tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/community-art-8791/articles
Community art – The Conversation
2023-11-21T16:54:06Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216034
2023-11-21T16:54:06Z
2023-11-21T16:54:06Z
High-street regeneration has to start with community trust and care
<p>When British discount retailer Wilko shut its remaining 68 stores in October 2023, people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/08/wilko-staff-mourn-final-weekend">mourned</a> what they took these closures to signal: the demise of the high street. </p>
<p>The potential or actual <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-street-strategy-recovery-will-take-more-than-street-parties-and-more-bins-164729#:%7E:text=The%20markers%20the%20government%20has,and%20activities%20%E2%80%93%20are%20not%20new.">decline</a> of England’s town and city centres has <a href="https://www.retailresearch.org/retail-crisis.html">long</a> preoccupied community groups, government officials and even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/08/how-the-uks-dying-high-streets-are-being-given-new-life-by-pop-up-shops-and-galleries">artist collectives</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, traditional high streets were seen to be struggling to compete with out-of-town shopping centres. More recently, <a href="https://theconversation.com/future-of-high-streets-how-to-prevent-our-city-centres-from-turning-into-ghost-towns-154108">online retail</a> has been blamed. One quarter of UK retail spending <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/timeseries/j4mc/drsi">now happens online</a>. </p>
<p>The government has devised several policies in response – from the “vital and viable town centres” <a href="https://trid.trb.org/view/405499">initiative</a> of 1994 to the “future of our high streets” <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-portas-review-the-future-of-our-high-streets">Portas review</a> of 2011 and, more recently, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-high-streets-fund">Future High Streets Fund</a>, launched in 2018.</p>
<p>The Power to Change charity exists to distribute a £150 million endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund. In 2020, it proposed to fund <a href="https://www.powertochange.org.uk/research/community-improvement-districts-discussion-paper/">community improvement districts</a>. These high-street regeneration plans involve community representatives – voluntary organisations, local residents, high street traders and businesses, and public services. </p>
<p>Between 2022 and 2023, we tracked the progress of the first seven community improvement projects. We facilitated eventsand interviewed project leaders and key partners in their local areas. Our report <a href="https://www.powertochange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FINAL-PTC-CID-report092023.pdf">shows</a> trust-building is crucial and that too often, communities feel that regeneration projects are imposed on them, for the benefit of councils and developers. </p>
<h2>England’s first seven community improvement districts</h2>
<p>Five of the pilots we studied were in Skelmersdale, Lancashire; Hendon, Sunderland; Stretford, Greater Manchester; Wolverton, Milton Keynes, and Ipswich. They each received £20,000 from Power to Change. Two further projects in Kilburn High Road and Wood Green High Road, two busy thoroughfares in North London received an additional £20,000 each from the Greater London Authority. </p>
<p>Some projects, including those in Skelmersdale and Kilburn, were new initiatives. Others, such as Hendon and Wolverton, built on decades of previous activity. The idea was that each would be undertaken with some form of local partnership and that local people would be consulted, through events and meetings, to find out what they wanted in their local high street. </p>
<p>We found that the pilot projects worked best when they managed to encourage this kind of conversation. Members of the public, community-based organisations such as charities and faith groups, local traders and property owners talked to each other and found common ground.</p>
<p>In Kilburn, the London Borough of Camden, which was coordinating the <a href="https://onekilburn.commonplace.is">One Kilburn</a> project, employed local residents as so-called “community activators”, to bring local people together. Through these informal conversations, the project team discovered that a particular local concern was the lack of public toilets on Kilburn High Road. They organised a “toilet hackathon”, involving local residents and landowners, including Transport for London, discussing potential solutions.</p>
<p>In Milton Keynes, the project organiser, Future Wolverton (a well established community benefit society), aims to revitalise the town centre alongside a separate scheme to redevelop the site of a demolished 1970s shopping mall. When it had the opportunity to take over the premises of a former charity shop, it used the space to ask residents what they wanted for the town. It also offered opportunities to businesses which couldn’t afford commercial space. </p>
<p>One of the most popular activities it implemented was a repair cafe, where residents could get things fixed and learn how to mend clothes or electrical items. This would not have happened without local people being trusted to come up with ideas.</p>
<p>In Sunderland, meanwhile, the <a href="https://backonthemap.org">Back on the Map</a> charity – what is known as a “community anchor organisation” with a 20-year track record of local grassroots activity – worked with the council. The charity proposed to arrange for vouchers issued by the council to support people suffering hardship to be valid in local shops. This, it argued, would support local traders who were also struggling because of the cost-of-living crisis. </p>
<p>Here, the project focused on Villette Road, in Hendon: a neighbourhood high street that had a reputation for crime and was blighted with shuttered shops. One of the initiatives, that wasn’t expensive but sent a strong signal to the community, was to installation the street’s first Christmas tree for almost a century. The charity also put up signs branding the street as the “<a href="https://backonthemap.org/heart-of-hendon/">heart of Hendon</a>”. As one member of the project team* put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having the street branded and have somebody care about the street again, it made the traders come together as a collective with a shared vision rather than just having individual conversations where it was just moaning about things, it turned it around to a more positive conversation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.shu.ac.uk/news/all-articles/latest-news/community-ownership-levelling-up-high-streets-research">shows</a> regeneration needs to respect and build on people’s attachments to the places they live and work in. Local people need to have the sense that decision-makers are listening to their concerns.</p>
<p>Expensive capital and real estate-led projects often fail to do this. Instead, they tend to rely on private developers, who invest in places in return for profit and do not yield the regeneration they promise. This has been demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/hackney-walk-how-david-adjayes-fashion-mecca-ended-up-a-ghost-town">reported</a> debacle of the Hackney Walk fashion hub in east London. Here, the £100m luxury redevelopment of a suite of railway arches saw local businesses evicted to make way for big-name fashion brands, which, in the absence of the promised footfall that brought them there, have all since closed down. </p>
<p>Hackney Walk is, as journalist Simon Usborne <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/11/hackney-walk-east-london-regeneration-ghost-town">puts it</a>, an example of exactly “what not to do”. It is too early to know whether the seven projects we’ve worked on will yield better long-term economic and social impacts. What is clear, however, is that in involving communities on an equal basis, they are starting from a better place. People need to have their say in decisions made about where they live.</p>
<p>*<em>All our interviewees’ names are withheld for anonymity</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheffield Hallam University was funded by Power to Change to conduct the research on which this article is based. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara González receives funding from the United Kingdom Research Innovation and the European Commission and sits in the Steering Group of Foodwise, the Leeds Food Partnership</span></em></p>
Capital-driven regeneration projects rarely deliver because they focus on profit, not local people’s needs.
Julian Dobson, Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University
Sara González, Professor in Human Critical Geography, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214711
2023-11-08T02:58:10Z
2023-11-08T02:58:10Z
With rising mental health problems but a shortage of services, group therapy is offering new hope
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556551/original/file-20231030-21-z9qjr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C159%2C8192%2C5236&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-group-therapy-session-indoors-closeup-2119418174">Shutterstock/New Africa</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The needs of people with mental health problems are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215036621003953">increasing globally</a>, especially following the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-89700-8">turbulence of COVID</a>.</p>
<p>Even before the pandemic, it was clear that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wps.20388">despite more resources</a> for mental health services in New Zealand and Australia, the prevalence of mental health problems was <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/2160279417?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true">on the rise</a>. </p>
<p>Mental health care in the current format is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julia-Rucklidge/publication/319287348_Why_has_increased_provision_of_psychiatric_treatment_not_reduced_the_prevalence_of_mental_disorder/links/59f43646a6fdcc075ec36513/Why-has-increased-provision-of-psychiatric-treatment-not-reduced-the-prevalence-of-mental-disorder.pdf">not meeting the needs</a> of people living in the community, and there’s an <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31612-X/fulltext?amp;utm_source=twitter&">ongoing shortage</a> of mental health providers and relevant therapies. </p>
<p>In an <a href="https://focus.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.focus.20220042">unequal world</a>, the rising burden of mental illness is often made worse by lack of access to quality evidence-based care. We need a new approach and it should focus on communities, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673621027367?via%3Dihub#bib2">scalability and equity</a>. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0001736">recently published scoping review</a>, we examine how group-based therapies could improve mental health outcomes. </p>
<h2>Social factors are important</h2>
<p>Many think of mental health care as involving a visit to a GP, psychologist or psychiatrist, a prescription for medicines and perhaps individual “talk therapy”. </p>
<p>But we wanted to examine the value of “psychosocial” care – a broader approach that meets individual needs but also considers social factors such as housing, income or relationships. </p>
<p>Our review aimed to understand the value of group-based interventions, recognising the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1093/jurban/78.3.458">importance of social networks and relationships</a> for recovery across all communities. </p>
<p>Group interventions might typically mean weekly or monthly meetings with a regular group experiencing mental distress. These would be facilitated by peers or community members who have been through similar difficulties. </p>
<p>Our study focuses on communities with fewer resources in South Asia, including Nepal, India and Bangladesh. It takes a regional approach because we know context matters in mental health, and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alan-Rosen/publication/293484562_THE_INDEPENDENT_HOSPITAL_PRICING_AUTHORITY_IHPA_AND_MENTAL_HEALTH_SERVICES_IT_IS_NOT_A_CASE_OF_'ONE_SIZE_FITS_ALL'_APPLYING_A_GENERIC_FORM_OF_ACTIVITY-BASED_FUNDING_TO_MENTAL_HEALTH_RISKS_PERPETUATING/links/57710faf08ae842225ac0017/THE-INDEPENDENT-HOSPITAL-PRICING-AUTHORITY-IHPA-AND-MENTAL-HEALTH-SERVICES-IT-IS-NOT-A-CASE-OF-ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL-APPLYING-A-GENERIC-FORM-OF-ACTIVITY-BASED-FUNDING-TO-MENTAL-HEALTH-RISKS-PERPETUATING-A.pdf">one size doesn’t fit all</a>. </p>
<p>We considered group interventions that shared a cultural context to see if they better engaged people on a local level. As such, our findings are also relevant for addressing the <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/2160279417?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true">mental health care gap</a> in Aotearoa New Zealand. The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020023005484">value of relationships and whānau care</a> is already well recognised for Māori. </p>
<p>There are also promising recent studies showing the value of group interventions for <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-pacific-rim-psychology/article/effectiveness-of-a-schoolbased-indicated-early-intervention-program-for-maori-and-pacific-adolescents/5E67B68B2EDF8031457AE974F2B7A013">mental health among young people</a>, and the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hpja.346">contribution of kaimahi</a> (non-regulated health workers) to improve outcomes for people with chronic conditions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nursing-home-residents-and-staff-are-traumatized-from-the-pandemic-collaborative-care-can-help-with-recovery-164479">Nursing home residents and staff are traumatized from the pandemic - collaborative care can help with recovery</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why group-based therapy?</h2>
<p>Group interventions have been shown to improve mental health outcomes in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02736-7/fulltext">both community trials</a> and systematic reviews. A recent <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wps.20906">meta-analysis of 81 studies</a> showed talk therapy is the best initial treatment for depression. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of women in a North Indian community talking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554102/original/file-20231016-29-xytsjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554102/original/file-20231016-29-xytsjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554102/original/file-20231016-29-xytsjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554102/original/file-20231016-29-xytsjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554102/original/file-20231016-29-xytsjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554102/original/file-20231016-29-xytsjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554102/original/file-20231016-29-xytsjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of women in a northern Indian community build new friendships in a psychosocial support group.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gunjan Prasad/Burans/Herbertpur Christian Hospital</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If psychosocial interventions were a pill, <a href="https://focus.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.focus.20220042">their effectiveness would be trumpeted globally</a>. Yet Western biomedicine (mental health care that requires psychiatrists and psychologists to deliver it) continues to command the majority of resources because of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7348439/">hierarchies</a> and global economic structures that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0160597620951949?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.1">privilege psychiatry and medicines</a>. </p>
