knitting together arts and social change

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Knitting together

Arts And sociAlchAnge Jocelyn Cunningham


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Knitting Together Arts and Social Change completes a set o vecase studies on the Arts and Social Change programme withinCitizen Power Peterborough, a two and a hal year partnershipbetween Peterborough City Council, Arts Council England, East,the RSA and the citizens o Peterborough. There are a suite opapers, evaluations and lms to be ound on the RSA website.This document will not repeat the intentions o those documents

nor act as an advocate or the programme. It is instead, a callto arms that arises rom the learning in Arts and Social Changeand is directed towards local policy makers and those in the artscommunities with the view that this particular partnership is sorelyneeded or a thriving society.

This paper explores how the arts can open up new ways o workingwhich impact upon social capital, the identity o a place and ourattachment to it and encourage active citizenship. It argues or acentral role in ensuring sustainable systemic change and oersexamples o how creative practice strengthens a willingness orpeople to engage with each other and build co-productive behaviour,and critically refects on the challenges uncovered by this kindo work. O course, innovation is about understanding barriersand stopping what is not working as much as about trying newthings. One o the key lessons rom the Citizen Power programmeand other similarly ambitious programmes lies in the consistentunderestimation o the resistance to innovation and change.

This paper explores some o the ways we need to take thisresistance on board through how we invite new interventions intoplaces to address challenges and the need to build legacy in romthe outset with all the key actors engaged in re-imagining newscenarios and solutions. It explores the conditions that are necessaryto sustain new kinds o creative partnerships between the artsand public sectors and stresses that sustainability or any inspiringarts project relies upon the active participation o those alreadyworking within the public arena. It nishes with a set o practicalrecommendations. An impatient reader may wish to skip straight tothese recommendations and take advantage o the many resourcesin the ootnotes and appendix.

executive summAry

Knitting Together Arts and Social Change has arisen rom aremarkable number o stimulating conversations over my tenure asDirector o Arts at the RSA. The inspiration and genesis o the ideasin this paper have these conversations to thank most hearteltly. It hasalso beneted rom the critique and encouragement rom Georgina

Chateld and Edwin Mingard (who were part o the team o Arts andSociety at the RSA).

This paper has hugely drawn upon the expertise and wisdom rommany in the elds o arts, education, policy innovation and politicaltheory and rom a wide and rich experience in how things work onthe ground. My grateul thanks to the ollowing group o generouspeople who have oered their time and thoughts towards this work:Paul Buddery, RSA and 2020 Public Services, Jonathan Petherbridge,London Bubble Theatre Company, Tom Andrews, People United, JoTrowsdale, Warwick University, Tim Joss, Rayne Foundation, JonathanBarnes, Christchurch Canterbury University, Peter Tyas, WiltshireCouncil, Mark Roberts, De Montort University and my daughter,Malaika Cunningham, Sheeld University and The Bare Project.

A special thanks to all o the artists and people who took part inArts and Social Change in Peterborough and Citizen Power colleaguesand partners.

Jocelyn CunninghamArts and Societywww.artsandsociety.co.uk

Knitting Together Arts and Social Change supplements the ve casestudies on the Arts and Social Change programme written by RichardIngs and available at: http://www.thersa.org/action-research-centre/public-services-arts-social-change/citizen-power/arts-and-social-change


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Case study 6 | Knitting Together Arts and Social Change | 54 | Case study 6 | Knitting Together Arts and Social Change

Introduction 6

The Arts and Social Change Programme 12

Why Bother Working with Creative Practice? 16

The Art o Invitation 22

Meeting in the Middle 27

Cultural Ecologies 29

Whose Culture Change? 31

Conditions or Generating New Kinds o Capabilities 34

Next Steps 38

Useul Resources 43

Useul Websites 44

The gradual systemic shit rom industrial and transactionalmodels (arts products or consumption) to knowledge basedones (experiences and partnerships) has prooundly opened upopportunities or creative practitioners. There are now increasingnumbers o arts organisations that have long-term relationshipswith both a local authority and an academic institution and arecapable o acting as a kind o laboratory and meeting place or newapproaches. Over the lietime o the Citizen Power programme, ithas become clear that there is a real appetite in the public sectoror working in creative ways to nd new solutions. This requiresa strategic and holistic view, and not a piecemeal approach thataddresses a particular social challenge through exciting and eectiveprojects (be they arts or otherwise) but then ail to embed within

delivery systems. What role can our understanding o artisticprocesses play in evolving creative solutions as a part o systemic

change and how can the application o this understanding bringbenets back to all who take part? This paper explores thesekey questions and argues or placing the underlying dynamics ostrong creative practice at the oreront o systemic social change.The papers connecting threads assert the art in invitation andengagement and stress the importance o dierent sectorsinvestigating shared values and outcomes. It perceives a place asa creative ecology in which each part aects another. Much as allthis might seem ridiculously optimistic and even unrealistic in thesetimes, it oers some simple steps to start on this long-term journeyto a positive uture. We have to start as we mean to go on, notcontinually x what we knew was inadequate at the beginning.

For creativity to truly act as a generator o lasting change, we needto be able to tell a collective story about value and this is hopeullybeginning to happen in the cultural sector within many initiatives. Butbeyond the narrative and new more robust and inclusive orms oevaluation, we must develop a willingness to work with the other,because this brings whichever sector we work and create within,meaning and dare I say it, some joy.

We have to start as we mean to go on,

not continually fx what we knew was

inadequate at the beginning.

contents


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The twentieth century has transormedthe entire planet rom a nite world o

certainties to an innite world o questioningand doubt. So i ever there was a need tostimulate creative imagination and initiativeon the part o individuals, communities andwhole societies the time is now. The notiono creativity can no longer be restricted tothe arts. It must be applied across the ullspectrum o human problem-solving.

World Commission on Culture and Development1

Knitting Together Arts and Social Change arises rom thelearning in the Arts and Social Change programme in CitizenPower Peterborough, a two and a hal year partnership betweenPeterborough City Council, Arts Council England, East, theRoyal Society or the Encouragement o Arts, Manuacturesand Commerce (RSA) and the people who worked with us.Arts and Social Change aimed to improve citizen participation inPeterborough, but it was also an action research project aimingto create new ways o working through and with the arts andunderstand the underlying conditions that lead to systemic change.During the same period, the Arts and Society department within theRSAs Action and Research Centre initiated roundtables and otherprojects that responded to the many current debates concerningarts and social change that explored how artists, academics, policy

1 From web summary o WCCD Our Creative Diversity. UNESCO 1995. See: http://

portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=15019&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SEC-

TION=201.html

Knitting together

Arts And sociAl

chAngeintroduction

makers and citizens could reshape models o collaboration. Thispaper emerges rom the learning and activity during the lietime oArts and Society at the RSA.

Creative practice can create and support innovative collaborationsthat, in turn, tackle intransigent social challenges but it is necessaryto critically refect on the many dimensions such work uncovers. Thispaper will address how the Arts and Social Change programme andsimilar socially engaged arts programmes can oster and maintainthe conditions or collaboratively created and sustainable change andwill outline the key components and advantages o such work. Theprogramme lay within the context o a local authority that wishedto address these issues and urthermore, supported the arts as aneective methodology to do so and therein lay a core element o its

infuence and success.

This paper is written primarily or the two key partners in the Artsand Social Change programme in Citizen Power: those deliveringpublic services at a local level and those that are part o a localcultural ecology, in particular, the arts communities, in appreciationthat there is not a common language and set o reerences. Thesekinds o partnerships are not easy. They are necessarily complexbecause they represent prooundly dierent ways o working and

Participants at a Creative Gathering in Peterborough

use images to refect on an issue


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thinking. The mantra about excellence, the last 15 years o ocusupon value, be this economic or social and the consultancy culturehave been debilitating or many reasons but a combination o allo these actors has prevented us looking at partnerships in waysthat allow all partners to oer and learn. What i we simply had adierent starting point? In these times o multiple crises, is therealso an opportunity or using our imaginations more collectively, notas problem solvers or inspirers but as partners working alongside?Knitting Together Arts and Social Change is a policy refectionbased on experience and builds upon national and internationaltheory and evidence in hopes that this will supply rereshing andrelevant resources or those seeking new ways o doing things. I willclose with some recommendations or ways orward or local policy

makers and the arts communities.I we are going to tackle reinventing local services, do we not alsoneed to take seriously the capabilities that lead to imaginative

solutions and collaborative behaviour? Is it not critical or us as asociety in grave need o re-imagining, not to lose this opportunityand resource? This is not to suggest that our collaborative capacitiesare entirely dependent upon our imaginative ones, but rather tohighlight and re-position the value o the imagination and working increative ways to create change.

