes of the moment. I thought I'd spend this post setting the scene, then follow up next time with my own takes on what's special, powerful and often unique about what artists bring. It would be great if that prompted a bit of a conversation and some other perspectives - do feel free, it's all grist to the mill and you may unwittingly become the finder of the diamond.

So for starters let's take a scoot round some of the current big themes. Localism, neighbourhood planning, housing improvement, placemaking, revitalising town centres. Active citizenship, asset-based community development, community resilience. Co-design and co-production, participative democracy (along with concepts such as 'co-operative councils' and local authorities as enablers rather than patrician providers). Tackling worklessness, troubled families, aspiration, narrowing the attainment gap. Immigration, integration, inter-culturalism. Health inequalities, mental health and wellbeing generally, young people's mental and emotional health specifically. Sustainable living, environmental responsibility, re-connecting with nature. Spot the ones I've missed. All of course set against a backdrop of 'doing more with less'; poverty on the rise; a general sense of disaffection with - if not alienation from - political processes, decision-making and public services on the part of many; and a generation of young people struggling to see any prospects for themselves or any way of turning their aspirations into reality.

Put like that it's not hard to understand the bemused looks I get from people at (non-arts) meetings and conferences who've come along to talk about big social policy stuff and wonder what a company that does 'arts and regen' or 'creative engagement' has to do with any of it. But hang on, those people. Isn't it the case that we're also gathered here to think about the barriers that need dismantling and the resources that need nurturing amongst people and within communities whose participation as active stakeholders is a pre-requisite for making in-roads with those big agendas? The language we use may vary, but in the kinds of forums I'm referring to aren't we usually grappling with how to achieve the conditions for some or all of the following?

• New kinds of relationships between citizens/residents on the one hand and local government and services on the other, and therefore: different organisational behaviours and more creative ways of thinking, acting and communicating; building trust, mutual respect, collaboration and co-operation; service providers being more comfortable with the notion that people who use local services and live in local places are experts with invaluable views, ideas and experiences. 

• Removing obstacles to engagement: ordinary people feeling involved, responsible and motivated because they feel able to contribute regardless of circumstance, confidence or ability; people feeling listened to; people feeling effective because they see that they have influenced things in ways that make some lasting difference. 

• Connections, pride and belonging: people in communities who feel connected enough - to each other and to the place where they live - to want to be involved in collective action, whether in big ways or through small-scale actions that change and improve things at the 'hyper-local' level; communities where people feel a strong enough sense of shared identity and local pride to want to join with others to make their services, neighbourhoods and spaces better. 

• Vision, aspirations and creative thinking: people able to see things in new ways, dream dreams, imagine new ways of doing things, come up with inventive solutions, contribute to service design and place design, feel part of a shared agenda for change that has personal meaning and relevance.

• Quality spaces: spaces that say people are valued, and that look as if people take pride in them; spaces that contribute to local identity, are conducive to individual and community wellbeing, and to social interaction and bonding.

• Care and respect - for self in the first instance, because unless you care for and respect yourself how can you begin to want to make your own circumstances better or improve the services, facilities and spaces around you? And how can you begin to care for and respect the people you live alongside, or community and society, or the planet? Or want to make the shift from Me to We and have a positive impact on the wider world?

I don't know about you but I'm seeing some key words in all of that. Collaboration. Contribution. Trust. Optimism. Confidence. Curiosity. Listening. Imagination. Vision. Design. Pride. Achievement. Self-belief. Identity. Connections. Belonging. Interaction. Relationships. Conversations. Empathy. Care. Hmmm... I'm thinking this musing about how to articulate the ways in which artists and specialist creative practice contribute to the big social change agendas of our times might just be going somewhere. I'll be back for more, hopefully with you on board and itching to take the steering wheel.

FAMILY EGGCITEMENT - AND A DOG CALLED JEFF

Ask anyone where Community and Home start and odds-on they'll say 'family'. As the Easter holidays come to an end and the window for cracking naff egg jokes closes we thought we'd slip in a glimpse at a current project. The Crow's Nest is a programme of family-focused activities developed for Crow Lane primary school in Huddersfield, who asked us to help with a number of connected issues: offering under-confident children different ways of engaging with learning; attracting parents into school and strengthening their sense of connection with it; creating time and space for families to spend 'quality time' together; providing opportunities for local families to enjoy meeting and interacting; fostering a sense of community within and around the school as a neighbourhood 'hub'. Ideas around nurturing, growing, caring for and supporting were central to our initial planning, leading us quickly to the nest image as the hook for a 6-month programme themed around family and community and - yes - simply doing fun, creative things together.  