<p>As well as being effective, there are other advantages to group-based interventions because they:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>do not rely on expensive specialist providers</p></li>
<li><p>can be delivered in communities and therefore improve access to care</p></li>
<li><p>are responsive to local contexts such as groups in rural areas</p></li>
<li><p>improve outcomes for groups that typically experience worse health, including new migrants to New Zealand</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2808640/">increase engagement</a> with mental health services</p></li>
<li><p>and are highly cost-effective and scalable.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Group therapy <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2808640/">improves mental health and social connection</a> and is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28286914/">at least as effective as individual therapy</a>.</p>
<p>It can be used for a wide range of mental health problems and is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpm.12072">more cost-effective than one-to-one individual therapy</a>. In communities that have a more collective approach to health and wellbeing, such as Indigenous groups, mental health care delivered in groups <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1363461519851606">can better reflect</a> these values. This in turn may increase accessibility and uptake.</p>
<h2>How group therapies work</h2>
<p>Most quantitative health studies only ask whether a particular intervention works. But we used an approach that looks for how interventions work by examining the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes. </p>
<p>As well as examining effectiveness, a “realist” evaluation seeks to provide an <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004663/Brief_introduction_to_realist_evaluation.pdf">explanatory analysis</a> of how and why complex social interventions lead to improved health outcomes. This helped us assess what works, for whom and in what circumstances.</p>
<p>In this review of 42 peer-reviewed research publications, we identified five key mechanisms that groups offer to improve mental health:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They increase opportunity to be part of <a href="https://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?pid=S0213-61632016000400004&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en">trusted relationships</a>, which is a key social determinant of health. Group members <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2019.1616798">described new friendships</a> that continue after the intervention was over.</p></li>
<li><p>They trigger a sense of social inclusion and support, meaning people access resources and services more easily. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(18)30060-9/fulltext">Social inclusion</a> is an important factor that determines mental health. Studies gave examples of how group members supported each other emotionally and with child care, agricultural and home responsibilities. </p></li>
<li><p>Groups can strengthen people’s ability to manage mental distress because they provide an opportunity to rehearse and use mental health skills and knowledge in a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1363461512454643">safe social space</a>. This is key to building communication skills and self esteem.</p></li>
<li><p>They trigger a sense of belonging, and members can manage emotions better. This <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-8-294">enabled behaviour changes</a>. For example, widows in northeast India described how they were able to identify and control feelings of anger because of their sense of connection with the group.</p></li>
<li><p>Groups provide a sense of collective strength and can act collaboratively for their own wellbeing. Group interventions are particularly <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19419899.2021.1897033?casa_token=LLYAPSZ2Io4AAAAA%3AOObNpgcgDGWWaXmoGmj9LGEMKS7B9fhtDofOgNPmG5JCz-aZMxCEpABddQPrZ8SncpXawPnhP-iHVA">beneficial for minorities</a>, such as non-binary and transgender people, who experience higher rates of mental distress as well as social exclusion. A group can offer social support and affirmation, which have also been identified as key mental health determinants.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>These mechanisms are relevant in Aotearoa New Zealand as well as across the wider South Asian region we studied. The recent government inquiry into mental health and addiction, <a href="https://mentalhealth.inquiry.govt.nz/inquiry-report/he-ara-oranga/">He Ara Oranga</a>, underlined the value of non-biomedical and local solutions for mental health, including therapeutic groups. It called for a move from “big psychiatry” to “big community”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/group-therapy-helps-scientists-cope-with-challenging-climate-emotions-208933">Group therapy helps scientists cope with challenging 'climate emotions'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Group therapy fits well with a community approach as it can meet mental health needs without medicines, hospitals or expensive professionals. Psychosocial group therapies do not seek to replace formal mental health care. They complement it by providing accessible, cost-effective care in communities and among people who have unmet mental health needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kaaren Mathias consults for Burans, a non-profit community mental health initiative of Herbertpur Christian Hospital based in North India. She received a grant from UK Research and Innovation.</span></em></p>
Group therapy can be at least as effective as individual therapy. It improves mental health by giving people a stronger sense of belonging – without medicines, hospitals or expensive professionals.
Kaaren Mathias, Senior Lecturer in public health, University of Canterbury
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205309
2023-05-09T16:27:30Z
2023-05-09T16:27:30Z
I’ve worked in precarious jobs for more than 10 years – here’s what unions should do to support migrant workers
<p>As I rush to clean everything before the sink overfills with plates and pans, I am confronted, yet again, with the brutality of my working conditions. My feet and legs throb and ache from sole to calf; I can feel the onset of cramps. But the chef won’t be able to work unless I clean these pans.</p>
<p>The clatter of plates and screaming of orders around me have become a constant, thumping backdrop. The only noise I pay attention to is the “beep” of the service elevator next to me – its door opens to reveal an explosion of leftovers, hastily thrown in by the upstairs waiters amid dirty napkins and cutlery.</p>
<p>To me, the beep has come to resemble a form of torture: every new sound signals more pressure, less space, more to catch up on. I haven’t taken a break since I started working 11 hours ago. There are at least three more hours to go.</p>
<p>The cost of the uneaten food is more than I make each day. I wonder if the customers have considered the pain that goes into the food they enjoy upstairs, just above our heads.</p>
<h2>Intensely precarious working conditions</h2>
<p>As a migrant worker since my arrival to the UK in 2011 and as a trade union organiser since 2013, I was already aware of the difficulties facing migrant workers who seek to challenge exploitation, both individually and collectively. To further understand <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/wusa.12346">these barriers</a>, I took on (and <a href="https://theses.gla.ac.uk/82275/">analysed</a>) jobs in a number of different precarious workplaces in Glasgow between 2017 and 2021, including as a kitchen porter in the Mediterranean restaurant in central Glasgow described above.</p>
<p>While some politicians and commentators rage against UK immigration levels, the fact that its economy does not simply rely on migrant labour but is, in my view, <a href="https://interregnum.live/2018/01/22/the-crack-in-the-edifice-modern-capitalism-migrant-workers-and-social-movements/">purposely designed to attract and exploit it</a>, is rarely mentioned. Ever since the days of empire, the UK has recruited migrant workers to staff the most precarious and labour-intensive occupations, in line with the demands of the economy. Regardless of whether they are from former colonies, European, documented or undocumented, migrants form an inseparable part of the nation’s economic infrastructure.</p>
<p>Making up about <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants-in-the-uk-labour-market-an-overview/">18% of the UK’s total labour force</a>, migrant workers are overrepresented in sectors such as factories, food manufacturing, hospitality and logistics. These are also the occupations that are the most likely to be characterised by intensely precarious working conditions, such as agency work or zero-hours contracts, punitive reductions of hours, unsociable shifts, and a lack of trade union representation.</p>
<p>On top of precarious employment, migrant workers face other barriers that are connected to the UK’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0261018320980653">hostile environment policies</a>, such as a lack of access to benefits. This means that the lives of many migrant workers in the UK are in a state of constant insecurity with regard to employment, income, accommodation and even food.</p>
<p>Whether their job is underpinned by a zero-hours contract, an online platform, an employment agency, or more “informal” and unregulated working arrangements, the overarching experience is one of intense insecurity and individualisation.</p>
<p>In these precarious workplaces, the pressure to perform is omnipresent. Watching colleagues being arbitrarily dismissed due to a lack of (over)exertion or for making trivial mistakes makes you realise that you are alone, exposed and vulnerable to the demands of your employer. Your relationships with your superiors and your personal abilities to push yourself are the only substitutes for contractual safety.</p>
<h2>‘I’ve only seen a union once’</h2>
<p>This isolation is worsened by the near-total non-existence of unions in precarious workplaces, despite <a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/standing-migrant-workers-everywhere">official pronouncements</a> that claim to support migrant workers. Since 2011, I have worked in more than 20 different locations in the hospitality, manufacturing and logistics sectors – I have only seen a union once, and it was oriented towards the permanent staff.</p>
<p>Many migrants I met weren’t even sure whether they could join unions as foreigners. And in every workplace I entered, the word “strike” was only uttered as a joke. Then, they dismissed the prospect. In a life saturated by insecurity, thinking of change is a luxury.</p>
<p>This is not to say that <a href="https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/gmb-pressure-forces-home-office-u-turn-migrant-indefinite-leave">unions haven’t made attempts</a>. But, due to the transient and insecure nature of precarious employment, the stability and trust between colleagues and between workers and union organisers that is required to build meaningful campaigns are simply not there.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-heroes-left-behind-the-invisible-women-struggling-to-make-ends-meet-198210">COVID heroes left behind: the 'invisible' women struggling to make ends meet</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Instead, a vicious cycle is created where precarious conditions breed precarious mindsets – an acceptance of insecure and low pay, poor working conditions and abuse. Indeed, <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/91404/3/forde_mackenzie_ciupijus_and_alberti.pdf">it has been argued</a> that such working conditions act as forces of socialisation: they teach migrant workers what to expect and how to conduct themselves.</p>
<p>This, when combined with <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2010/anderson_work_employment_society_2010/">migration controls</a> such as being dependent on an employer to remain in the country, lack of access to information and language barriers, renders migrant workers even more vulnerable and exploitable.</p>
<h2>A new breed of social centre</h2>
<p>I believe a crucial element of how unions and social movements can counteract the debilitating effects of precarity is to encourage and materially support the creation of new <a href="https://roarmag.org/essays/amazon-neoliberal-worker/">social centres</a> within neighbourhoods. This is already happening, both formally and informally, in <a href="https://iwc-cti.ca/about-us/">North America</a> and <a href="https://en.squat.net/2021/04/06/athens-zizania-new-squatted-social-center-in-victoria/">parts of Europe</a>, where social movements have set up physical community spaces that allow migrant and other precarious populations to congregate and organise.</p>
<p>These are not top-down initiatives but horizontal structures managed by workers with an understanding of the particularities associated with being an immigrant. But they need to be connected to cross-workplace organising structures, such as the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain’s <a href="https://iwgb.org.uk/en/page/clb/">Couriers and Logistics Branch</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/im-always-delivering-food-while-hungry-how-undocumented-migrants-find-work-as-substitute-couriers-in-the-uk-201695">'I’m always delivering food while hungry': how undocumented migrants find work as substitute couriers in the UK</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The value of such spaces is to allow workers who experience high degrees of transience (such as couriers or agency workers) to connect with each other, and with unions, in order to collectively organise to challenge their labour conditions.</p>
<p>This new breed of social centre could also address the interrelated factors that maintain migrant precarity, such as migration restrictions and housing. They would allow migrant workers to access a safe, supportive space outside of the workplace in their own time. Above all, they would be physical examples that grassroots support is there – and that they are not alone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Panos Theodoropoulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Since 2011, I’ve worked in more than 20 precarious workplaces in hospitality, manufacturing and logistics – and I have only seen a union once.