A society in which arts practice is not endemic risks itsuture. The support o proessional artists is a laudablepolicy but ar more important is oering all citizens, and

their ospring, the opportunity to actively participate inarts practice to make their own culture.2

There is a remarkable opportunity in these uncertain and nanciallyanxious times or artists to reshape a space or new ways o doingthings in the public arena; to bring what is known rom creativepractice and introduce these approaches to those attempting to ndways o collaborating, innovating, and nding imaginative solutions.Initiatives such as participatory decision-making oer remarkableopportunities or local people, elected representatives, and council

2 J Hawkes. The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability. Cultural Development Network. Victoria

Australia 2001.

There is an urgent need to develop the

capacity to imagine the world as otherwise Shelagh Smith at a Creative Gathering in Peterboroughexploring an issue in the city rom many perspectives

and public sector ocials to work together but need the skills thatcreative practice can generate.

There is an urgent need to develop the capacity to imagine theworld as otherwise.3 With this imperative to collaborate, be iteconomically, politically or creatively driven, the arts and publicsectors have much to oer each other. They also share similarchallenges and endemic ears.4 Only new orms o genuinecollaboration and dierent working habits will enable the breakdowno siloed working practices to actually happen. There is a distinct

opportunity or multiple intersections between the cultural sector andeveryone else; less about individual projects to service needs andmore about a dierent kind o on-going dialogue. This can also beabout claiming a role or the artist as a citizen and civic leader anddeveloping a localised civic creativity where citizen, artist and publicsector ocial exercise their own creativity. In order to do this, itwould be necessary to:

3 Many academics have reerred to this concept, chiey John Dewey, Maxine Greene and

many in the feld o aesthetic education.

4 Arts Councils North East regional director Alison Jenkins-Clark reers to the ear o

homogenisation in the growing cultural consortia in http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-pro-

essionals-network/culture-proessionals-blog/2012/may/21/cultural-consortia-liverpool-new-

castle-gateshead?INTCMP=SRCH


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10 | Case study 6 | Knitting Together Arts and Social Change

address culture change (in part through the arts andcreative practice) with local policy makers and publicservice leaders

re-calibrate traditional views and methodologies oengagement (rom policy and arts perspectives) and

examine the capabilities needed to unlock imaginativeresponses to change

A mighty and complex agenda indeed and one that Arts and SocialChange sought to understand better in order to create the conditionsthat could generate such ambition.

Dame Liz Forgan, ormer Chair o Arts Council England openedthe rst State o the Arts conerence in 2010 saying We must ndpartners we never knew we had. The uture needs to be aboutnding partners (the word partners is used to imply co-creators asopposed to those who und only) who may seem initially unlikelyas playmates but together can generate rich artistic and socialoutcomes. This was a central ocus o our work in the Arts andSocial Change programme and required courage and a willingness toleave the amiliar behind or all partners. It is through arts and socialchange that new ways o responding to our wide variety o globalcrises may emerge. Ater all, we know that the old ways do notwork, nor do the tired debates lead to change. There are too manycircular arguments. This paper will unpick some o the ideas thatlead to this call or change rom a consciously hopeul perspective.Disillusionment leads us nowhere and the arts oer hope, not only toothers but also to ourselves.

The Arts and Social Change project explored the role o arts andimagination in creating new connections between people and wherethey live in order to strengthen participation in community lie inPeterborough.

creAtive gAtherings (building an inclusive network olocally based creative practitioners)

experiments in plAce mAKing (locally based artistsworking within ne ighbourhoods)

diAlogue in Action (public sector innovation with locallybased artists)

context mAtters (two artists selected and hosted by twovoluntary groups)

mAde in peterborough (two commissions bookendingCitizen Power)

tAlKing Arts (curated events o relevance to the citysaspirations)

the emissAry project (exchanging practice with relevantarts practitioners across the U.K.)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

the7sub-projects

To deliver high qualitycreative experiencesthrough the artsthat builds andextends community

engagement (andsocial capital)

To support and build asel-sustaining networko locally based artistswho can both contributeto the artistic aspirations

o Peterborough and playan active role in the artscommunity regionally andnationally

To oster an appetiteto establish thecity as a place orcreative engagement

the primAry Aims:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


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challenges or replicability and scaling up however these can besurmounted i attention is on the process and not the project itsel.

Creative practice draws on the thinking, process and structureso the arts (meaning all art orms) as channels and catalysts orprompting new ways o working, learning and being in the worldhowever this does not imply that all creative practitioners wouldbe artists. And o course, not all artists wish to be translators opractice. The wider cultural community (comprising voluntary groupsand networks, museums and libraries) play a part in this as well.

Toby Lowe o Helix Arts9 denes a community as a group o peoplewho share identity-orming narratives, a denition which lends itselwell to exploring a more complex environment o multiple motivations

or engagement. Peter Block denes civic engagement as actionthrough which citizens join in new conversations that have thecapacity to alter the uture.10 This interpretation o engagementhighlights action, new ways o working and imagining things tobe otherwise, all characteristics o working with creative practice.Collaborative creative activity can act as the primary buildingblock or:

developing connections (especially between those whomight not normally engage with each other)

strengthening a sense o purpose and personal meaning

encouraging civic engagement and a willingness to

change thingsIt has the capacity to change the rules o engagement in how wework together and this paper will describe some o the many waysit does this, not diminishing the vital motivating actor o it beinginviting and joyul.

Arts and Social Change created a scaolding structure around thesekey ideas in order to aect change, with each project oering adierent approach to achieving the Citizen Power aims o increased

9 Toby Lowe, CEO o Helix Arts in Newcastle outlines principles or participatory arts

projects in www.helixarts.com//Helix%20Arts%20Quality%20Framework%20

10 P Block. Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community. A Small Group 2007.

A summary o the aims and projects within the Arts and SocialChange programme are on the previous page. We wished to explorethe intersections between the arts and citizenship; what it means tobelong in a place and connect with others in order to make it better.We didnt want it to be a series o disconnected arts projects, nora research project that used the arts, but a strategic programmethat explored practical and imaginative tools or working together

to create positive social change or both the arts and non-artscommunities.

Arts and Social Change adopted the long-standing principles romsocially engaged arts practice to achieve these aims. This practiceembodies the principle that we all have the capacity, need, right,responsibility and desire to be actively involved in making our ownculture.5 The capacity or creativity lies with everyone and is notunique to the arts. It is equally undamental in all areas o everydaylie. Some urther denitions might be useul to contextualise howthese terms are being used. A starting point would be Sir KenRobinsons denition o creativity as imaginative activity ashionedso as to produce outcomes that are both original and o value.6Robinson expands on the concept o imaginative activity as beingessentially generative; in which we attempt to expand on thepossibilities o a given situation; to look at it aresh or rom a newperspective, envisaging alternatives to the routine or expected.Creativity also arises through diverse components coming together

in new patterns. The creative act does not create something outo nothing; it uncovers, selects, re-shufes, combines, synthesizesalready existing acts, ideas, aculties, skills. The more amiliar theparts, the more striking the new whole.7 The creative process isnot about the application o a ormula8 and thereore can present

5 J Hawkes. Why This Stuff is Important. CANWA 2012. see www.canwa.com.au

6 K Robinson. All our Futures. National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural

Education 1999. See: www.sirkenrobinson.com/skr/pd/allourutures.pd

7 A Koestler. The Act of Creation. Penguin Group.1964.

8 Je Barnum in Social Sculpture: Enabling Society to Change Itselfbuilds on this idea

o artistic process as necessarily emergent. See http://jebarnum.com/writing/social-sculp-

ture-enabling-society-change-itsel

It has the capacity to change the rules o

engagement in how we work together

About Arts And sociAl

chAnge


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civic participation, innovation and a stronger sense o belonging.The programme also addressed two key themes alongside thesedrivers: supporting the development o networks and strengtheninga local capacity or partnerships. Each project aimed to create aneective invited disturbance 11 that addressed social outcomes andwas grounded in strong artistic practice. Perhaps a unique aspecto Arts and Social Change was the requirement to have infuencewithin three distinct groups o people: the local arts community, thecitizens in the city and those in local government and service delivery.In short, most o it worked, some o it struggled hard to work andone project is still being negotiated to be realised;12 each o theseprojects is an interesting story with much to learn in its own right,but what is more important is that Citizen Power was committed to

learning, experimenting and generating the conditions or change inPeterborough as opposed to delivering change itsel.

