Helping to bridge the generational gap

Posted on 1 December, 2017 by Eve

Dr Tony Young tells us about how a new app ‘Ticket to Talk’ developed through funding from the ESRC IAA, is helping young carers communicate to people living with dementia

Earlier research I’d done found that young people – especially teenagers with care responsibilities for older relatives – would benefit greatly from access to resources, information and tools that enable them to increase their confidence and skills for communicating with people living with dementia. It also found that the content and resources available in DemTalk, an existing advice package, provides a useful starting point however it also identified a number of barriers to using the resource for this age group for example that the primary mode of accessing the internet for teenage participants was via smartphones. The advice offered did not always map fully onto younger people’s experiences of, and needs related to, dementia care and so Ticket to Talk was born.

The team worked with a local charity Youth Focus North East (YFNE) to co-design and co-develop a new app that enables young people – especially young carers – to access the resources and information in DemTalk, contributing their own perspectives and experiences to the content and to privately share their experiences with other DemTalk users. During this process we also engaged other groups to get their feedback too. We have spoken to carer services from Northumberland Council to publicise the work done so far. We also talked at a North East Dementia Alliance event in order to raise awareness of the work. Ideas informing DemTalk in general, and the App in particular also featured in the recent Newcastle University Massive Open Online Course ‘staying connected and living well with dementia’ where possible we want to generate conversations about dementia and help all those affected by it.

Workshop co-designing the ticket to talk app with Youth Focus North East

Ticket to Talk hopes to encourage conversation between younger people and grandparents, friends or people they care for who are experiencing dementia. The app is designed to help collect and curate digital media (”tickets”) to be used to prompt and stimulate talk, conversation and reminiscence between younger people and those they are close to with dementia.

After a tremendous amount of hard work from everyone involved we are delighted that the new app, available for Apple and Android platforms is now available for free. The underlying source code is also available, so it can be downloaded by as many people as possible. Starting conversations can be hard for anyone caring for those living with dementia, we hope this app is a way of making that process a bit easier.

Find out more about the app here and the latest work of Youth Focus North East here

Thinking about Learning Communities

Posted on 9 October, 2017 by Eve

Louise Wilson shares her experience of developing Learning Communities in a project funded through by the ESRC IAA

Something magical happens when a group of people create a space for themselves to talk authentically about their work. When people can decide for themselves what is needed to take part in honest and open conversations, participants tackle the real challenges they face and share practical wisdom about how to overcome barriers: confidence increases, practice improves and trust builds.

Dr Toby Lowe saw these sparks of magic when he worked with participatory arts organisations to find a better way of talking about ‘what good looks like’. The approach, which became the Learning Community model, builds on theories about complexity, positive error culture and reflexive practice. And it turns out that it’s not just the participatory arts that can benefit from enabling authentic, honest conversations – the approach has been evaluated in the voluntary sector, health and social care and these benefits hold there too.

I was introduced to the Learning Communities approach through conversations with Toby about performance, quality and how to know if one’s own practice is making a difference. I was lucky that my own organisation adopted the approach so I experienced the benefits first hand – my whole approach to uncertainty changed overnight as I gained more confidence to seek out colleagues’ wisdom when I got stuck in my efforts to do the best I could for my clients and projects.

So what is needed for more of us who have had those head-in-hands-what-do-I-do-now moments to be able to utilise the Learning Communities approach, and bring about those benefits for our own practice, clients and organisations? How can we build capacity to deliver the approach? An important component is to build the knowledge, skills and confidence to set up, design and facilitate Learning Communities through training Facilitators how to help participants create and maintain that space to talk authentically.

Thanks to the ESRC IAA, Toby and I worked together with colleagues to develop a Facilitator Toolkit – a training programme, a handbook and the means for Facilitators to talk and develop their practice. The handbook – available on the KITE website- and training brings together the theory, philosophy and practical delivery of Learning Communities – the subsequent on-line and face-to-face meetings are where Facilitators then share their practical wisdom. The ideas that emerge here inform improvements to the Toolkit and implementation.

Louise Wilson presents a poster about Learning Communities

We’ve presented a poster about the approach at two regional events and are now working with the Facilitators to understand more about the barriers and facilitators to extending access and adoption. Ever wished for a magic wand in our complex and messy practice? Maybe this is a way of bringing about just a little of that magic.