Panos Theodoropoulos, Teaching Fellow of Work, Employment, Management and Organisation, University of Leicester
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200937
2023-03-23T09:46:45Z
2023-03-23T09:46:45Z
Bowscapes review: album celebrates new traditions in South Africa’s ancient bow music
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514190/original/file-20230308-26-zg13m9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The late musician Madosini playing the umrhube mouthbow.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Oupa Bopape/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/new-practices-reinvent-traditions-in-bow-music-56095">Musical bows</a> are among the oldest instruments in southern Africa. Musicologists think the “ping” a bowstring makes when an arrow is released <a href="https://oxfordre.com/anthropology/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.001.0001/acrefore-9780190854584-e-561;jsessionid=89EDD8E587584910643F9A48478BD544?rskey=PoaaPK&result=101">inspired early hunters</a> (as far back as the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/khoisan">Khoi and San</a> nations) to use it for music-making in ritual and, later, other contexts.</p>
<p>The passing, in 2022, of South Africa’s bow virtuoso <a href="https://theconversation.com/madosini-a-south-african-national-treasure-whose-music-kept-a-rich-history-alive-197736">Latozi “Madosini” Mpahleni</a> reminded South Africans of traditional bow music’s significance in the region’s intangible cultural heritage.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An album cover with the words " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514185/original/file-20230308-20-3e9k33.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Africa Open</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When you pluck, strike or stroke the string of a musical bow, you get not only one note but extra sounds (called overtones), created by the air vibrating around it. Using various techniques – such as adding a gourd resonator, or placing the end of the bow in their mouths – bow players can amplify and manipulate those sounds to shape complex music. </p>
<p>The work of veteran and younger bow musicians, scholars and audiences all keep these traditions alive and stimulate new repertoire. But the fascination bow music holds for the international New Music community (modern, innovative concert composers), and the options for using electronic composing techniques with bow sounds, have been less documented. </p>
<p>Now a new compilation CD, Bow Project 2: Bowscapes, brings that impact to the fore. Released by the <a href="https://aoinstitute.ac.za">Africa Open Institute</a> for Music Innovation and Research at Stellenbosch University, its 21 newly-composed electronic tracks illustrate how heritage and innovation can interact in “traditional” music. And how composers, whether inside or outside its communities of origin, should treat it. </p>
<h2>Tribute to Jürgen Bräuninger</h2>
<p>Bowscapes is a tribute to the late German-born, South African-based composer and music professor <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/south-african-musical-composer-professor-juergen-braeuninger-dies-22832424">Jürgen Bräuninger</a>, who died in 2019. Bräuninger advocated innovation in composing and playing. When I interviewed some of the composers who had contributed tracks to the album for this review, it became clear how influential working with him had been.</p>
<p>South African composer <a href="https://www.njabulophungula.com">Njabulo Phungula</a>, a former student of Bräuninger, recalls:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jürgen would encourage me to be more ‘curious’ in my musical explorations … much of my recent music has to do with creating seemingly incompatible musical ideas and contexts in which they make sense, appealing to that curiosity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A longtime collaborator, Netherlands-based <a href="https://luchoutkamp.nl">Luc Houtcamp</a>, with musician and bow scholar <a href="https://soa.ukzn.ac.za/staff-profile/music/sazi-dlamini/">Sazi Dlamini</a> and poet <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/recipient/prof-ari-sitas">Ari Sitas</a>, created their work because, says Sitas, “We owed it to Jürgen.”</p>
<p>South African composer <a href="http://www.michaelblake.co.za/biography">Michael Blake</a>, professor at Africa Open, co-ordinated the album as well as contributing a track. He had helmed the first <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/18121004.2016.1267950">Bow Project</a> album in 2010, a collection of mostly string quartet works honouring the musicianship of traditional bow master the late <a href="https://iamtranscriptions.org/performers/mrs-nofinishi-dywili/">NoFinishi Dywili</a>. To that, Bräuninger contributed the only electronic soundscape, Tsiki’s Got a Headache, which opens this new recording. Blake told me that after Bräuninger’s death he was looking for a way to honour him: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought back to that ‘bowscape’, as he called it, and started imagining a whole CD … of new ones.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Blake contacted composers across the world, sending South African bow samples on request. In the end, he had 21 short electronic pieces, half from South Africa and half from places as diverse as Mozambique, Nigeria, Mexico, Germany, Uruguay, the Faroe Islands and more. </p>
<h2>Bow music and struggle music</h2>
<p>On the CD, those two groups of composers sit on either side of an extended centrepiece: Walking Song by Dlamini, Houtcamp and Sitas. Its lyrics are based on verses from <a href="https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/anti-apartheid-struggle-south-africa-1912-1992/">struggle era</a> trade unionist and poet <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/alfred-temba-qabula">Alfred Temba Qabula</a>. </p>
<p>Walking Song pays homage to two traditions: bow music and <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-struggle-songs-against-apartheid-come-from-a-long-tradition-of-resistance-192425">struggle music</a>. Diverse musicians, including accomplished bow players, used music as part of their activism against apartheid, as individuals or in trade union and political party choirs and theatre groups.</p>
<p>Sitas explains that the three were determined that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We were not going to use the bow as a decoration or quotation – we were going to compose with it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He sought permission from Qabula’s daughter to add contemporary allusions to the poem.</p>
<h2>Composing with bow</h2>
<p>Those processes indicate what went into making the album. Contributors acknowledged bow music as a legitimate compositional language, not an exotic ornament to be <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/12471/chapter-abstract/162875150?redirectedFrom=fulltext">appropriated</a>. Conversations about who “owns” and has the right to work with traditional music have been an important part of the decolonisation debate. South African composer, performer and scholar <a href="https://www.neosong.net">Neo Muyanga</a>, who made the track uNontoUzavunywa, reflects that borrowing is unavoidable, because cultural workers have always drawn from older music to convey new and sometimes subversive messages. But “it’s important to announce our sources and pay homage to them in every way possible.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/348757103" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Bow Project.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Muyanga’s work flips the gender message of a song from another bow maestro, <a href="https://herri.org.za/1/michael-blake/">Mantombi Matotiyana</a>. He says that when she first came across that song, “all power and ownership were invariably presumed to vest in the man”.</p>
<p>Phungula’s track Montage layers and contrasts the isolation of studio electronic composing with “an element that contained a multitude of sounds” – a family wedding recording he had made some years earlier. It invokes the spirit of community music-making in which bow traditions are rooted. </p>
<p>In many such communities, women (such as Madosini, Dyiwili and Matotiyana) remain the leading composers and performers. Three women composers feature on the album: London-born <a href="https://www.galinajuritz.com">Galina Juritz</a>, <a href="https://www.christinaoorebeek.com">Christina Oorebeek</a> from the US and South African <a href="http://www.carastacey.com">Cara Stacey</a>. </p>
<h2>Experimentation</h2>
<p>Stacey, herself a bow player, here applies guitar effects to the instrument: “Bows were earlier; guitars came in and replaced them. I liked the idea of flipping that and replacing the guitar … with bows.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-practices-reinvent-traditions-in-bow-music-56095">New practices reinvent traditions in bow music</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But her cyclical track, Rounds, also interrogates the stereotype that “tradition” and its exponents are “static or fixed in any way. My experience from my research in Eswatini and with different bow players is that they’re keen to experiment. They already do experiment – and did in the past.”</p>
<p>Blake relishes the album’s diversity of approaches, languages and sounds. In the community of music-makers he’s drawn together, Bowscapes reflects both the community roots of bow music and the collaborative processes Bräuninger fostered. </p>
<p><em>The CD is available from <a href="https://aoinstitute.ac.za">Africa Open</a> and will soon be available as a download</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200937/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gwen Ansell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Composers are keeping bow music alive through electronic music and other experiments.
Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/173649
2022-01-16T18:54:15Z
2022-01-16T18:54:15Z
‘Our community is small, but our spirit is strong’: how art forms the heart of Cobargo’s Black Summer fires recovery
<p>On December 31 2019, the catastrophic fires burning across southeastern Australia reached the small South Coast NSW town of Cobargo in the form of the Badja Forest Road Fire. </p>
<p>Within just a few hours, roads and bridges were impassable, all critical infrastructure was destroyed, and 300 homes in the district along with 30% of businesses in Cobargo’s main street were lost. Six people died, 300,000 hectares were destroyed, and hundreds of kilometres of fencing, thousands of farm animals and countless native flora and fauna were lost. All this in a community of just 2,200 people.</p>
<p>Cobargo became, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/australian-bushfire-community-vented-fury-at-prime-minister-scott-morrison-dkmpq02nj">to quote The Times</a>, “the symbol of a country […] in crisis”. </p>
<p>Communities that have experienced catastrophic ruin often face an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/25/you-can-see-it-in-their-eyes-long-after-the-bushfires-the-pain-lingers-in-cobargo">ongoing cycle of loss</a>. With material and economic resources largely gone, and significant trauma present, the resource that is the community – <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02008.x">the sense of “us”</a> – often crumbles. </p>
<p>Emergency and service providers are there at the beginning, providing vital support, but swiftly move on to the next disaster. The community is then left to its own resources while psychological damage <a href="https://medicinetoday.com.au/2020/march/feature-article/when-smoke-clears-supporting-communities-after-disaster">continues to emerge</a>. </p>
<p>This is where art enters the picture. </p>
<p>Research shows participating in an art practice has the capacity to <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/arts/Documents/nsw-health-and-the-arts-framework-report.pdf">aid the healing of individuals and communities</a>. Participants do not need to be artists in order to gain enormous benefits. The act of engaging in creative expression helps rebuild connections, improves physical and mental health, and provides the capacity to <a href="https://creative.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/56903/The_role_of_arts_in_rebuilding_community_-_Final_Report.pdf">begin imagining recovery</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-staggering-1-8-million-hectares-burned-in-high-severity-fires-during-australias-black-summer-157883">A staggering 1.8 million hectares burned in 'high-severity' fires during Australia's Black Summer</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Thinking about community</h2>
<p>Two years on from Black Summer, rebuilding is still at an early stage. The roll-out of the government’s recovery fund has been <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-14/cobargo-preps-for-fire-season-but-funding-yet-to-flow/12763026">slow and uneven</a>: well into 2021, many victims of the fires were <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7171367/fire-victims-reports-distressing-recovery-agency-boss/">still living</a> in tents and caravans. </p>
<p>Adding to the difficulties, the process of crafting a submission for financial support is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-09/fire-victims-still-navigating-complex-grant-schemes-in-cobargo/12964866">onerous and complex</a>, particularly for those not practised in grant-writing. And it is highly competitive. Applicants to the second stage of the NSW Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Package, focused on community recovery and resilience projects, requested more than six times the available funds. Most applications were not approved. </p>
<p>Recovery after a natural disaster largely depends <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921000789">on the energy and capability</a> of local people. When those driving the recovery process are community members, the sustained collective activity <a href="https://disasterplaybook.org/impact-stories/">increases the likelihood of success</a>. Local people are present throughout the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/phases-disaster-recovery-emergency-response-long-term">long-term process of recovery</a>, and their deep knowledge of the community – its history, its demographics, and its values and aspirations – <a href="https://iap2.org.au/news/a-guide-to-engaging-in-disaster-recovery/">are vital</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-given-me-love-connecting-women-from-refugee-backgrounds-with-communities-through-art-167786">'It’s given me love': connecting women from refugee backgrounds with communities through art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Recovery through collaboration</h2>
<p>Creative thinking and practice are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/">at the heart</a> of the healing process. Whether macro or micro, planned or ad hoc, creative activities bring people together. In the process of making and talking, recovery can begin: for the individual, <a href="https://pgav.org.au/Transformative-Impacts-of-Culture-Creativity%7E4434">and for the community</a>.</p>
<p>Although many of Cobargo’s creative practitioners lost their homes, studios and businesses, they have been prominent in this task of recovery, rebuilding their community at the same time as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-23/cobargo-woodfire-potter-first-firing-after-black-summer-bushfire/100414022">rebuilding their own practices</a>. </p>
<p>Early on, Cobargo residents wrote a creative plan to construct a shared vision, and established the <a href="https://cobargorecoveryfund.com/about-us/">Cobargo Community Bushfire Recovery Fund</a>. With support from this fund, and from charities and private contributors, Cobargo’s creatives have been crafting opportunities for community members to reconnect. </p>
<p>Painted telegraph poles have been a feature of Cobargo’s main street for about 20 years but most were destroyed or damaged by the fire. With the <a href="https://www.begadistrictnews.com.au/story/7333111/cobargo-repaints-main-street-telegraph-poles-a-vibrant-step-towards-the-towns-recovery/">Poles Project</a>, local artists – young and old, professional and amateur – repainted the poles with new interpretations and new senses of a future. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cobargocommunitytreeproject.org/">Cobargo Community Tree project</a> saw Cobargo residents working with local blacksmiths Iain Hamilton and Philippe Ravenel to forge stainless steel leaves for a memorial tree. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y3a8-aGeW-s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Other creatives have organised workshops, hosted the <a href="https://aboutregional.com.au/fire-up-cobargo-promises-a-free-day-of-entertainment-and-fundraising-to-help-bushfire-affected-locals">Fire Up Cobargo music festival</a>, presented <a href="https://gingerthefrog.com/">children’s theatre</a>, and set up a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/triangletoollibrary/">tool library</a> for craft projects.</p>
<p>Local children also played their part. In response to the fires, Year 5 and 6 students at the Cobargo Public School wrote and illustrated a remarkable book titled <a href="https://www.littlescribe.com/shop/books/the-day-she-stole-the-sun-by-cobargo-public-school/">The Day She Stole the Sun</a>. It tells the story of Ganyi (the Yuin word for fire) who wrestles with and overcomes Nature. The writing and illustrations manifest the children’s distress: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We fought hard, but we lost our farms. We fought hard, but we lost our homes. We fought hard, but we lost our families. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But it ends with a positive turn: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our community is small, but our spirit is strong. Ganyi will never take that from us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The work of recovery is progressing, though it is piecemeal, uneven, and by no means complete. There is still a vital need for rebuilding and for support. This is likely to remain the case for years. Meanwhile, the Cobargo community continues to identify and implement creative activities and aims that are both short- and long-term. </p>
<p>One large-scale long-term project is the Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre, <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/grants-and-funding/bushfire-community-recovery-and-resilience-fund">funded by the NSW government</a>, with construction due to begin later this year. This will be a <a href="https://www.begadistrictnews.com.au/story/7339021/a-place-to-open-conversation-cobargo-set-to-get-bushfire-resilience-centre/">community cultural centre</a>, with spaces for exhibition, performance and commemoration.</p>
<p>It will also be a place for residents to visit, to rebuild themselves and the community, and to think anew a creative response to climate change – and the challenges yet to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jen Webb receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rhonda Ayliffe is the recipient of an RTP scholarship. She is a Research Associate with the National Museum of Australia and is the Vice-Chairperson of the Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre Inc. </span></em></p>
On December 31 2019, the small NSW town of Cobargo was devastated by fires. Community arts projects are helping in the recovery.
Jen Webb, Dean, Graduate Research, University of Canberra
Rhonda Ayliffe, PhD student, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/154831
2021-03-16T02:26:24Z
2021-03-16T02:26:24Z
Ten Days on the Island: blistering rock, raw urgency, tenderness and dagginess in a festival spread too thin
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389484/original/file-20210315-18-1ps6r7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6456%2C3632&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jess Bonde/Ten Days on the Island</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since its launch in 2001, the biennial Ten Days On The Island has aimed to be a festival for the whole of Tasmania, bringing in international artists and putting local artists on the world stage. </p>
<p>This year, as in 2019, the festival’s program — and the titular “ten days” — are spread across three weekends. With travel bans and conservative limits on <a href="https://www.examiner.com.au/story/7165721/theatre-industry-pleads-for-capacity-restrictions-to-be-eased/">theatre capacities</a>, the program is thinner than usual, making the stretch across the state an even greater challenge. </p>
<p>Artistic director Lindy Hume proposes a Romantic, rather than <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/tasmanian-gothic/">Gothic Tasmania</a>, placing Jess Bonde’s photographic re-imagining of Caspar David Friedrich’s 1818 oil painting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog">The Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog</a> as the festival’s central image. </p>
<p>Bonde’s singular figure surveying an uninhabited landscape captures both the loneliness of isolation, and the accomplishment of getting on top of the curve.</p>
<p>The individualism of Romanticism, however, glosses over our <em>collective</em> action to hold back this pandemic, and the communities and institutions we have drawn on for support. </p>
<p>The festival itself is one such institution, calling on communities across the state to flesh out the 2021 program with workshops, talks and a range of projects. </p>
<h2>Works by community</h2>
<p>One of the few works that will travel the whole state is the charming There is No “I” in Island, led by filmmakers Rebecca Thomson and Catherine Pettman. The series of short films animate local experiences of lockdown. </p>
<p>The films explore an eclectic range of visual styles, but all are deeply engaging, drawing us in to the astonishing candour, humour, and down-to-earth dagginess of the respondents.</p>
<p>It meets the generosity of its participants with respect, weaving experiences of isolation into a resonant whole.</p>
<p>MAPATAZI is a glittering, blistering onslaught of rock: an electric guitar orchestra of 21 local women of all skill levels taking over the back room of the Launceston Men’s Workers Club in a joyously shambolic affair with an infectious sense of fun. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women in brilliant outfits playing guitar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389493/original/file-20210315-17-1bli8rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">MAPATAZI orchestra of electric guitars is a joyously shambolic affair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ten Days on the Island</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 2019 festival, <a href="https://utp.org.au/event/shorewell-presents-2">Shorewell Presents …</a> in Burnie took the form of a lavish outdoor dinner, a gesture of generosity exclusively for locals: community art projects are not always about public outcomes.</p>
<p>This year, a series of glossy billboards have been erected around <a href="https://burniecommunityhouse.com.au/">Burnie Community House</a> and the adjacent shopping centre as Shorewell Presents… Gallery of Hopes and Dreams. The billboards display phases chosen by consensus — “We have each other”; “Be kind to yourself”; “Go with the flow” — accompanied by cute comic black cockatoos on eye catching pastel backgrounds. </p>
<p>Our guide, local resident Bluey, was part of the group who developed the phrases, and speaks proudly of them. It has clearly been a meaningful project for him.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man smiles in front of a billboard reading " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389495/original/file-20210315-13-140inlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a disconnect between the framing and the outcomes of the Gallery of Hopes and Dreams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ten Days on the Island</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the billboards read like motivational posters: clean and relentlessly optimistic. The phrases don’t communicate hopes or dreams. They focus on the now, describing tactics (“Let’s smile”) for surviving day to day. The dissonance between the framing, the community input and the outcome suggest this project has not quite met its intention.</p>
<p>While Sydney-based Urban Theatre Projects have a long and strong history of community engaged projects, this felt under-resourced and the language of empowerment eerily neo-liberal. But it did, thankfully, highlight the incredible work of Burnie Community House.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A joyously decorated hall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389497/original/file-20210315-15-14b76rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ten community halls across the state are hosts for the festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sonja Ambrose/Ten Days on the Island</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The centrepiece of the festival, If These Halls Could Talk, produced events for ten regional community halls across the state. </p>
<p>Produced in regional New South Wales <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/10/02/4324279.htm">in 2015</a>, in the original vision, each project told the unique story of each hall. Here, the halls I visit are presenting events, rather than being the focus of the art themselves.</p>
<p>In Rowella, I watch Tasdance’s Where do We Start, a series of short duets between dancers and musicians developed from discussions that began over Zoom. The process has produced a vibrant quintet of performances, full of a raw urgency. </p>
<p>The standout is a collaboration between harpist Emily Sanzaro and dancer Jenni Large, transforming the harp from instrument into a third dancing body moving around the space. The exploratory resonance of voices and strings across the three bodies summons tenderness and strength, encapsulating a sensual and defiant resilience responding to more than just the pandemic. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389496/original/file-20210315-20-1bvpav8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a series of duets between dancer and musician, the harp becomes a third performing body.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sonja Ambrose/Ten Days on the Island</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An uncertain recovery</h2>
<p>Ten Days is much cherished by Tasmanians, and since the arrival of MONA’s festivals, has served as an important cultural counterpoint. The 2019 festival ambitiously targeted a greater regional focus, and from this, <a href="https://theconversation.com/births-deaths-and-rituals-a-revamped-ten-days-on-the-island-explores-tasmanias-past-and-present-113745">a sense of optimism</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/births-deaths-and-rituals-a-revamped-ten-days-on-the-island-explores-tasmanias-past-and-present-113745">Births, deaths and rituals: a revamped Ten Days on the Island explores Tasmania's past and present</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This year, the festival seems overburdened by the task of reaching the whole island, and spread too thin over the first two weekends. </p>
<p>There was a sense of things coming together at the last minute – from the late announcement of various workshops and talks, to the hand drawn sign on the street in Burnie and the letters lost in the post that were supposed to be part of an otherwise charming wilderness walk in A Weekend Poetical. </p>
<p>While these community works show how the arts might lead our recovery from the pandemic, they also show the lingering aftereffects: this recovery is going to take some time.</p>
<p><em>Ten Days on the Island runs <a href="https://www.tendays.org.au/">until March 21</a>. This review focusses on community engaged projects over the first two weeks of the program.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154831/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asher Warren supervises a PhD project 'The Art of Re-entry: Roles and impacts of experimental Art for people convicted of crime' that is affiliated with Ten Days on the Island. </span></em></p>
With travel bans and conservative limits on theatre capacities, this year’s Ten Days is a smaller affair than usual, placing community arts at its heart.