At the beginning o the Citizen Power programme, the RSApublished a pamphlet on Arts Funding and the Big Society13 leadingwith the notion o re-inventing instrumentalism and asking Howcan the arts build individual and community engagement, resilienceand reciprocity? and We need to think more deeply about howto re-imagine engagement. The re-imagining o how to buildthese capabilities lay at the core o every project in Arts and SocialChange. So oten this maniested itsel in a greater willingness tosay yes to something new and dierent. A prominent local galleryowner attended one o the Talking Arts events we produced andaterwards said that she almost didnt come, that she had becomeused to always saying no, that Peterborough had become a placethat said no, no point. But at the last minute she thought why not,was glad she did and expressed that she elt this was happeningacross the city. A place where yes was being said more requently;

a deceptively simple but overlooked dynamic.The Arts and Social Change programme was launched at aparticularly noteworthy moment when local authorities were grapplingwith how to increase meaningul civic engagement at the sametime as quickly needing to learn how to collaborate more eectivelyto deliver more or less. The need or the arts community to buildresilience and strengthen collaboration also became more urgent

11 Interestingly, a term used by both arts and public policy commentators.

12 Please see the fve case studies on the Arts and Social Change programme at http://

www.thersa.org/action-research-centre/public-services-arts-social-change/citizen-power/arts-

and-social-change

13 J Knell, M Taylor. Arts Funding, Austerity and the Big Society: Remaking the case for the

arts. RSA 2011.

with wholesale cuts to both programmes and companies. The trickwas to nd new approaches to working together, artists and publicservants, or mutual benet.

Participants at a Creative Gathering explored what not

to do to enable change


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I knowledge were only rational, humanitywould not have invented art.

The Art o Uncertainty14

Many would argue that in strained unding climates, anything todo with the arts could be seen to be rivolous. In times o crisis,the arts underpin human capital and economic growth through

stimulating our imagination and build our capacity or innovationand resilience. As we shit ever more decisively into a knowledgeand experienced-based economy, we need to build our capacity

or creativity in all walks o lie. Rather than divisive arguments thatseek unding or one area rather than another, is it not time to seekwhat advantages we gain by working with our existing innovativeassets? The traditional model o arts organisations delivering coreprogramming with public engagement as an outreach mechanismhas marginalised the concept o culture and denied theorists andpractitioners an extremely eective tool.15 It has also been divisive inthe arts community; those that do socially engaged or participatorypractice and those that dont.

As Matarasso critiques in The Art o Uncertainty, the belie thatwe all act rationally in predictable systems has been well and trulydemolished with the economic crises. Nevertheless, this notion thatintervening in a social context with an arts or cultural interventiono whatever shape will result in a single (or predictable) outcomepersists. As public services shit urther away rom a target culturetowards one o shared outcomes, there are opportunities or the artssector to contribute towards a more sophisticated agenda. What i

14 F Matarasso. The Art of Uncertainty, Version 4.4. 2010. http://web.me.com/matarasso

15 Hawkes 2001 Op cit

creative practice provided a rame or shared experiences that coulddevelop the skillsets necessary or co-creation and the capabilitiesneeded or tackling intransigent problems? Three well-documentedeatures o creative practice, those o making meaning, innovativecommunication channels and attitudinal change are illustrated in twoexamples rom Peterborough.

In the project Experiments in Place Making, two artists workedwith a neighbourhood manager to address a signicant lack ocommunity engagement in one particular street in the city. Theartists delivered a series o cards with a single word written on each(love, community, hope, aith and goodwill) to each household inthe middle o the night. A letter asked each householder to placethe word in their window, which held the most meaning or them,

much as one might request pints o milk not so long ago. There wasa surprisingly high uptake o this oer and perhaps unsurprisingly,no one put up the word community. The project created a startingpoint or action in community engagement, but more importantly,it oered a new kind o experience or all concerned to view eachother and how community is communicated. In another project,the Innovation Forum, civic leaders were taking part in a orum thattook place in the local museum. Each was asked to explore theuse o metaphor in examining the ways curators had engaged withthe public on the museums arteacts and investigate how these

strategies might apply to their work with the public. I remember apowerul conversation with a leader o regeneration in the city as hewas inspired by the cast o a dinosaur, which led him to ponder thelong-term implications o the decisions o his department. In bothcases, the playulness that lay at the heart o the activities invitednew perspectives.

Through these activities it is not possible to control the meaningthat is generated however experiences in the arts can createpersonal discoveries that ultimately belong to the discoverersthemselves and lead to a deeper sense o ownership. Both projects

In times o crisis, the arts underpin human

capital and economic growth through

stimulating our imagination and build our

capacity or innovation and resilience.

What i creative practice provided a rame

or shared experiences that could develop

the skillsets necessary or co-creation

and the capabilities needed or tackling

intransigent problems?

Why bother WorKing With

creAtive prActice?


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created experiences or people that led to new ways o seeingsomething, alternate orms o communicating that in turn, led todierent actions.16 Murray Edelman in From Art to Politics suggeststhat because art creates something dierent rom conventionalperceptions, works o art are the medium through which newmeanings emerge.17 The opportunity to rerame meaning can comerom new reerence points and alternate experiences and o course,not only rom the arts!

Research rom Involve has shown that it is only by personallyexperiencing these interactions that decision makers can ullyappreciate the richness o discussions and the value o theparticipants insights, in a way that a consultation report or a listo recommendations simply cannot convey.18 In the case o the

Innovation Forum, this involved city leaders as participants, drivingchange through personal experience and conviction but also,importantly, alongside each other as part o a collective endeavour.The nal recommendations in this paper help to signpost how tomake this happen.

A core aspect o the Arts and Social Change programme revolvedaround increasing civic engagement as part o Citizen Power. Iwe are interested in promoting civil renewal, we need to supportactivities that are collective and participative.19 With increasingemphases on public decision-making on signicant and ar-reachingissues, it is not only imperative to strengthen collaborative workingpractices between services and sectors but with the public as well.And this necessitates the abilities to work with dierence and acapacity or empathy, another distinct outcome in working withcreative practice.20 It is no longer possible to leave engagementto others.

A joined up working culture requires a culture change in workingpractices and the encouragement o a willingness to leave onescomort zone. Fortunately creative practice makes culture changemuch easier to absorb and can do this, in part, through blurringthe boundaries o sectoral domains and hierarchies and oering a

16 Creative projects that address belonging and social cohesion can be ound in every large

city. Here is another, done in partnership with a local authority: http://smallthings.org.uk/

public-projects/every-street-has-a-story-to-tell/

17 M Edelman.From Art to Politics. University o Chicago 1995.

18 http //www.invo.org.uk ; see Participatory budgeting and the arts and Everybody needs

Good Neighbours at http://participationcompass.org/article/show/273

19 E Keaney. From Access to Participation; cultural policy and civic renewal. IPPR 2006.

20 This is a requently cited outcome o many socially engaged arts projects, evidenced also

in our case studies.

shared emotional experience that can lead to a new way o thinkingand behaving. In the Innovation Forum leadership developmentprogramme in Peterborough, the participating leadership groupcharacterised this as: Learning to be together dierently in orderto do together dierently. Edelman articulates the ephemeraleectiveness o the orm: People perceive and conceive in thelight o narratives, pictures and images. That is why art is centralto politics, just as it is central to social relationships and to beliesabout nature.21 This was continually borne out in our work inPeterborough. People oten did not perceive the things they did asart but their experiences through the arts clearly had meaning orthem and generated new realities, be they the chie executive o thecity, an artist or resident.