Upward and Outward: Considering the impact of creative and artist ‘hubs’

Posted on 3 March, 2017 by Eve

Tomorrow, the 4^th March, the artist-led studios of the NewBridge project in Newcastle city centre will be emptied out in preparation for the demolition of the building later in the month. Over the past seven years the project has offered an inexpensive studio space to hundreds of artists both locally, nationally and internationally from diverse areas of practice, giving them the opportunity to create and develop their work, then exhibiting in the gallery on the ground floor and around other cultural venues in the city. From October 2016 until February 2017 researchers from Newcastle University documented the different conversations, practices, spaces and exhibitions within the studio building, Norham House, a project that soon became a piece of ‘rescue archaeology’ as the current tenants were given notice of their eviction from the building.

The completion of this project and indeed, the destruction of the building was marked by a research event on 1^st March where Dr Martyn Hudson presented a short summary of the findings of his recent work (which can be found at the bottom of this post). He spoke of the constant ‘contest of ideas’ within the building, a project with a deeply ‘bottom-up’ structure that helped form a unique space of creative practice, which will hopefully be extended into the new home for the project when it moves to Carliol House.

An assortment of chairs, like the contest of ideas found in the NewBridge project event

The presentation was followed by a thought-provoking panel discussion chaired by Newcastle University researcher Ed Wainwright (School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape) who has been working alongside David Butler (School of Arts and Cultures), Paul Richter (Business School) and Martyn Hudson to document the current organisation of NewBridge and the creative culture found within the building. The panel began by asking its members (Sarah Munro, Director, Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art; John Tomaney, Professor at University College London (UCL) Hans Moller, Director of Innovation at North East LEP; Julia Heslop, NewBridge Artist):

“What is the impact of creative hubs and organisations like NewBridge on places, individuals, and the arts sector and on regeneration?”

The answers from the panel were varied and provoked a range of responses from different perspectives surrounding impact of cultural industries. Julia Heslop discussed the importance and impact of thinking creatively on wider communities beyond NewBridge alongside the availability of truly affordable space for artists in city centre locations undergoing processes of urban ‘regeneration’. John Tomaney noted that often impact in other industries is mapped in larger-scale economic terms, however the cultural sector operates very differently. He suggested a move away from a purely financial measurement model, instead thinking about civic impact and cultural gain at a micro or community level – focusing on the small changes that can make real differences to local life and the vitality of our cities.

Hans Moller brought an international perspective and saw the potential for creative hubs such as NewBridge to become centres for ‘innovation’, an approach used in his previous role as CEO of Ideon Science Park in Lund but currently less prevalent in the North East. He noted that the varied creative ideas which spilled out of NewBridge were incubated in this space which has a huge social impact on those outside the building, a process that universities must also be a part of. Sarah Munro added that the clashes of ideas that happen in creative hubs are vital for new work to be both generated and tested in an ad-hoc way that larger organisations such as The Baltic rely upon. Sarah also emphasised how ideas of civic impact shapes their programming and exhibitions alongside their internal processes and organisational practices.

The walls support practice in the soon-to-be-vanishing NewBridge studio space (Practice Makes Practice is a Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice funded initiative, in collaboration with the NewBridge Project, to support graduate artists with skills and training for professionalising their art careers)

The issues brought up by these different voices speak to the wider questions of how The Arts are valued more generally in society and how they can impact on a wide array of local communities. However difficulties still remain in trying to trace and evidence the way The Arts shape, change and support thinking outside these particular spaces. How can thoughts or feelings and the impact of ideas on individuals really be measured? The attendance at this particular event (the room was packed) speaks to how significant NewBridge is to the cultural landscape of Newcastle and beyond, and how these discussions around understanding value in the arts needs to be communicated to broader publics.

It seems appropriate that ‘Moving on Up, Moving on Out’ is the name of the final exhibit at NewBridge before it closes its doors, as this title neatly summarises the direction of travel when it comes to the ideas that are housed within the NewBridge walls. Where concepts come from the ‘bottom-up’ – from practising artists, they can grow outward into the local communities and could begin to feed into local governmental structures and on into other places and spaces around the region. NewBridge 2.0 will be housed around the corner in Carliol House, here’s hoping that it continues to challenge, disrupt and make an impact.