Asher Warren, Lecturer, University of Tasmania
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/143836
2020-08-18T14:24:10Z
2020-08-18T14:24:10Z
How grassroots video is building a film industry in Zimbabwe
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352943/original/file-20200814-20-1ivmbm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tendaiishe Chitima, lead actress in the low-budget hit film Cook Off.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">WIKUS DE WET/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a general perception that there is no film industry to talk about in Zimbabwe. This argument is mostly based on comparisons with other well-resourced film economies, such as Hollywood, or even South Africa’s. </p>
<p>Based on my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02500167.2018.1534872">study</a> of the Zimbabwean <a href="http://ukzn-dspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/15608">film industry</a> I disagree with this view. Zimbabwe does have a film industry, but perhaps, not one that meets everyone’s expectations and certainly not one that can be comparable to Hollywood’s formal value chain. </p>
<p>Zimbabwe, like many other developing countries, faces political and economic challenges and the film industry’s problems are compounded by a lack of either governmental or corporate support, which has led media scholar Nyasha Mboti to <a href="https://osf.io/smrwj/download">observe</a> that the sector is “orphaned”.</p>
<p>There are, nevertheless, efforts at the grassroots, of various informally constituted cottage industries producing video-film products. These include video-films shot in as little as a week, on very low to zero budgets and by remarkably lean crews (who may also feature as the acting talent). These efforts should be celebrated as indications of enthusiasm, creative genius and sheer endeavour that auger well for the future of an industry (by any definition).</p>
<h2>Making it work</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13696815.2019.1599829">recent paper</a> I argue that making a film in most developing countries is <em>mégotage</em>, as observed by the ‘father of African cinema’, Senegalese filmmaker <a href="http://newsreel.org/articles/ousmanesembene.htm">Ousmane Sembène</a>. The <em>mégotage</em> metaphor means that producing a film in such contexts is a desperate endeavour, akin to scrounging around for cigarette butts. </p>
<p>It is such a grit and grunt, huff and puff affair, to the extent that even a 10-minute short film has to be admired.</p>
<p>Evidence on the ground shows that the <em>mégotage</em> sometimes pays off. Zimbabweans are known for their resilience and ability to <em>kiya-kiya</em> (‘make things work’ in the Shona language) when faced with what seems to be a dead end. A large portion of the country’s economy is characterised by such <em>kiya-kiya</em> efforts, as anthropologist Jeremy Jones <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070.2010.485784">observes</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman looks downcast and pained." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352951/original/file-20200814-14-vgjuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kushata Kwemoyo poster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mirazvo Productions/Rain Media</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Zimbabwe’s film industry appears to thrive under very difficult circumstances. Recent video-films like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9012410/"><em>Kushata Kwemoyo</em></a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6541984/"><em>Escape</em></a>, <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/chinhoyi-7-film-is-finally-here/"><em>Chinhoyi 7</em></a> and lately, the Netflix hit <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52983564"><em>Cook Off</em></a>, all made during the so-called Zimbabwean <a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwes-deepening-crisis-time-for-second-government-of-national-unity-122726">crisis</a> (stretching from around 2000 to date) showcase the filmmaking talent and cinematographic capabilities abundant in the country. It’s what once led film scholar Frank Ukadike, in his book <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520077485/black-african-cinema"><em>Black African Cinema</em></a>, to remark that Zimbabwe was Africa’s Hollywood.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man holds a military rifle, dressed in camouflage gear." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352952/original/file-20200814-20-7qfa0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chinhoyi 7 poster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ster Kinekor</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ukadike made his remark more than 20 years ago. It was based on the film-friendliness that Zimbabwe exhibited back then. At the time, many Hollywood companies, including the Cannon Group who were popular for blockbusters like <em>Missing In Action</em> and <em>Cyborg</em> featuring stars like Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, used Zimbabwe as a filmmaking location because of its splendid scenery, efficient financial systems and durable infrastructure. Famous faces such as Sharon Stone (in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089421/"><em>King Solomon’s Mines</em></a>) and Denzel Washington (in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/10/cry-freedom-richard-attenborough-reel-history"><em>Cry Freedom</em></a>) graced the country as cast in the movies. </p>
<p>At the same time, Zimbabwe’s Central Film Laboratories serviced the southern African region’s film processing needs. All this promise has disappeared, owing to a combination of political and economic factors that have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02500167.2018.1534872">traumatised</a> most economic sectors, and this is the source of the pessimism.</p>
<h2>Riches from grassroots</h2>
<p>What I celebrate is that, in the midst of such adversity, filmmaking continues to thrive. A critical mass of youthful filmmakers armed with camcoders, laptops, cell phones and an assortment of improvisations, has emerged and continues to keep the filmmaking impulse alive. Among the leading lights are Von Tavaziva (<a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/the-ground-breaking-go-chanaiwa-go-reloaded/"><em>Go Chanaiwa Go Reloaded</em></a>), Shem Zemura (<em>Kushata Kwemoyo</em>), Joe Njagu (<em>Cook Off</em>) and Nakai Tsuro (<em>Mwanasikana</em>), to mention just a few. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K0WYd34FGyo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for the award-winning romantic comedy Cook Off.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of the time, their route to audience is the DVD or Youtube, often for little or no returns. But the enterprising ones, like Von Tavaziva, have discovered ways of beating the scourge of piracy by producing high volumes of DVDs and selling them at very affordable prices in accessible city spaces. </p>
<p>With proceeds from such endeavours, they mount their next productions – no government support, no bank loan, no moaning!</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-apps-on-mobile-phones-are-changing-zimbabwes-talk-radio-143611">How apps on mobile phones are changing Zimbabwe's talk radio</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are further encouraging signs, if the aesthetics of contemporary music videos is anything to go by. The work of <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/thank-god-blaqs-didnt-retire/">Vusa ‘Blaqs’ Hlatshwayo</a> and <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/meet-the-man-behind-jah-prayzah-videos/">Willard ‘Slimmaz’ Magombedze</a> indicates cinematographic competences that can further improve the video-film genre. A veteran of the crisis years, filmmaker <a href="https://www.africanfilmny.org/2013/tawanda-gunda-mupengo/">Tawanda Gunda Mupengo</a> (<em>Tanyaradzwa</em> and <em>Peretera Maneta</em>) <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13696815.2019.1599829?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=cjac20">told me</a> that if people keep at it, the local art of filmmaking will only get better. He believes that emerging talent, even away from the major cities, should be encouraged and this will have a multiplier effect, not only on volumes of video-films, but also the human resource-base needed for profitable film business in the future. He says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Let there be a competent crew in Masvingo. If that crew makes a film that is successful, they will breed a community of filmmakers. They will be training people on the ground when they are shooting and editing, so that we have vibrant little pockets.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The informal filmmaking practices (which are in fact Zimbabwe’s film industry), should be encouraged to thrive, with or without government support. The example of Nigeria’s film industry, <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-nollywood-to-new-nollywood-the-story-of-nigerias-runaway-success-47959">Nollywood</a>, which has grown from rags to riches, offers inspiration in terms of how grassroots efforts may blossom in the long run. As it was for Nigeria, so can it be for Zimbabwe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143836/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oswelled Ureke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Low-budget, grassroots video-film efforts are beginning to blossom and will shape the film industry in the long run.