The arts have the potential to infuence culture change, in part,through holding a space that contains tensions and opposingviews within it and yet, are fexible and inviting enough or peopleto maintain that complexity. There is much written on the need orappreciating the diversity o sectoral languages and reerenceswhilst needing to develop an openness and clarity that can crossworking practices. There is always the challenge o one languageand mode o communication dominating another. Maintaining thecomplexity can be built through what Richard Sennett reers to asrehearsals o possibilities.22 How could our ways o working togetheropen up a use o language that invites trust and experimentation?Sennett suggests there is traction within the subjunctive mood:what i?, might, could, and so on but there is also the strengtho the seemingly inormal conversations that can (with appliedskills) become powerul avenues to eective decision-making. Theundamental building block or any change in the way we worktogether is trust, too oten seen as an easy win. The Demos paper,

Trust in Practice,23

makes an excellent case or trust being thestarting point or any new way orward.

Local government cannot view an approach based ontrust as a luxury reserved or better times In act,greater trust could result in greater savings in the longrun. The absence o trust can necessitate spending timeand money on accountability measures instead opublic services.

21 Edelman 1995 Op cit

22 R Sennett. Together; the rituals, pleasures and politics of cooperation. Allen Lane 2012.

23 J Birdwell, F Farook, S Jones. Trust in Practice. DEMOS 2010.


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It may be very challenging to state that a particular art experiencecreated a particular social impact but we can say that the experienceitsel was able to (or not) generate a range o positive conditions thatare critical or change and encourage new capacities and skills thatlead to a shit in the way we behave with each other. There are manyevaluations o arts programmes that point to remarkable behaviouralchange, however a long-term view is essential in order to assesshow these changes aected choices and wider outcomes in orderor us to recognise culture change.

There is an additional win or the cultural community in that it ispossible or such work to encourage the growth o new audiencesas well as the potential stimulation or artistic creation. Thereare many examples o arts organisations24 exploring the art o

engagement with communities that artistically eed their ownorganisations and directly infuence the work produced.

Creative practice opens up dialogue but also provokes newresponses, sometimes uncomortable ones, exposing uncertaintyand anxiety. Civic creativity, as practiced by both artists and those inthe public sector, requires courage, especially i we are serious aboutlocalised democracy and greater participation in public services. Itis not merely an issue or leadership. Any o the co-words, co-design, co-location, co-production, co-creation demand a willingnessto relinquish some control a challenging brie in these times oausterity and ragility in the job markets. Is there a real role or thearts in helping to open this up while not burdening it with imposedand unrealistic expectations? The current interest in co-productionand social productivity should include arts practice and culturalactivity as a matter o course. Co-produced knowledge is not aboutnding consensus; it recognizes the vast potential that lies beneaththe surace o things. Rather than cultivating ruit, it identies and

promotes the conditions or growth.25 We need to harness thecapacity to create, not only or problem solving and entrepreneurialideas but or the rich well being that creativity unlocks, be this in theorm o physical and/or mental health or undamentally in makingour lives more worthwhile.

There is also the need to consider where to position such work togenerate change and avoid the danger o projects not reaching

24 See examples o this in London Bubbles http://www.londonbubble.org.uk/projects/ and

the National Theatre o Wales http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org

25 Artist Steve Pool, who is part o an AHRC Connected Communities programme on Civic

Engagement entitled Imagine has written an essay on co-production o knowledge o which

this is a part.

beyond the participants lucky enough to have had the experiences.In Citizen Power Peterborough, the most eective work was withleadership and local residents and struggled to reach those in themiddle. Thoughtul consideration regarding strategic engagement,possibly through network analysis might help to position creativework or maximum benet. Some o the most exciting creativeprojects have involved a wide range o roles and diverse perspectivesand this more inclusive approach can be down to whom we aretalking to right at the beginning.

We need to harness the capacity to

create, not only or problem solving andentrepreneurial ideas but or the rich well

being that creativity unlocks, be this in the

orm o physical and/or mental health or

undamentally in making our lives more

worthwhile


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Were all in it together, whether we like itor not.

Peterborough resident

The best o socially engaged arts practice takes into account themotivating actors that tempt people to take part in something andcan be highly eective in understanding the allure o imaginative

invitation. In recognising the motivations or engagement we alsoneed to take account o the multi-aceted ways we engage and thebarriers that make participation more dicult.26

Take Me To27 was the rst commission in the Arts and SocialChange programme and was created by arts organisationEncounters. Artists conducted a selection process with council andvoluntary services sta to identiy residents who might not normallyengage in civic or city-wide activities but this was supplemented bya range o open invitations, deliberately constructed to be intriguingand personally rewarding. Ater a series o artully conductedgetting to know you workshops, participants were invited to hosta very personal tour or others in their small groups visiting placesin their neighbourhoods that mattered to them and sharing theirstories. Rather than looking at the city as dened by geographical,civic or even community-created boundaries, the city was mappedby individuals and their experiences. The stories to emerge rom thetours ranged rom humorous to incredibly moving, and refected the

history o Peterborough and its uture aspirations. I saw it as a seto curated personal interactions between people who would not berelating to each other in everyday circumstances. A couple o typicalcomments rom participants refect the power o such a simple idea:

You only have to scratch the surace a little bit to seewhats here. Were all in our own bubble but the tourshave shown me that you dont have to do much to get

26 Barriers to participation are excellently outlined in the National Council or Voluntary

Organisations paper Pathways to Participation. See: http://pathwaysthroughparticipation.

org.uk/

27 See a presenta tion on Take Me To with photographs at http://www.thersa.org/action-re-

search-centre/public-services-arts-social-change/citizen-power/arts-and-social-change

out o it. My biggest hope is that this tour can be spreadurther so more people can share this I can now viewPeterborough as somewhere that I could nd my spacein, a home, belonging.

Participating has made me challenge mysel about howI connect with others in the community and how I cancarry on doing this. I nd mysel making sure that I makethe most o the encounters that I have with people whocome and chat to me 28

Several o the participants in the project also held civic roles, suchas neighbourhood managers, community support police ocers anda councillor, but although this variety o unctional roles allowed or

a diversity o reach, support also had to be given to ormally openup avenues o continuing infuence. In order or such projects tohave a wider lie beyond those rich individual and oten-prooundexperiences, attention must be paid to enable decision-makingand policy creation as a result. There are inspiring creative projectsin most places but there is a gap between the project and whathappens aterwards. We must link action and strategy with a real

understanding o the work otherwise we continue to burden ouralready heavy shelves with more reports that ail to lead to change.

Take Me To highlighted the crucial aspect o invitation creatingthe conditions in which new experiences could be welcomed into acommunity or a place but this rst commission also emphasisedthe critical actor o working with and not or a community. Theproject revealed hidden networks and assets and built new ones.Notice that Take Me To began with building trust in a workshopthat set the scene or doing things dierently. For the most part,participants had never engaged with the arts previously and generallydidnt regard this as an arts project it just meant a great deal tothem. Projects similar to Take Me To are prolierating; have a look

28 These comments as part o the evaluation report on Take Me To, available upon request.

In order or such projects to have a wider

lie beyond those rich individual and

oten-proound experiences, attention

must be paid to enable decision-making

and policy creation as a result

the Art of invitAtion


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at People Uniteds work in Herne Bay in Kent or the Albert DriveProject in Glasgow.

Such projects can appear deceptively simple i done well, the art oengagement can be essentially invisible and consequently subject tocriticism or the artists costs, or easily replicable without artists, butthis would be misunderstanding the skills needed to curate, shapeand direct collective experiences. Educational philosophers have

articulated the dierence between an experience and the quality o

that experience

29

and it is strange that there is so little attentionas to what a quality engagement experience in the arts looks likeor how a high quality o engagement adds value. The quality issuetends to ocus only upon the art orm product or the numbersreached. It is time to take the process o engagement seriously.

