- Less ‘for’ communities and more ‘with’ communities
- Involving communities from the start
- Creative People and Places model of sharing power and multiplying leadership (there are evaluation reports etc on this you can get more info from)
- Models of community programming and community leadership need to be sustained and this takes resource. When the funding ends this activity often ends so need to focus on how to make them sustainable
- Giving over or sharing control can feel challenging to an organisation but it is vital to effective engagement
- It is important to build trust and again this benefits from a longer term approach
- A model of engagement led programming where artists are embedded in the community and build relationships before choosing what to programme. Step 1. Engage with community and identify interests. Step 2. Programme to meet these interests (often happens the other way round where you programme based on what you ‘think’ a community wants and then try and find the community) Step 3. Those involved in the initial engagement support reaching audiences in that community for the show itself
- We just went there, to the estate, and spoke to people there. It was a gradual transition from volunteers in the community helping us put on one show (all aspects of producing, not just reaching audiences) to programming together, to the community producers being paid through funding we supported them to access and setting up their own CIC which now runs as a sister organisation. This is staff and resource intensive and needs a long term commitment but it has very strong outcomes and avoids things feeling parachuted in.
- The benefit to the community needs to be the key driver, not just what the organisation wants. To do it well the intention needs to be genuine and there needs to be a commitment from the organisation as a whole to understand why it’s important. This sometimes needs a ‘PR’ approach to other staff members if you’re driving it from the side/ bottom of the org. If this activity is carried out by one ‘community engagement/ education’ member of staff the impact will not be the same. The fundamentals of programming, who for, why etc need to be really truly questioned
- ‘Unfolding Theatre’ working on projects which can engage across communities- shared interests e.g. friendships across the divide
- Challenges when working on project funding basis. Identify the overall programme of work and then stick project funding together to keep the continuity.
- Strike A Light’s co-creating change project- Team of community promoters who are paid for their time. An equal balance of events programmed by SAL, selected by the community promoters, and events that are produced from scratch by the community promoters to explore (not pre-decided) what a programme with and for Gloucester’s Black communities would look like. Sharing leadership and resource
- The importance of valuing people’s time. Not expecting communities to do for free what you get paid for. Paying as freelancers can be tricky and payment can affect benefits etc so Creative People and Places schemes and RSC outreach have both used vouchers effectively as payment e.g. local shops vouchers, Amazon vouchers etc. Value of voucher proportional to scale of work undertaken.
- Need to consider what communities actually want to achieve. It needs to align with what we want to achieve, not just arts orgs deciding it. We can’t impose this.
- Fuel have community producers
- B-Side Festival curated a 3 week festival WHY festival by young people in Weymouth, which is a great example of where this has worked really well
- If working with young people as programmers etc need to sustain relationships with them and ensure support. Balance between structure and guidance so they can achieve something great and letting them try things that may not work etc.
- Young producer projects work well running several times to allow previous ones to lead and support others and acknowledge that this kind of stuff takes time to learn.
- Community performance and performers working in professional spaces with a professional creative team. Leaving a legacy e.g. teaching people in a remote Scottish island to use the lighting desk they had and creating a lighting design with them
- Norwich Theatres have put significant investment and have a big staff team for their community programming. Even though they are commercial theatre they see this as a way to be successful as an organisation. Different communities working together e.g. University of East Anglia students working with LGBTQ+ groups, refugee groups and other community groups across multiple projects in the theatres
- Participation is key. Engaging young people and families. Families watching their children perform.
- Those who get to tell their stories are most invested in the programme
- In Sweden the Rikstheatre have the following model: 1. Organisatons (rural venues etc) across the country sign up to be part of it 2. 15 shows are decided for touring as a menu 3. The delegates from each organisation sign up for a central event where they watch extracts of the shows and decide what they want to programme. 4. There is an assembly of members of each organisation, including audience members who come together annually and vote on the board of directors and decide the creative direction of the organisation.
- Age against the Machine @ The Albany: Festival of creative learning. Older people as artists as well as older community performers and audience. Art in public community spaces e.g. Deptford Market.
- Being outside or in different spaces means you reach audiences venues can only dream of. Outdoor opera where 20% of audience were manual labourers. The place makes the performance.
- Budgets needs to be structured differently from the outset. Marketing budget reallocated to paying community members to promote events- much more effective than traditional marketing. Marketing budget reallocated to outdoor production to negate lack of ticket sales
- Streetwise Opera
- Eric Booth manifesto and papers on extensive experience of working with communities, combining arts, teaching and community building. https://ericbooth.net/category/learning/
- Engage with a community as a whole. What are the social issues? How can arts address that?
- Training community leaders and sharing skills makes it more sustainable
- Be clear with people whether it will last or not.
- Tap into what’s already happening in that community. How can you support that. A small amount of money/ support can then have a bigger impact.
Thanks for all the suggestions and sharing
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