Oswelled Ureke, Lecturer, Midlands State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/135050
2020-04-07T04:53:17Z
2020-04-07T04:53:17Z
Coronavirus: as culture moves online, regional organisations need help bridging the digital divide
<p>Museums, galleries and artist collectives around the world are shutting their doors and <a href="https://theconversation.com/virtual-zoos-museums-and-galleries-14-sites-with-great-free-art-and-entertainment-134153">moving online</a> in response to coronavirus. But engaging with audiences online requires access, skills and investment. </p>
<p><a href="http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:162925">My research</a> with remote Aboriginal art centres in the Northern Territory and community museums in Victoria shows moving to digital can widen the gap between urban and regional organisations.</p>
<p>Local spaces are vital. They ensure our national story is about more than the metropolitan, allowing artists to create – and audiences to engage with – local art and history. These art centres and museums bring communities together. </p>
<p>This cannot be replicated online. </p>
<p>Australia’s digital divide influences the ability of museums and galleries to move online, and the ability of audiences to find them there. </p>
<p>Cultural organisations that cannot produce digital content risk getting left behind. If we don’t support regional and rural organisations in their move online – or relieve them from this pressure entirely – we run the risk of losing them. </p>
<h2>More than metropolitan</h2>
<p>Community museums are critical in collecting, preserving and enabling access to local history. Across Victoria, these community organisations hold around <a href="https://mwa2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/victorian-collections-digital-transformation-and-community-collections/">10 million items</a>. </p>
<p>Aboriginal art centres produce some of Australia’s best contemporary art, generating <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/arts-nation-final-27-feb-54f5f492882da.pdf">A$53 million in sales</a> between 2008 and 2012. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-other-indigenous-coronavirus-crisis-disappearing-income-from-art-134127">The other Indigenous coronavirus crisis: disappearing income from art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Digital platforms can make these contributions to our cultural life more accessible – particularly in these times of physical distancing. But artists in remote Aboriginal art centres and volunteer retirees running community museums are the most likely to experience digital disadvantage and the most likely to be left behind.</p>
<h2>A digital divide</h2>
<p>Australians are <a href="https://digitalinclusionindex.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/TLS_ADII_Report-2019_Final_web_.pdf">more likely</a> to be digitally excluded when Indigenous, living in remote areas, or over the age of 65. </p>
<p>Community collecting is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325127271_Creating_sustainable_digital_heritage_resources_using_linked_data">under-resourced</a> and so regional museums rely on <a href="https://mwa2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/victorian-collections-digital-transformation-and-community-collections/">retiree volunteers</a>. </p>
<p>Over 30% of Indigenous artists practising out of art centres <a href="http://www.nintione.com.au/resource/PB009_AboriginalTorresStraitIslanderArtEconomies.pdf">are over 55</a>, and are most likely to be earning from their art <a href="https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/living-culture/">over 65</a>. These remote centres have poor access to web-capable devices and have low-quality internet connections.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-digital-divide-is-not-going-away-91834">Australia's digital divide is not going away</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The digital divide also exists for local audiences with access issues of their own.</p>
<p>Although most art centres and community museums have active websites and social media accounts, these are unlikely to be truly engaging or interactive.</p>
<p>Art centres tend to focus their digital platforms outside the community on commercial sales. Community museums focus on information about opening hours and events. They rarely have the expertise or capacity to create detailed online catalogues for audiences. </p>
<h2>Exclusionary consequences</h2>
<p>Cultural participation is <a href="https://www.cusp.ac.uk/themes/a/oakley-obrien-inequality-in-cultural-production/">fragmented</a> along demographic and geographic lines. Cities house the majority of our major institutions, with <a href="https://creative.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/56308/Arts_Vic_v96-8.pdf">city dwellers</a> dominating visitation.</p>
<p>Digital inequality ensures barriers remain even for online collections. Regional and rural organisations are unlikely to have the specific skills, resourcing and devices to move fully online. </p>
<p>Under social distancing, cultural organisations that cannot produce digital content risk being left behind. This will disproportionately impact regional and rural organisations. </p>
<p>These organisations are critical for preserving the diversity of Australian stories. Aboriginal art centres and community museums provide spaces where the local is solidified. Communities are formed, documented, responded to and shared. </p>
<p>If these organisations cannot host the same web presence as major metropolitan institutions, even local audiences could divert their attention to the cities. Our local cultural organisations might go the way of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/local-newspapers-are-an-essential-service-they-deserve-a-government-rescue-package-too-135323">disappearing regional newspapers</a>. </p>
<p>To survive the coming months, these organisations need targeted support to move online. Or a reprieve from the pressure to be completely digitally accessible: not all cultural consumption can happen online.</p>
<p>These physical community spaces will be more important than ever once social isolation rules are lifted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Indigo Holcombe-James received funding for this research from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and an RMIT Engaging Capability Platform Social Change Scholarship. </span></em></p>
Galleries and musuems are rapidly moving online in response to social distancing measures, but the digital divide means regional and remote organisations could be left behind.
Indigo Holcombe-James, Sessional academic, School of Media and Communications, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/111212
2019-03-04T15:21:26Z
2019-03-04T15:21:26Z
Using art to tackle air pollution: a story from a Nairobi slum
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261646/original/file-20190301-110150-18cn4n1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mukuru, Nairobi.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Dennis Weche</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Air pollution is recognised as a major threat to human health worldwide. Nine out of ten people breathe polluted air, resulting in <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/air-pollution">7m premature deaths</a> a year. </p>
<p>While air pollution respects no boundaries, and affects almost all of us, it impacts some populations more than others. Deaths attributed to air pollution are <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/air-pollution">ten times more likely</a> in low and middle income countries compared to high income countries. Sources of outdoor air pollution include industry, traffic and agriculture. Sources of indoor air pollution are mostly cooking and heating using solid fuels (including wood and charcoal).</p>
<p>Many people living in urban informal settlements (or slums) are exposed to high levels of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11019457">indoor</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27152713">outdoor</a> air pollution. Despite efforts to tackle exposure levels, reductions in air pollution <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27646170">have not been observed</a>. Life in an informal settlement is not easy and there are many daily challenges, of which air pollution is just one. If the choice is between using dirty fuel or not feeding your kids, then is there a choice?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women cooking in Mukuru.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Dennis Weche</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Current approaches to reducing exposure to air pollution in informal settlements include awareness raising and campaigns on how to reduce exposure. But these methods have very little input from the people they target. As a result, they may have a low rate of acceptance. Campaigns also generally focus on one source of air pollution, but effective solutions and improvements to health need to take into account all sources of exposure.</p>
<p>And so community-centred approaches are needed to ensure an understanding of the local context and to explore concerns and challenges faced by residents. This will ensure that solutions are culturally relevant, inclusive and therefore more likely to be effective.</p>
<h2>Mukuru, Nairobi</h2>
<p>This is what we have been doing in Mukuru, which is an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. More than <a href="https://www.muungano.net/publicationslibrary/2018/1/22/mukuru-spa-situational-analysis-phase-2-report-mukuru-kwa-njenga-kwa-reuben-viwandani">100,000 families</a> live in crowded conditions with limited access to basic services. Exposure to air pollution <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5751718/">can lead to</a> respiratory infection, chronic lung disease, heart disease stroke and lung cancer. In Mukuru, exposure is continuous due to burning of rubbish and industrial emissions. The immediate effects reported by residents include burning eyes, sore nasal passages, coughing and asthma attacks. </p>
<p>Along with a series of interdisciplinary colleagues, we set up the <a href="https://airnetworkafrica.com/">AIR Network</a> so that residents of Mukuru could work together with African and European researchers to explore how best to raise awareness and begin to develop solutions to tackle local air pollution issues. Our creative methods and the involvement of the community allowed us to recognise a series of sources of pollution that we might not have otherwise.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AtH0-NreUxA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>To minimise “Western” and “academic” preconceptions, which can result in a blinkered view, and to maximise engagement, trust and participation, our network used a variety of creative methods. These included theatre, storytelling, photography and drawing. We were determined from the start to create a democratic and participatory research project so that we could begin to understand the challenges that informal settlement dwellers encounter day to day, with the community deeply involved from the start.</p>
<p>We began with a week-long workshop in Mukuru. For many of us, the creative approaches used were novel and we became a collective, learning together – as well as laughing, eating, sharing and building trust. Barriers were broken down not just between community and researcher, but also between researchers from different disciplines. </p>
<h2>Creating new tools</h2>
<p>This is a community that is marginalised, with very few rights or regulations in place to protect them and limited access to basic resources. It is also a youthful community that is hugely self-motivated, bursting with talent, energy and activism. It is key that the voices of communities such as this are heard. The community educated us on which of the creative methods would work well in Mukuru, and for the next six months, we worked on putting our plans into action. </p>
<p>Our team included talented film makers, and we used digital storytelling to document personal experiences of air pollution. Here, for example, Dennis Waweru talks about the impact of air pollution on the health of his community.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NjetxTMHfaE?wmode=transparent&start=8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Artists from the Mukuru-based Wajuuku Arts Centre painted maps on canvas and took these out into the community so that local residents could use them to identify pollution hotspots and pollution sources. Music was also highlighted as an effective and important communication tool. Local musicians and rappers composed songs to raise awareness about air pollution and the AIR Network itself. </p>
<p>We also used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_theatre">forum theatre</a> (also known as theatre of the oppressed) to develop short plays about key air pollution problems in Mukuru, and then invite local people to become actors and explore potential solutions to the problems presented on stage. </p>
<p>These forum theatre plays were subsequently developed into legislative theatre pieces, which were performed to people in positions of influence or power. Audience members were then also invited to take part in playing out solutions to key air pollution issues, allowing a dialogue to develop between the “ordinary person” and the policy maker, shifting the usual direction of flow and breaking down existing hierarchies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forum theatre in Mukuru.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AIR Network</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The real issues</h2>
<p>Industry, burning of waste and bad drainage were identified as key sources of air pollution in Mukuru. It turns out that dangerous unregulated working conditions and lack of protective clothing are a major cause of exposure. As is a lack of infrastructure for firefighting, waste disposal (the smoke and smell of burning plastic is constant) and sanitation (sewage was identified by residents as a major source of air pollution).</p>
<p>If we had gone into the community with aims and ambitions that had already been decided according to the commonly acknowledged causes of air pollution (traffic, industry, cooking methods) we may not have had space to reveal or acknowledge these other sources. Instead, we identified issues that the community recognises as indirect causes of air pollution, such as workers rights, alleyways between dwellings that are too narrow for fire-fighting equipment, and poor waste management.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What are the main sources of air pollution?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AIR Network</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In September 2018, these activities culminated in an arts festival, Hood2Hood, at the local football ground. A stage and a sound system appeared out of nowhere. Forum theatre and storytelling pieces were performed. Rappers, MCs and dance groups played live. A mural was created. Visual and interactive games were used to collect data. Around 1,500 local people attended the festival during the course of the day, to find out what we had been doing and to make their own contributions to discussions around air pollution. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/wicked-problems-and-how-to-solve-them-100047">Wickedly complex</a> global problems such as air pollution, climate change and antimicrobial resistance can only be properly addressed by using multidisciplinary approaches, real world actionable strategies and buy in from the public. Using creativity is key: it allows non-experts to participate more fully in this process so that initiatives and interventions will be culturally relevant and more effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cressida Bower carried out this research as part of the AIR Network, which is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Medical Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund Global Public Health: Partnership Awards (grant number AH/R006059/1).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Price carried out this research as part of the AIR Network, which is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Medical Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund Global Public Health: Partnership Awards (grant number AH/R006059/1).</span></em></p>
How theatre and artwork allowed us to better address severe air pollution.