Prioritising the concept o invitation also addresses the earlierpoint about resistance to change, particularly with regard to thosewho have not been a part o the creative experience. Commonassumptions about who the work is or can get in the way o itsbreadth o infuence and create opposition and resistance. anew settlement is needed between the citizen and the expert.State arts body experts have a very particular view o the arts andneither citizen nor artist has been adequately involved in ramingunderstanding o the arts or research into them.30

Sitting alongside the economic drivers or cutting back on publicspending are drivers or collaboration and the need to learn how towork with new and possibly unlikely partners. This harkens back

to the earlier reerence to nding partners we never knew we had.We also need to recognise who is not in the conversation. All toorequently it is the voluntary sector, a vastly underestimated sourceo learning or the motivations or engagement. Sport Englandeectively links amateur sport, emerging athletes and elite sportin order to create a sporting habit or lie.31 An arts habit or liewould need to take account o all aspects o how the arts infuences

29 As in John Dewey, Maxine Greene and others.

30 T Joss. New Flow, A Better Future for Artists, Citizens and the State. Mission, Models,

Money 2008.

31 Creating a sporting habit or lie at http://www.sportengland.org/about_us/what_we_

do.aspx

our lives. Francois Matarasso in a recent blog within his website,Parliament o Dreams,32 touches on the crucial importance ovoluntary arts and how counter productive it is to separate the eldso proessional, community, participatory or voluntary:

Its a grave mistake to think that those things we are notobliged to do are not important to us. On the contrary,their importance arises precisely rom the act that werenot obliged to do them. Theyre important becausewe choose to do them, because we want to do them,because we wouldnt eel ourselves i we couldnt dothem.

Recent research has revealed that countries with higher levels o

cultural engagement also have higher levels o social and institutionaltrust.33 Matthew Taylor speaks o a social aspiration gap as that othe dierence between what we say we want and what we actuallydo to make that happen. But how do we expose this gap thatinvites a willingness to change this? Public policy, by itsel doesnot motivate change in personal behaviour; this happens throughpersonal interactions, rom an emotional experience again,something that creative practice can generate. It can help to builda deeper understanding o what binds people together and howsocial networks and shared values can be mobilised or progressiveends.34

This was tested in Arts and Social Change. Attention to invitationand how this enhanced the quality o engagement was particularlyevident in Context Matters, the residencies programme in Artsand Social Change. Simon Grennan o Grennan and Sperandiospent time going out with the voluntary group, Street Pastors inPeterborough, and illustrated in a series o cartoons, volunteers

perspectives on their motivations to work within the local night-time economy that were then published in the local paper. JoshuaSoaer worked with a residents association and together they carriedout a competition or an imaginative story on how the building gotits name. Both brought to light the everyday stories o people inPeterborough through working with them and agreeing with theirhosts the orms that this would take. Both worked with the real

32 33http://parliamentodreams.com

33 See IPPR: http://www.ippr.org/uploadedFiles/research/projects/Arts_and_Culture/Cul-

ture%20briefng.pd

34 M Taylor. Where are the big solutions our big problems call or? Guardian. September 9,

2012. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisree/2012/sep/09/matthew-taylor-big-prob-

lems-big-solutions

It is time to take the process o

engagement seriously


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actors on the ground in the city as opposed to designing andimplementing a project that could be anywhere. As in Take Me To,both residencies explored the notion o invitation, being invited (andin part, selected) by the hosts who had never had contact with thearts previously and were asked to support them in solving somethingimportant to them through their arts practice. The art itsel wasdirectly infuenced by all o these actors. All three projects alsoaddressed Lowes identity-orming narratives in the earlier denitiono community; Take Me To explored how these narratives overlap,Grennans residency helped to capture the narrative and therebystrengthen it and Soaers residency sought to evolve the narrative.

With increasing interest in understanding the conditions necessaryor healthier, happier, more engaged communities, there are moreopportunities or creative practitioners to reconceive what thismight look like. Emphasis must lie in building trust and opening upattitudes to collective working rom the very beginning. Participatorybudget making, or example, could be incompatible with innovationand risk taking i there were not strong relationships in place withshared values and approaches. I the principles o invitation and co-production are prioritized in making things happen, then the role ocreative practice is central to making this work. This would representa shit in situating experiences in the arts to the beginning o workand as a connecting thread throughout it, rather than the problem-

solving end o it with its attendant issues o how to measure impact,and whether there is a causal eect to this kind o work. This can beabout welcoming the arts into new ways o doing things, into culturalnorms o how we operate as a society in crisis and in desperateneed o new ideas. We need not only to identiy the problem andcommission work to address it, but much more o re-imagining thewhole picture together.

I we accept that the arts are central to thewell-being o our communities then we havea responsibility to be engaged in broaderagendas civic leadership.

Michael Eakin; Lets Work Together conerence, 201135

In his inaugural address at the RSA, Arts Council Englands Chair,

Peter Bazalgette, reerred to the need or a grand partnershipbetween business, policy and the arts in order to enable arts andculture to be perceived as an essential service. The word servicemaintains the paradigm o arts and culture being used to achievea social aim; ater all this was Arts and Social Change not Artsor Social Change. I think it is more about meeting in the middleas only by doing so will we realise meaningul change and thisinvolves perceiving the boundaries o what we do dierently. I preerEakins notion in the above quote reerring to the arts communitysresponsibility to be engaged with civic agendas and to see arts andcultural leaders as civic leaders playing an essential role within abroader ecology. Writer and artist Dan Thompson who was pivotalater the summer riots o 2011 in instigating community clean-ups,identies the need to not act as artists in the community but as parto the community.

Over the lietime o the work in Peterborough, the discourse oengagement has shited in mainstream practice. Terms such as

hard to reach communities are subtly changing to those previouslyignored, troubled amilies to connecting amilies. Seeing peopleand communities, whatever their challenges, as assets is nowincreasingly established practice. Arts and Society at the RSAhosted a roundtable in 2012 with a diverse range o arts leaders,artists and academics entitled From Spectatorship to Engagementthat addressed this sea change. One o the participants at thisroundtable, Leila Jancovich, in Great Art or Everyone reers to the

35 Lets Work Together was a national conerence held at the RSA in June 2011 o leading

arts sector fgures interested in sharing good practice and addressing uture opportunities

or collaboration, both within and beyond the sector. http://www.larc.uk.com/wpcontent/up-

loads/2011/09/Final-Conerence-Note.pd

this can be about welcoming the arts into new

ways o doing things, into cultural norms o howwe operate as a society in crisis and in desperate

need o new ideas

meeting in the middle


15/25


traditional models o audience engagement targets, so prominentover the last decade, as continuing to address a gap (as in therecent reerences to cultural cold spots) rather than the possibilitythat the arts themselves might be missing the mark. Failure toengage can be two-way. The challenge, thereore, is not the qualityo what is engaged with, but the act o engagement itsel. 36 Thereis a lingering us and them dynamic one in which experts, bethey highly skilled artists or thinkers, come into a place to work witha group o people (particularly the vulnerable) to inspire, provokeor provide solutions. All parties can all into these patterns andexpectations with the best o intentions.

John Holden argues or a mature relationship built on mutualrespect. Culture should be something that we all own and make,not something that is given, oered or delivered by one sectiono us to another. 37 Could engagement happen not only as a resulto great art or inspirational speakers but because o the processitsel? Is there an art to engagement or is it merely a set o bestpractices and good project management? Should we be talkingabout (and measuring) a quality o engagement and i so, whatcomprises such a thing? In considering the art in engagement, weacknowledge a set o ephemeral characteristics that take the deptho engagement to a deeper level.

36 L Jancovitch. Great Art or Everyone? Engagement and participation policy in the arts in

Cultural Trends. Routledge 2011.

37 J Holden.Democratic culture, opening up the arts to everyone. Demos 2008.

It is astonishing how closely a countryscapacity to learn as a whole, rather than anyindividual genius, aects national levels ocreativity and innovation.

John Howkins, Creative Ecologies38

The analogy o an ecosystem to describe how a place works or

doesnt can be useul in appreciating how culture and creativitycan play a part. I we are interconnected and interdependent, doesthis not undamentally shit working cultures and expectations?I the motivation or change is based upon mutual survival, thenthis necessitates the creation o deeper relationships betweenquite diverse bodies; reciprocal exchanges between institutionalbodies and tiny enterprises. The strength o networks, and theirsustainability, rests upon their resilience and openness to change.But this also means a real change in attitudes much more so thanstructural or policy change. This means engendering a willingness tolearn together. I the term cultural ecology is used to describe therich set o relationships amongst all those taking part in some way ina localised culture then this is something that could be strengthenedand consequently measured in ways that the RSA already employswith social network analysis. Complex systems require a fexible kindo support that allows or multi-dimensional ways o maintaining thatcomplexity in order to avoid the imposition o simpler and dominantsystems to make it more palatable.