Making changes through participation

Posted on 4 January, 2017 by Eve

How do you get communities more involved in their local environment? What changes can be made that can really make a difference to surroundings with a limited budget? Daniel Mallo, a researcher in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape tells us about a project that helped the locals of Fenham Hall Drive in Newcastle realise a different vision for their local space.

The Pocket Park idea came about almost by accident. Fenham ward, in the West End of Newcastle, had received some funding for the Sustrans DIY Streets Project to involve local people in improving their area, making streets less car focused and more generally ‘help them redesign their neighbourhoods putting people back at their heart.’ Through an ESRC IAA grant we supported Sustrans’ work by strengthening community aspirations and sparked inspiration into the potential of their local environment.

To begin with we used various methods to find out how residents felt about their local area. We built a basic scale model encouraging locals to interact with it, helping them imagine what could be possible. Temporary wooden seats were also placed along the street where cars normally parked so residents could see the impact of making these changes in a more physical way.

Later we conducted a focus group using large photographs of the street that could be sketched over, to foster further discussion amongst participants. During these different stages local people identified a need for a place where they could sit and watch the world go by. Many residents also commented that the library, swimming pool and doctors’ surgery on Fenham Hall Drive formed a community hub but that there was nowhere to wait for their children. Taking these ideas into consideration the project concluded with a pop-up public/play space between the library and pool for four days, which gave members of the public, residents and other stakeholders the opportunity to experience the potential impact of a public space in the area. This temporary space showed, more than a model or image could ever do, the way in which people could change their environment for the better.

All of these experiences strengthened the desire for the community and all the various partners involved – members of the City Council, local residents, Fenham Association of Residents, Fenham Library, Fenham Swimming Pool, Sustrans, Your Homes Newcastle, Newcastle University and Fenham New Model Allotments – to seek funding for what they now call a hub for Fenham Hall Drive. A group of local people, in partnership with Fenham Association of Residents, were successful in being awarded £15,000 from the Department of Communities and Local Government to build a Pocket Park, which opened on Saturday 21 May 2016.

After the park had been created, participants in the project formed the Friends of Fenham Pocket Park, a community group that helps promote the use of the space by local residents and visitors of all ages, alongside a chance for people to volunteer, learn new skills and help support the Pocket Park’s maintenance and future development.

Cllr Marion Talbot, a City Council ward member for Fenham who was involved in the project from the beginning, was interviewed about the Pocket Park when it was opened this year. She said that “it has been refreshing the way residents, community groups and organisations have all joined together to make this project happen; and unite with a common goal of providing something extra special for the area and forging invaluable working relationships that could prosper in years to come.”

From a research point of view the process of collaboration between various groups throughout this project was thought-provoking. It put the different participatory design approaches we use to the test and at the same time helped local people plan a useful space that is beneficial to the whole community. The project only ran for 18 months however it has had a lasting impression on Fenham and its residents: that is the best kind of impact any research can have.

To find out more about the ESRC IAA grants, please click here.

Using Theatre to Engage Communities in Planning

Posted on 20 October, 2015 by Angie

Left to right: Dr Paul Cowie, and Brad McCormick (Artist Director) and Katy Vanden (Producer) of Cap-a-Pie

By Dr Paul Cowie

Dr Paul Cowie is a Research Assistant in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. Paul’s research focuses on community planning and community representation in the planning process. Cap-a-Pie bring together professional theatre makers and communities to co-create theatre and foster learning and thinking through a democratic creative process.

How can you get 30 people to spend three hours on a Monday night discussing community involvement in planning? The answer may be through theatre.

It is well accepted by both academics and practitioners that there is a limit to how much consultation a community can take. The dreaded ‘consultation fatigue’ is now a common feature of both research fieldwork and planning engagement efforts. Dr Paul Cowie and theatre company, Cap-a-Pie, have produced a new piece of theatre, The Town Meeting, which has shown that taking an alternative approach can re-engage communities in research in a way that traditional forms of engagement do not. The Town Meeting has generated a rich resource of research material as well as engaging a network of co-researchers who have signed up to be involved in the project in the future.