Cressida Bowyer, Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth
Heather Price, Lecturer in Environmental Geography, University of Stirling
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/85818
2017-10-30T19:03:27Z
2017-10-30T19:03:27Z
A dragon-led recovery: how a community is reaping the benefits of a spooky Halloween festival
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191955/original/file-20171026-28033-6f7nt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Including community members as participants and co-creators of the Dragon of Shandon is central to the festival's success.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.dragonofshandon.com/media-pack.html">OpenLens.ie/Dragon of Shandon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In just over a decade, the <a href="http://www.dragonofshandon.com/">Dragon of Shandon</a> has become one of Ireland’s largest and best-known Halloween festivals. </p>
<p>The annual event, led by <a href="http://ccal-v2.weebly.com/">Cork Community Artlink</a> (CCAL), is a creative partnership between artists and local communities. Staged in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandon,_Cork">Shandon</a> in the city of Cork, the festival takes advantage of the atmospheric backdrop provided by the inner-city neighbourhood’s <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275116302633">heritage buildings and streets</a>. </p>
<p>The event centrepiece is a ten-metre-long dragon, which stalks Shandon’s streets accompanied by a cast of ghosts and ghouls drawn from surrounding communities and celebrating local myths, legends and history. </p>
<p>Festivals like the Dragon of Shandon are becoming more prominent features of cultural landscapes around the world. Ranging from small street fairs to extravagant spectacles in city centres, urban festivals can generate positive returns for entire cities and local urban areas. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W9Ts6WPZ5WY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Highlights of the 2016 Dragon of Shandon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The benefits of urban festivals</h2>
<p>Museums, stadiums and other “<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cities-should-stop-building-museums-and-focus-on-festivals-57333">concrete culture</a>” have traditionally enjoyed priority in urban cultural development. </p>
<p>However, this infrastructure is expensive to build and maintain, and is often underused. In response, cities are increasingly favouring festivals as a less expensive and more organic way to engage and entertain urban communities.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cities-should-stop-building-museums-and-focus-on-festivals-57333">Why cities should stop building museums and focus on festivals</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>The scale and focus of <a href="https://britishfilmfestival.com.au/">film</a> and <a href="https://www.guinnessjazzfestival.com/">music</a> festivals can vary from being locally focused to being internationally significant.</p>
<p>Mixed media festivals, like the <a href="https://www.edfringe.com/">Edinburgh Fringe</a>, often cater to an international audience. Likewise, festivals of <a href="http://foodandwineexpo.com.au/">food and drink</a>, <a href="http://www.ozcomiccon.com/">pop culture</a> and <a href="http://www.corkchoral.ie/">high culture</a> are continuing to grow in popularity as they capture distinctive local and national audiences. </p>
<p>What connects these types of festivals is that they are often exclusive in nature. Festival-goers generally pay to attend the whole festival or individual events. </p>
<p>By contrast, urban festivals based on occasions like Halloween are typically more open, inclusive and accessible to a wider community. Including community members as spectators, parade participants and event co-creators is central to the success of the Dragon of Shandon.</p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="1212" data-image="" data-title="The Urban Squeeze - Urban Festivals Episiode" data-size="9693120" data-source="Tony Matthews" data-source-url="" data-license="Author provided" data-license-url="">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/931/s2-ep9-festivals-urban-squeeze-tony-with-kim.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
The Urban Squeeze - Urban Festivals Episiode.
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Matthews</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span><span class="download"><span>9.24 MB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/931/s2-ep9-festivals-urban-squeeze-tony-with-kim.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<h2>A celebration of community</h2>
<p>Urban festivals like the Dragon of Shandon can activate underused or dead places, by inviting local communities to reimagine how they can use these spaces. In drawing on existing public and cultural assets, these festivals can also invigorate local pride and sense of place and belonging.</p>
<p>CCAL artistic director <a href="http://ccal-v2.weebly.com/staff.html">William Frode de la Foret</a> <a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/dragons-and-demons-light-up-shandon-172046.html">says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A carnival should should not be about commercial or even artistic interests; at its heart it should be about the people and the community they live in and it should be fun.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The focus on democratising art production and including local communities is a priority for CCAL. The same ethos of community involvement underpinned the <a href="http://www.whatif.ie/bwu/">Big Wash Up</a> outdoor murals project, also in Shandon. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-murals-helped-turn-a-declining-community-around-74979">How murals helped turn a declining community around</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>The Dragon of Shandon was designed to be an inclusive and family-friendly event to celebrate the Irish tradition of <a href="http://www.newgrange.com/samhain.htm"><em>Samhain</em></a> (Halloween). Halloween in Ireland was traditionally a community event centred on activities like bonfires, games like apple-bobbing, eating <a href="http://www.foodireland.com/recipes/barmbrack-bairin-breac/"><em>bairín breac</em></a> (Halloween cake), and trick or treating. The Dragon of Shandon has reinvigorated this communal focus in Cork.</p>
<p>The elaborate spectacle relies on extensive community involvement in planning, logistics, event management, crowd control and parade participation.</p>
<p>Volunteers work with CCAL for months to build detailed floats and puppets. Other volunteers spend countless hours learning intricate choreography or perfecting atmospheric musical performances to heighten the affective impact of the parade. </p>
<p>Children and young people take part in designing and creating new props, masks and costumes each year. Many of them also join the parade cast, leading the dragon through the streets of Shandon. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QqU6ydQTXfk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Local children take part in Dragon of Shandon workshops.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Feeding the dragon</h2>
<p>The Dragon of Shandon has grown in scope, ambition and popularity since it began in 2006. <a href="http://www.dragonofshandon.com/2016.html">Last year’s event</a> was the largest to date with more than 500 participants and 15,000 spectators. Led by CCAL, the work and dedication of local volunteers have achieved this on a meagre budget.</p>
<p>Some might wonder if it’s worth investing so much time and effort in a local event that lasts one night. </p>
<p>While the spectacle might provide only a night’s entertainment, the months of planning and creativity that make the festival a reality create a sense of community that arguably lasts much longer. The benefits extend to the city of Cork, which can showcase its local heritage and civic pride. </p>
<p>To date the Dragon of Shandon has relied on community support and donations from a small number of corporate sponsors. An interesting question is whether increased external funding would benefit the Dragon of Shandon. Or would this potentially dilute its culture of community involvement and <a href="https://www.cass.city.ac.uk/faculties-and-research/research/cass-knowledge/2014/april/how-financial-constraints-can-drive-creativity">creativity on a limited budget</a>?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0mxcRmiDzZo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Dragon of Shandon Parade fundraising video.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85818/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Matthews receives external funding from the Australian Research Council, as well as internal funding from Griffith University. He is affiliated with the Shandon Area Renewal Association, Royal Town Planning Institute and the Planning Institute of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deanna Grant-Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Urban festivals built on community involvement can reinvigorate places and create a shared sense of place and purpose that lasts long after the event is over.
Tony Matthews, Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Planning, Griffith University
Deanna Grant-Smith, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/85133
2017-10-11T11:54:38Z
2017-10-11T11:54:38Z
Sing ’til you’re grinning: community choirs versus football teams
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189539/original/file-20171010-17691-1n8ndvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/singing-friends-368530313">Shutterstock/DenysKurbatov</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’ve just finished your weekly practice. Your heart rate is up and your stress levels are down. You’ve just got your breath back and now you and all your teammates are heading down the pub. Spirits are high. You’re all getting a bit rowdy and Dave’s started chanting the team song.</p>
<p>Community is at the heart of what you do: your family, friends and fans support you throughout your ups and downs and the weekly training sessions have transformed you all from a group of strangers to best mates. There’s nothing better than putting on an away-performance outside your home turf. </p>
<p>You are, of course, in a community choir. </p>
<p>Like being in a local football squad, choir members benefit physically, mentally and socially from their team activity. But the <a href="http://voicesnow.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Voices-Now-Big-Choral-Census-July-2017-1.pdf">Big Choral Census</a> found that while around 300,000 more people participate in choirs than play football, amateur football receives £30m in funding each year compared to under £500,000 a year for choirs. </p>
<p>“<a href="http://www.manchestersciencefestival.com/event/sing-til-youre-grinning/">Sing ‘til you’re grinning</a>”, part of the <a href="http://www.manchestersciencefestival.com/">Manchester Science Festival</a> will look at how being in a community choir can actually aid health and well-being. The project created a new choir to be scrutinised by scientists over a 12-week period to test whether being in a choir really does make a person healthier. The social benefits are already well documented. We know, for example, that group singing <a href="https://theconversation.com/choir-singing-improves-health-happiness-and-is-the-perfect-icebreaker-47619">is an excellent ice-breaker</a> and can lead to quick, effective bonding for large groups. </p>
<p>Like many other activities, being in a choir provides a platform for people to meet others with similar interests, which can lead to new friendships and a fuller social circle. Choir participation can also be spiritually uplifting to those who are grieving and has been shown to improve the quality of life for <a href="http://ecancer.org/journal/6/full/261-a-pilot-investigation-of-quality-of-life-and-lung-function-following-choral-singing-in-cancer-survivors-and-their-carers.php">cancer survivors</a> and their carers.</p>
<p>Of particular interest are the benefits to people who suffer from social isolation and loneliness. <a href="https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/">Half a million older people</a> in the UK go for a week at a time without seeing or speaking to anyone and investment in choirs may provide one solution to this national social challenge. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/Publications/Creative_Health_Inquiry_Report_2017.pdf">Creative Health</a> report by the <a href="http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/APPG">All Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Well-being</a> set out evidence and examples of arts-based practice which impacts positively on the health and well-being of participants. The report makes recommendations for the potential of arts in health to be realised, including recommending that arts and cultural organisations are involved directly in the delivery of health services. </p>
<p>Greater Manchester is one the first of the city regions with a directly elected “metro-mayor” to have made arts and culture integral to its <a href="https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/info/20064/culture_arts_and_leisure">health and well-being strategy</a>. The region – which has a devolved health and social care budget of £6 billion – is a <a href="https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/news/article/125/greater_manchester_secures_15m_for_transformative_arts_and_heritage_projects">national pilot area</a> exploring how the arts can help improve economic performance, education, health and well-being.</p>
<h2>The science of singing</h2>
<p>So what is the underlying science that makes choral singing good for your health? Current research focuses on the presence of three hormones: endorphin, oxytocin and cortisol. Endorphin is the body’s “feel good” hormone and is released during exercise, laughing and eating chocolate. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23089077">Endorphins are released</a> when people are performing in a choir but not when people are merely listening to music. This is because choral singing is in itself a physical workout. The deep breaths taken as part of singing equate to aerobic exercise, which increases blood flow and releases the “feel-good” hormone. This explains why choral singing especially benefits people who <a href="https://academic.oup.com/heapro/article/31/3/725/1749879/Singing-for-respiratory-health-theory-evidence-and">suffer from asthma</a>, as it helps with their breathing. </p>
<p>Oxytocin, the body’s “love drug” increases feelings of love and trust. Not only is oxytocin <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12814197">released during group singing</a> but it is released in such significant quantities that after just one singing class, choir members feel closer to each other than they would do when participating in any other group activity. This explains the close friendships that stem from community choirs. </p>
<p>Cortisol is our “stress hormone” and is <a href="http://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/30/">significantly reduced</a> after just one hour of choir singing. Low levels of cortisol can boost the immune system and help the body fight infections.</p>
<p>So, with a decrease in stress hormones and an increase in feel-good and love-hormones, it’s no wonder choir singers report feeling high after their training. In the future could we see the likes of choirmaster and TV personality Gareth Malone reach the status of some the world’s top footballers? Perhaps not. We’ve still got some way to go before choirs and football are on the same playing field.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In addition to being an academic researcher, Gary W. Kerr is a freelance science festivals consultant and undertakes various contracts in staff training, creative production, staff management and delivery of various science festivals across the UK and overseas. He is a co-producer of the event described in this article.