Discussions on cultural value, what this represents, how it is createdand whom it is or, are everywhere now39 but it is also critical toconsider the nature o how we have these discussions and whomthey are with. Traditional approaches are being questioned andboundaries o proessional, voluntary, academic and community arebeing spanned in a delicious variety o programmes. There are nowmany arts organisations that have long term relationships with both alocal authority and an academic institution and are capable o acting

38 J Howkins. Creative Ecologies. Transaction Publishers 2009.

39 In particula r, see http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funded-Research/Funded-themes-and-pro-

grammes/Cultural-Value-Project/Pages/deault.aspx

Is there an art to engagement or is it merely a set

o best practices and good project management?

culturAl ecologies


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as a kind o laboratory and meeting place or new approaches.40Oten, however, there is an inherent challenge in reconciling thedistinct oers o the large and small arts organisation or withindividual creative practitioners with a role to play within this ecology.Recognising the interdependence o each player within the widerpicture necessitates a generosity rom all partners. Seeing a placeas a cultural ecology requiring a complex range o organisationsand individuals contributing to a rich public oer rather than a singleagency or two delivering culture is the way orward and evaluatingthis as part o the whole context o a place with perspectives rom allplayers is now needed.

The arts are an intrinsic part o a society and part o the daily needso its citizens, however the terminology can distance many people

can perceive the arts quite dierently to their opportunities to listento music, watch a lm or take a drawing class. It is necessary tonormalise their presence in everyday lie. Perceiving them as aluxury means that other sectors ail to reach their ull value; it cannever be just a housing policy without consideration as to whatcreates community in order or the policy to have longevity, goodhealth without consideration o what creates a happy lie. We mustalso engage with the many intangible but crucial aspects o a goodlie such as well being, identity, community, empathy, aspirationand hope. There is an urgency to strengthen this ragile culturalecosystem in times o stress.41 Local public policy makers have theopportunity to bring culture into the lters or policy making, to jointhe economic, social and environmental considerations, not justwith a view to the ormal cultural oers in a place but to includethe overarching cultural ecology o a place. Does a policy engagewith the ormal and inormal cultural sector in a meaningul way?How can new ways o working access the local skill base to open

up new avenues o communication? Here are two examples romPeterborough.

40 Amongst many others, the Watershed in Bristol and Helix Arts in Newcastle, and the

new partnership between Derby Theatre and the University o Derby, addressing the respon-

sibility o theatre to its community.

41 National initiatives are addressing an ecosystem approach, such as Arts Council

Englands Creative People Places, but there is also a burgeoning arts and health feld that

necessarily takes into account a wide range o inuencing actors. There are also increasing

numbers o networks, either place based ones such http://www.creategloucestershire.co.uk/

about-us/ or sector based ones such as the independent producers network http://thebest-

soupintown.tumblr.com

We are learning to be together dierently inorder to do together dierently.

Participants, Peterboroughs Innovation Forum

Halway through the Citizen Power programme in Peterboroughin 2011, the Local Strategic Partnership elt that creative practicecould play an integral role in a leadership development programme

that explored how to restructure services (both statutory andvoluntary) in a more joined up way. The Map Consortium led a teamto acilitate this. Over 40 senior leaders rom across all sectorsin the city, including the head o the arts trust, gave considerableamounts o time (and contributed rom their own budgets) to createa orum in order to explore how creativity and learning rom the artscould develop their own working practices. This work continues ora second year and has resulted in signicant changes, both in newenhanced relationships between service providers but also in newcross-sectoral projects, which in many cases, engage with localartists. In this case, creative practice has opened and maintaineda space or dialogue and incubation that was not there previouslyand many would say, would simply not have happened otherwise.Leaders underwent a series o small, incremental changes with quiteproound personal impacts and now are at the stage o cascadingtheir learning and creating new models o delivery. What madethis work was the commitment to shared experiences, and a realwillingness to take risks and this included the creative practitioners

who took part. It was less o the paradigm o artists servicing apublic agenda and more about meeting in the middle with theessential tools and processes o the arts. Our case study, DoingTogether Dierently, expands on this.

Another RSA programme that has creative practice at the core o itssocial transormation work would be the partnership with WiltshireCouncil, which is engaged in a radical county-wide programmeo re-location o pubic services and the subsequent reshaping othese services to meet local needs and aspirations. This locallybased model requires that those running the services and localpeople must work together in order or it to thrive. Again, as with the

Whose culture chAnge?


17/25


Peterborough leadership orum, it is undamental to address culturechange and create a new space or dialogue. Creative practice liesat the heart o what might help to make this happen and indeed,is signicantly challenging i one considers how to bring so manydierent ways o working together to create a coherent public spaceor all. Both local authorities have engaged in long term changeprocesses and it is the long-term aspect that particularly enablescreative practice to have a central role.

What has been so rereshing is that both Peterborough andWiltshire leaders know that answers can be ound rom within thearts community and they are not alone. Kent Council advertised ora creative advisor to work across services earlier this year. A townin Wiltshire recently advertised or the same. I imagine there are

more. What are the skills and capacities needed or these rolesand what is the role and responsibility o the cultural community inthis opportunity? To service and provide workshops or join in thesediscussions? I would hope the latter. Civic activist Peter Blockcontends that cultural change is only possible when it is preceded bythe development o relationships and interconnectedness and writes:The shit we seek in the public conversation is rom speaking aboutwhat others should do, to speaking into the possibilities that we ascitizens have the capacity to create.42

This is not without challenges, many o which we came acrossduring Arts and Social Change.43 One o these was the degreeto which an artist gives up a certain amount o control in order tooer a sense o control to others and the potential compromiseto the quality o aesthetic, be this within the artistic process orproduct.44 This would be a similar risk however taken by anycollaborator, especially in cross-sectoral work. How do you meet inthe middle and produce high quality work? What i co-design and

co-production seem to vie with artistic expertise? Its also importantto acknowledge the international debate on the relationship (andethics) between participation and art, 45 which will not be addressedin this paper but which raise intriguing questions about whetherart neutralises or enables community voices, or i artistic rigour isdiminished with public engagement. Another challenge would liein the inevitable disparity o scale, both in terms o expectations o

42 Block 2007 Op cit

43 See the Arts and Social Change evaluation at http://www.thersa.org/action-re-

search-centre/public-services-arts-social-change/citizen-power/arts-and-social-change

44 Further explored in the case study on residencies: Context Matters.

45 Critical literature on public art and relational art abound; Nicolas Bourriaud, Suzanne

Lacy, Claire Bishop, Grant Kester, Claire Doherty are a good start.

time needed to make things happen and the numbers reached withprojects. This can be resolved with partners actively appreciating theopportunities present in these dierences o scale. For example,small local arts organisations can be feet o oot and moreresponsive in a way that a public service or local authority simplycannot be. There is also the challenge o meeting with the middle.The amiliar dynamic o initiatives partnering with local authorities,such as Citizen Power, is the lack o real engagement with those inmiddle management roles who can eel that their capacity to engage

is compromised by cuts and an undermining o their expertise. 46

46 The evaluation conducted by AHRC Fellow Mark Roberts is particularly illuminating on

this trap. See RSA website.

Participants at the nal event o the project Take Me To

identiy what matters to them on maps o the city


18/25


We have ound that this approach to theatre-making both enables and requires a set obehaviours worth looking at, because theycreate our conditions what we call theconditions or creativity. And they also createthe conditions or community.