Lucy Bergman picks up the thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the past few weeks and through to July, I'm one of small team of Loca Creatives artists working at Crow Lane school to deliver a programme of regular after-school, Saturday and holiday family sessions. In everything we're doing we're weaving in practical skills and ideas that parents and children can take away and carry on using together, conversations, and notions about family as the place where 'belonging' and 'community' start.

 

This week James and I have hosted holiday workshops teaching families the basics of willow sculpture - a starting point for nest-making and other fabric-based, printing and decorating activities over the coming weeks which will all feed into a celebratory 'Field of Flags' event in the summer. We've had a brilliant couple of days and even felt the first signs of spring on Wednesday when the sun came out to shine on us. We've made starry wands, sunflowers, tall towers, houses for tiny tigers, ten gallon cowgirl hats and even a dog called Jeff! It's been great to see the parents relaxed, sharing cups of tea and chatting whilst making a whole array of fabulous and fantastical art with their children. James also prepared a brilliant egg hunt with 144 eggs, half of which had different fun activities hidden inside for the lucky hunters to take away and do (as well, of course, as chocolate treats!).

 

Here's what some of the parents have had to say about joining in so far:

"My son doesn't normally speak to people but he took to James straight away and my daughter loves Christina" [one of the artists]

"We get a lot out of coming, mostly it's about making my children happy because at home we spend a lot of time telling them what they can't do. Here it's about everything they can do"

"It's such a friendly atmosphere"

"Yes, part of coming is because it's something to do, but it's something different. I get involved in a lot of things at school but if I don't think it's worth my while I don't come back. I've been coming to these sessions since the beginning and haven't missed any of them" 

 

HOW CREATIVE PRACTICE PUTS PEOPLE AT THE HEART OF CHANGE: Part 1 - Searching for the diamond

by Tracy Shaw, Loca Creatives Director

 

We've been spending a lot of time lately making connections in one way and another - getting out and about for meetings, conversations and seed-sowing; reading and digesting; dipping into loads of topical and interesting stuff on Twitter; showing up at conferences and seminars. Our work aims to contribute to a wide spread of social agendas and 'big themes' and trying to keep in touch with them all is a stimulating challenge. Too stimulating sometimes - all this connection-making generates platefuls of food for thought and sets the brain buzzing with links to be made, debates to plug into, cases to find a cogent way of articulating.

Just in the past week or so food for thought has come from being at a couple of cross-sector events whose focus was absolutely not about arts or creativity and where - with a couple of honourable exceptions at one of the gatherings - Loca Creatives was , so far as I could tell, the only attender with an arts hat on. In those kinds of forums, where professionals and voluntary/community sector representatives have converged to talk about - for example - the Troubled Families agenda, or how to engage people in disadvantaged communities in caring for the places where they live, it's not uncommon to be met with a blank or bemused look when people clock the name of your organisation on your lapel badge. There's been many a time - on introducing myself and what I do in a breakout group - when I could swear I heard the metallic tinkle of a pin dropping to the floor. I rarely sit in one of those forums asking 'What am I doing here?' because there are always worthwhile things to take from them and, I hope, useful things to contribute; but I do often sense an unspoken 'What are you doing here?'

Being at those recent events brought home to me that despite many years spent championing - and helping to put into practice - the kinds of work that Loca Creatives stands for, I've not yet mastered the art of conveying it in a soundbite. 'Arts and regeneration' sometimes gets close with people who know something about that field, but for most ears it's a wholly inadequate phrase for conveying the principles, practice and broad - very broad - applicability of our work to a wide range of policy themes and social issues. It's something to continue working on, methinks. Not so long ago I listened to a speaker at an event (one attended by lots of arts people, as it happens) challenging the audience to 'find your diamond' - the attention-grabbing and memorable three- or four-word phrase that sells you and your USP. Loca Creatives needs an equivalent.

In the meantime, having a blog provides a bit more of an unlimited space in which to try and articulate that which cannot be said in a soundbite, so I'm going to devote the next couple of posts to just that. (Actually it's got potential to be a whole thesis and I'm sure there are many people out there who've done brilliant work in that respect - if any of you are reading, we'd love a guest blog post.) See you next time - hopefully spring will be with us by then.