The play was performed in 6 communities in the spring of 2015, and toured again this month visiting Leeds and Sheffield. The venues ranged from traditional and community based theatres to community centres and village halls. Over 160 people have now been to see the play, including HRH Princess Eugenie of York who enjoyed an excerpt of the play when she recently visited the University. The play will also tour again in April 2016, visiting Keswick, Doncaster and Washington.

The project has recently won the Sir Peter Hall Award for Wider Engagement in the RTPI Awards for Research Excellence.

The story of how the play was developed is available below or via Cap-a-Pie’s Town Hall podcast.

How the play was produced

The Town Meeting

In late autumn 2014 Katy Vanden, a producer from Cap-a-Pie theatre, sent a speculative email round Newcastle University. It outlined the opening scene in a play they were developing. Cap-a-Pie had worked previously with academics, but mainly to use theatre as a tool to disseminate research results. This time the aim was to link up with a researcher and test whether theatre could be used as a tool in the co-production of research.

The opening scene sees an unknown man arrive late to a meeting, a little flustered and not entirely prepared for the meeting he was about to have. Having previously worked as a local authority solicitor advising the planning (now development control) committee this scenario chimed with my personal experience. At the time the email arrived I was just finishing a research project investigating the relatively new phenomena of neighbourhood planning and neighbourhood forums. As I thought about the scene from the play the more I wondered if this could be a way of researching this topic in a novel way. I bit the bullet and replied to Katy’s email suggesting neighbourhood involvement in planning as the subject matter for the meeting.

Happily Katy and Brad McCormick, the artistic director of the company, agreed planning could be a suitable subject matter to develop the play around. My particular research interest is the way in which community groups interact with the planning process and how groups represent themselves in planning matters.

We now needed a narrative for the play. At this time an article appeared in the Guardian about the town of Kiruna in Sweden which is about to be relocated 3 km from its present location to make way for an opencast iron-ore mine. Working with director Gwilym Lawrence we decided to create a fictitious town, Little Rikjord, in which to set the play to allow a sense of drama and hopefully to allow the audience to have the freedom to debate issues in abstract. In the play, permission is being sought to move Little Rikjord and begin mining directly under the town. The audience are asked to put themselves in the place of the residents of the town and consider how they would react to the planning dilemma: move the town and keep the mine; or keep the town and close the mine. Brad plays the role of Benjamin Reynolds a junior planning officer and I play his boss sitting at the back keeping an eye on him.

There are two acts in the play, the first starts with the opening scene as outlined in that initial email. In this act the audience have a free choice as to the future of the town. Once the audience have completed several activities (including drawing a map of the fictional town and populating it with their favourite places and buildings), they are asked to discuss solutions to the dilemma facing their town and appoint two representatives. However, at the point they make their decisions Benjamin receives a phone call from the Minister. The decision has already been taken; in the interest of economic growth, mining must continue and the town must be moved. As an olive branch the government are offering to relocate one building from the current town. In the second act, the audience are asked to form a Community Heritage Board of four members to decide which building will be moved.

The audience reaction to the play was incredible. Prior to the Minister’s decision the audience were nearly always split about 50/50 in terms of staying or going and appointed two representatives to convey both sides of the argument. Once the Ministers decision is communicated the balance switches 90/10 against her choice. In all but one case the audience refused to have anything to do with the Community Heritage Board, even when it is hinted that by protesting through this structure the minister may change her mind. They also got very, very angry with much rage vented at Benjamin.

Audience feedback

The passion of the audiences highlighted to us the power theatre has both to move people and to immerse an audience in an alternate reality. It also proved to us that people are passionate about place and having a meaningful say in the future of their community. In the after show discussions the most animated audience members often apologised for their behaviour but maintained their passionate frustration with the planning system which had often triggered their response.

Working on the Town Meeting has been a fantastic experience. Using theatre as a research method has involved a steep learning curve. It’s not often your research gets reviewed by a theatre critic! However the end result has been worth it.

Town Meeting was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. It was also funded by Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal, Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice, and Newcastle University’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.

HaSS Research Impact

Research Impact from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS), Newcastle University

Tag Archives: communities

Helping to bridge the generational gap

Thinking about Learning Communities

Upward and Outward: Considering the impact of creative and artist ‘hubs’

Making changes through participation

Using Theatre to Engage Communities in Planning