Michael Boyd, recent artistic director o the Royal Shakespeare C ompany as quoted inAll Together47

So, how are the capabilities that are needed to unlock collectiveand imaginative responses to the imperative or change generated?In Arts and Social Change, I have reerenced the core capabilitiesas trust and a willingness to engage, learn and change as wellas a curiosity and genuine interest in partnering with new people,organisations and ideas. What we hoped would give rise to thesecapabilities were the interconnecting threads throughout theprogramme such as:

Experimentation: The RSAs way o working employs innovativethinking and applies it through an action research model. Giventhe nature o creative practice, this could be interpreted in anexperimental rame; learning rom trying things, avoiding the projectparadigm, which tends to avoid experimentation and is morerooted in top down orms o implementation.48 We are all amiliarwith disconnected projects that build dependence upon urther

intervention and lend themselves to the notion o servicing that ocoming in to solve others problems, however brilliant those projectsmight be. A working culture that was receptive to experimenting withseemingly unlikely partners might generate eective and surprisingresults. An example o this in Peterborough could be the work donein learning groups within the leadership orum reerred to earlier; Iwas acilitating a group comprising o leaders rom the police and

47 R Hewison, J Holden, S Jones. All together: a creative approach to organisational

change. DEMOS 2010.

48 A term coined by Proessor Patrick Humphreys o the Institute o Social Psychology at

the London School o Economics to illustrate how single projects i they are not embedded

within their working environment ail to have long term inuence and are thereore

unsustainable.

re services, the director o the Local Strategic Partnership, thehead o the regional SERCO partnership and the chie executiveo the large park in the city and was accompanied by a lmmakerwho was making an evaluative lm or Arts and Social Change withits participants.49 The group conducted an experiment about newuses o existing spaces through making a lm that addressed howengagement with the park might enhance their own services. Thisexperiment resulted in the chie executive o the park signicantlyadjusting the brie or a new building in the park and generated anenthusiasm or lmmaking to address particular needs in the policeservice. Another example could be the remarkable work done by Artat Work in Portland, Maine that has embedded poetry making withinthe police service, resulting in tangible outcomes or the service.50

As with Arts and Social Change, the organisation sits alongside localgovernment to identiy challenges and then designs the relevantcreative engagement. Both o these examples are with leadersexperimenting in new creative approaches and just as vital, is thepermission given to middle managers and sta at all levels to dothe same.

Valuing everyday experiences: John Dewey identied thecentrality o experience through the arts or the benet o a betterunderstanding. We learn and ully understand something throughexperiencing it, and art is experience.51 Creative practice works romand with peoples daily lives, be this in homes, neighborhoods orplaces o work and it is this universal connection with a lived realitythat enables recognition and personal meaning and creates newconnections between people. Ideally, such creative practice honoursand makes visible everyday experiences and the environment osuch experiences. The key actor in both the residencies and thetwo commissions o Arts and Social Change was that the artists and

participants met through the artwork.The primary value o the work () lies in the wayartists try to provide such experiences through theopportunities they oer or taking part, and the way inwhich the work they commission and produce enablesthe discovery o new orms or eeling which connectselves and communities. When aesthetic orm is ound to

49 See Edwin Minguards flm at http://www.thersa.org/action-research-centre/public-ser-

vices-arts-social-change/citizen-power/arts-and-social-change

50 ART AT WORK is a national initiative based in Portland Maine and works within local

government. See: http://www.artatwork.us/projects/project.php?category=3

51 J Dewey. Art as Experience. Carbondale and Edwardsville Southern Illinois University

Press 1934.

conditions for generAting

neW Kinds of cApAbilities


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contain otherwise inchoate or inexpressible eeling, it canbecome a orce that moves individuals or becomes adriver o social change.52

The shared experience in the arts oers a powerul reerence pointor dialogue, as it touches upon deeper (oten non verbal) startingpoints.

Two-way exchange: A eature o strong and inclusive creativepractice is the insistence upon mutual exchange with everyoneeeling they have something distinct to gain and oer. This, in turn,enables a fat landscape through shared learning. The question owhat any one partner is going to get out o collaborative activityis heard more requently in project planning, as is recognising the

value o knowledge exchange and reciprocal networks. There arealso increasing eorts to break down the commissioner- practitionerdivide within the arts community at large and national researchprogrammes that position arts leaders and community partnersalongside academic researchers.53 There is a need to create anenvironment wherein all partners (commissioners, delivery agenciesand participants) take the risks o experimentation together, therebyhighlighting a more mutual learning environment, which can, inturn enhance a capacity to learn together. This approach alsomeans that the work can remain fexible and adaptable to changingcircumstances. O course this is complex and dicult as we learnedin Peterborough, but the act that relevant public service leads werein the eld alongside artists and participants meant relationshipswere deepened and learning was shared.

Uncommon ground: This phrase is borrowed rom DavidGarcia rom the Chelsea College o Art and suggests a space inwhich dierent disciplines play and overtly values a diversity o

participants.54

Working within collaborative networks composed odierence takes us outside our assumptions. Translating cultureso working rom one discipline to another, rom one arts practice toanother, rom one sector to another generates new discoveries andcan lead to new ways o being together that then lead to new ways

52 L Froggett, R Little, A Roy, l Whitaker. New Model Visual Arts Organisations. University

o Central Lancashire 2011.

53 See both the ArtWorks initiative that links commissioners, academics, institutions

and participatory artists in http://www.artworksph.org.ukand the AHRCs Connected

Communities programme at http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funding-Opportunities/Research-unding/

Connected-Communities/Pages/Connected-Communities.aspx

54 In Uncommon Ground, Creative Encounters across Sectors and DisciplinesGarcia

outlines the barriers to cross sector strategies and suggests creative estrangement rom

amiliar working assumptions.

o working together. This builds upon Koestlers concept o creativityinvolving a bisociation o two or more apparently incompatiblerames o thought.55 One barrier to developing uncommon groundis the prevalent working culture o sourcing expertise as and whenit is needed, either internally or externally, ormally or inormally.The benets o gathering needed knowledge through a long-termpartnership are ar less valued, especially in a climate o recessionand can seem like a luxury. The dynamic o getting what you needrom riends and colleagues is ar stronger than seeking newrelationships. There is also a ailure to grasp what the other hasto oer simply due to a lack o meaningul contact. What are theconditions that generate sel-organised and diversely composedgroups and how can we learn rom recent examples o this such

as the Save our Forests campaign that arose inormally through asense o urgency and shared values? Perhaps creating a coherentand collective voice is nally happening in the emerging What Next?movement.56

There are increasing numbers o cross-sectoral leadershipdevelopment programmes such as those described in Peterborough,but there is a need to ensure that this does not remain in the bubbleo training and away-days and is capable o reaching into everydayworking practice. Research reers to high levels o partnershipsailing through the unwillingness to unlearn traditional managementbehaviour and the necessity o tackling personal capacities such astrust and willingness to get beyond the comort o your own tribe.57I it is too uncomortable, people wont bother. Working through thearts can bring surprise and the eeling o a sae environment to anotherwise untenable experience.

55 Koestler 1964 Op cit.

56 What Next? is dierent rom previous attempts at lobbying or the arts in that it brings

together leaders rom all parts o the cultural world, including the commercial sector,

education, heritage and creative industries. http://www.whatnextculture.co.uk/whatis/

57 An exploration into complexity literature would reer to this issue repeatedly but this

is also prevalent in management development. See: D Archer, A Cameron. Collaborative

Leadership; how to succeed in an interconnected world. Routledge 2008.


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We keep our ideas alive by telling each otherabout them.

The Creative School, Coombes primary school, Reading

The approach taken by all o our partners in Arts and SocialChange addressed these aspects o uncommon ground, two-wayexchange and valuing everyday experiences and experimentation in

dierent ways within their practices and small and inormal networksemerged as a result. Given that Citizen Power was committed tounderstanding the conditions or change, it was possible to createenvironments where creative practitioners were given permissionto learn, whether this was a high prole artist coming to the city, ora resident artist or or ourselves in curating the programme. Thislearning partnership model will now be played out in the three-yearprogramme in Wiltshire.

The gradual shit rom industrial and transactional models (artsproducts or consumption) to knowledge based ones (experiencesand partnerships) has prooundly opened up opportunities orcreative practitioners. And with this shit, we need to start devisingan economics based on ideas and have these ideas be generatedrom all quarters, not just the political and policy-making classes.

As outlined in the introduction, this paper has been aimed towardsthe arts communities as well as local policy makers. There arepractical steps that can be taken to enable a meeting space

between these communities and suggestions are oered belowthat have been directly inormed by the work in Peterborough. Thebibliography will also identiy publications and websites that oersupport and ideas or ways orward.

toWArds meeting in the middle building

netWorKs

It is an act o aith to set aside time to build newrelationships in such a way that openly explores newintersection points as opposed to tting new partnersinto existing plans. It is a challenge with the potential or

long term gain but agreeing shared values, principlesand rules o engagement, and desired outcomes andpriorities together at the beginning creates valuable spaceor unintended benets and has the additional benet oreducing risk.

Pay attention to and nurture existing relationships, asit is tempting in this climate to seek new ones at theexpense o those you already have, especially i they arenot always easy.

Build networks that have a generosity o spirit, an emotivephrase that has real and practicable impact. Thosenetworks will be places that people want to be. The

cornerstones o positivity, collegiality and generosity cannotbe underestimated.58

Find things to be curious about with each others work.Curiosity eeds partnership.

for locAl Authorities And public

service leAders

As identied at the outset o this paper, the embeddedcontext o the Arts and Social Change programme withinthe local authoritys wider ambitions or change enabled amore sustainable legacy. This meant that it was not limitedto a cultural strategy only and thereore perceived withinthat single agenda but had the potential or greater reachand infuence. Sometimes, in practice, this can simplymean ensuring council or service sta also play a part inthe work and are enabled to make the links rom theirexperiences back into their own working practices.

Invest in an overview o how your local ecosystem worksand map how systems work to identiy blockages andrepeated patterns o entrenched behaviour. This providesthe groundwork to assess opportunities or strategicallyintroducing creative invited disturbances and proessionaldevelopment within a creative ramework.

Take part! The sustainability o these projects rests uponan understanding that only participation will genuinely

58 Courtesy o artistic director o the Young Vic, David Lans speech at the What Next

conerence in London April 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPYpWRDeWNU

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unlock change, as research continually demonstrates.Consider who would be best placed or this participation inorder to embed the learning and the projects outcomes.

Actively seek the rich resources available within your ownlocale and be aware that many o these will not necessarilyexist within the cultural institutions. The voluntary sectorand participatory artists working within public services canbe hidden assets. Look or strengths on the ground notweaknesses or gaps, and build on those. Not only doesthis bring your work greater sustainability, but you arecontributing to a local creative and cultural ecology.

Consider creative practice as a means o strengthening

capacities to collaborate. Situate experiences in the arts at the beginning o work

and as a connecting thread throughout it, rather than theproblem-solving end o it.

Consider strategies or obtaining middle managementsupport at the beginning o planning.

Commit to a long-term set o relationships and avoid oneo projects that do not embed within delivery practices.

Remember the art o invitation or projects and avoidingsetting up projects or people and then expectingengagement to ollow. Attention to invitation prior to thecore design o the project supports a genuine level oengagement.

Involve creative practitioners rom the outset not just in thedelivery. They will infuence the design and thinking o the

project and will be more invested in the project as a result. Consider the advantages o smaller organisations working

in partnerships as well as the incentives or them to do so.

for the creAtive And culturAl

communities

Look sideways not up or just where the unding is.Dont consider yoursel as isolated. Who are your naturaland/or unlikely allies?

Get to know your local community and voluntary artsorganisations, not just those you might already be workingwith. Having a strong understanding o local needs as aresult o good relationships positions your work or bidsyou might not be aware o through normal arts channels.The changes in the public sector oer opportunities notonly or unding, but also or raising prole and advocating

on behal o the value o the arts at a local level. Be awareo what your own artistic work and thinking can gain as aresult o these new partnerships.

Begin dialogue that seeks to uncover shared values, bothpersonal and proessional. Discover what is non-negotiable(or yoursel as well).

Develop locally based networks that cross art ormand sectoral divides (or example, actively link arts andheritage, museums in with arts centres). Build a networkthat is rich with the voluntary sector and student artists.Strengthen these networks through developing sharedvisions and values and avoid the traps o simply seeingthese as avenues or advocacy and unding.

Consider who is making decisions in the bigger pictureat a local level such as the Local Economic Partnerships(LEPs) and how you or your organisation, especially i

you are a smaller player, can engage with this throughnetworks and alliances. What is your unique place in thecultural ecosystem and how do you add benet to it?

There is an obvious challenge or the individual artist/practitioner in this changing landscape and it is essentialor networks and the larger arts organisations to takethis into account in such a way that invites artists in ontheir own terms and includes wider agendas. It is muchmore challenging or smaller organisations to developrelationships with other sectors and it is o mutual benet


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to nd solutions or this. And o course, it is necessaryor individual artists to enter these opportunities and notexpect the institutions to sort it out.

Be on the ront oot and engage with the civic debate.The arts and cultural communities have an opportunityor engaging with this vortex o change and infuencinghow it plays out. To simply see this time o change as anopportunity to bid or commissions in the public sectorwould miss the remarkable opportunity o being at thetable itsel and being part o the change. We do not haveto have all the answers but we do need to be alongsideothers in asking the questions.

Additional reerences not already present in ootnotes. This is notmeant to be an exhaustive list o resources, but more a signpostingor those not amiliar with socially engaged arts programmes orpublic participation. Along with the many ootnotes, it is the thinkingthat has inormed this paper.

E Belore. The Social Impact of the Arts An intellectual history.Palgrave 2010.

N Bourriaud. Relational Aesthetics. Les Presses Du Reel 1998.

R Finnegan. The Hidden Musicians in an English Town. CambridgeUniversity Press1989.

A Gilchrist. The Well-Connected Community. A networkingapproach to community development. The Policy Press 2004.

J Holden. Democratic culture; opening up the arts to everyone.DEMOS 2008.

IFFACCA DART REPORT No 41 (International Federation o ArtsCouncils and Culture Agencies) March 2012.

S Jackson. Social Works: Performing Art, Supporting Publics.Routledge 2011.

C Landry. The Art of City Making. Earthscan 2006.

C Leadbeater. WE-THINK. Prole 2008.

G Leicester, B Sharpe. Producing the Future: UnderstandingWatersheds role in Ecosystems o Cultural Innovation. InternationalFutures Forum, Watershed 2010.

F Matarasso. Use or Ornament?: The Social Impact of Participationin the Arts. Comedia 1997.

J Williams. A Quiet Evolution, Creative Practice in Social Change.Centre or Creative Communities 2007.

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Je Bishops paper Inrastructure or Engagement proposesdynamic strategic ideas or integrating engagement into local policyand is available at: http://www.bdor.co.uk/publications.htm

A very helpul resource or case studies and inormation: http://artsdevelopmentuk.org

A signicant academic project exploring participation and cultural

value with case studies rom across the UK:http://www.

everydayparticipation.org/about/

The RSA website has an animation based on the evaluation oCitizen Power that unpicks citizen participation, theory and practiceat: http://www.thersa.org/action-research-centre/public-services-arts-social-change/citizen-power

http://www.voluntaryarts.org

Arts Council o Wales addresses participation on their website:http://www.artswales.org.uk/arts-in-wales/arts-creativity/

participation

The National Coalition or Dialogue and Deliberation in the USAhas created a set o You principles or public engagement thatcan be endorsed ormally by organisations at: http://ncdd.org/rc/item/3643

The Creative City Index, developed by Charles Landry and Jonathan

Hyams, is a method or assessing cities holistically. This helpsassess their creative abilities and potential, a precondition ordownstream innovations and economic and cultural vigour. See:http://charleslandry.com/themes/creative-cities-index/

LARC, the Liverpool Arts Regeneration Consortium, has auseul blog that introduces some o their work in: http://blog.artscouncil.org.uk/blog/arts-council-england-blog/working-

together-or-putting-wagons-ringbut have a look at their extensivework in wellbeing at: http://www.larc.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/LARCTellingstorieswebjob.pd

National alliance or arts, health and wellbeing at: http://www.lah.org.uk/national-alliance-arts-health-and-wellbeing-%E2%80%93-

charter-arts-and-health

NESTAs Creative Councils programme: http://www.nesta.org.uk/areas_o_work/public_services_lab/local_public_services/

creative_councils

Participation Works has a basic guide or organisations beginningto work with creativity: http://www.participationworks.org.uk/resources/how-to-use-creative-methods-or-participation

useful Websites


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knitting together arts and social change

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