Sing ‘til you’re grinning, co-produced by Salford Community Leisure and the University of Salford, as part of Manchester Science Festival, is taking place at Eccles Gateway and Library on Thursday 26th October 2017 from 2.30pm – 3.30pm.</span></em></p>
Being a member of a community choir has similar health and social benefits as being part of a football team.
Gary Kerr, Researcher in Science Communication, University of Salford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/74979
2017-04-12T20:10:12Z
2017-04-12T20:10:12Z
How murals helped turn a declining community around
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162330/original/image-20170324-4965-1cwwdeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community murals can rekindle an area's shared memories and sense of identity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Martin Purcell. Reproduced with permission</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The inner-city district of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandon,_Cork">Shandon</a>, Ireland, has a history that dates back to medieval times. Its narrow streets and laneways are an eclectic architectural mix – Georgian, Victorian and modern buildings nestle alongside terraced worker’s cottages. But Shandon had become rundown despite its heritage value. </p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/cdj/article/50/1/138/306925/Cork-as-canvas-exploring-intersections-of">Our research</a> examined how, over the last 15 years, community groups in Shandon created public murals as part of a successful process of reversing decades of stagnation.</p>
<p>In the later part of the 20th century, declining local employment opportunities and suburbanisation had prompted many residents to leave Shandon. Part of the Irish city of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cork_(city)">Cork</a>, the district also suffered from a lack of a coherent planning framework. One of the vehicles for bringing the community together and revitalising Shandon was a mural project called “<a href="http://www.whatif.ie/bwu/">The Big Wash Up</a>”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161957/original/image-20170322-31176-u6oo52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shandon from above.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Kieran Hoare. Reproduced with permission.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Inscriptions on the urban canvas</h2>
<p>Artists working in collaboration with communities to create mural projects can help them publicly celebrate the interplay between their past, present and future. </p>
<p>It’s a way for people to actively participate in civic dialogue. Collaborative mural projects can establish or reinforce a sense of place and distinguish communities from neighbouring areas.</p>
<p>Mural projects are an increasingly popular form of <a href="https://soundcloud.com/abc-gold-coast/episode-13-public-art-urban-squeeze">public art</a> that transforms outdoor spaces <a href="http://www.siloarttrail.com/">into public art galleries</a>. Our research explored this intersection of public space, public art and public memory through <a href="http://www.whatif.ie/bwu/">The Big Wash Up</a>. </p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="950" data-image="" data-title="The Urban Squeeze: Public Art in Cities" data-size="7600704" data-source="Tony Matthews/ABC Radio" data-source-url="https://soundcloud.com/abc-gold-coast/episode-13-public-art-urban-squeeze" data-license="Author provided" data-license-url="">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/664/ep-13-urban-squeeze-public-art.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
The Urban Squeeze: Public Art in Cities.
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" rel="nofollow" href="https://soundcloud.com/abc-gold-coast/episode-13-public-art-urban-squeeze">Tony Matthews/ABC Radio</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span><span class="download"><span>7.25 MB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/664/ep-13-urban-squeeze-public-art.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<p>Using a technique called <a href="http://inhabitat.com/reverse-graffiti/">reverse graffiti</a>, the project created dozens of outdoor murals. Their focus on local themes and characters celebrated community identity, heritage and memory. The process simultaneously honoured community memories while creating new shared memories.</p>
<h2>Art as a driver of renewal</h2>
<p>The drivers of the project included a couple of key groups: <a href="http://www.corkcommunityartlink.com/">Cork Community Art Link</a> and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/shandonarea/">Shandon Area Renewal Association</a>. </p>
<p>Cork Community Art Link (CCAL) is a not-for-profit organisation, which develops public art projects with marginalised community and youth groups. CCAL advocates a fundamental right of access to art as both spectator and participant.</p>
<p>The Big Wash Up project featured ephemeral murals depicting aspects and characters from Shandon’s history. The murals were created using a temporary reverse graffiti technique. This involved painting a black screed onto walls, placing a stencil over it and power washing the area to reveal a monochrome mural beneath. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3YlHY5jE3lY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Big Wash Up process.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over time the images fade away. The ephemeral nature of The Big Wash Up murals reminds us that cities are constant sites of change in which the present, past and future can co-exist. Contemporary inscriptions on the urban canvas are just one layer of an evolving palimpsest. </p>
<h2>Collecting community memories</h2>
<p>Community participation was central to the design and delivery of The Big Wash Up murals. “Memory collection clinics” were organised around Shandon to gather information about the area’s unique history. Community members were invited to share their recollections, which formed the basis of the mural images. </p>
<p>An intergenerational division of labour formed. Older residents provided memories; younger residents helped design and instate the murals. </p>
<p>The murals included images of <em>shawlies</em> (older women who wore lace shawls and ran street stalls), <em>corner boys</em> (young men who congregated together for company and gossip) and the <em>Buttera</em> (the <a href="http://www.corkbutterexchangeband.org/">Shandon Butter Exchange brass band</a>, formed in 1878 and still active). Another mural featured the faces of the young community members involved in the project.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162332/original/image-20170324-4924-yfgvt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162332/original/image-20170324-4924-yfgvt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162332/original/image-20170324-4924-yfgvt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162332/original/image-20170324-4924-yfgvt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162332/original/image-20170324-4924-yfgvt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162332/original/image-20170324-4924-yfgvt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162332/original/image-20170324-4924-yfgvt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Shawlies’ remembered and celebrated in a Big Wash Up mural.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Martin Purcell. Reproduced with permission.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Public art is a catalyst for community</h2>
<p>The consultative process underpinning The Big Wash Up activated the collective memory of Shandon’s community, by encouraging residents to share stories and memories of the area. They also got to be both producers and consumers of public art – a unique opportunity for many.</p>
<p>Projects like this offer communities a way to shape communal space by collaborating in the design and creation of public art. Artists are in a strong position to help communities realise this potential by activating their innate knowledge and potential. </p>
<p>Community murals, designed to represent shared memories and cultural heritage, can forcefully speak to an area’s past, present and future identity.</p>
<p>The Shandon memory collection clinics show that participatory art creation can provide opportunities for socialisation and intergenerational recognition. This can enhance community spirit, social cohesion and understanding between groups. It is a way of activating citizenship by allowing people to learn about each other and visually share these understandings with outsiders.</p>
<p>Projects like The Big Wash Up can also allow communities to invigorate their surroundings with their expressions of self-identity. This can be of particular value in an area like Shandon, which is enjoying a community-led resurgence following decades of decline. </p>
<p>Like all neighbourhoods, Shandon is first and foremost a place for people – something the murals emphasise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Matthews receives funding from the Australian Research Council for research which examines the nexus between urban planning and climate adaptation. He is affiliated with the Shandon Area Renewal Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deanna Grant-Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Over the past 15 years, community groups in a rundown inner-city district have created public murals as part of a successful process of reversing decades of stagnation.
Tony Matthews, Lecturer in Urban and Environmental Planning, Griffith University
Deanna Grant-Smith, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/63791
2016-08-18T15:37:34Z
2016-08-18T15:37:34Z
Going, going, gone: how Olympic legacy is killing London’s creative culture
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134644/original/image-20160818-12309-u9vo57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/125908716@N07/27504985892/in/dateposted/">emilylindsaybrown/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since the 1992 games in Barcelona, the idea of “legacy” has played a crucial role in the process of bidding for, and hosting, the Olympics. It’s easy to agree that investment and development for the Olympics should deliver benefits for residents of the host city in the long run. And it makes sense that Olympic infrastructure is built in areas that need improvement. </p>
<p>But in practice, it’s not always locals who benefit from the Olympic legacy. All to often, strict deadlines for delivery of Olympic infrastructure give authorities and developers a license to push urban regeneration plans through to approval with minimal consultation. In Beijing, for instance, <a href="http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/book/10.4324/9781315758862">1.5m people were displaced</a> to make space for Olympic venues. Meanwhile, in Rio, thousands of favela dwellers <a href="https://theconversation.com/vila-autodromo-the-favela-fighting-back-against-rios-olympic-development-52393">experienced violent evictions</a> ahead of this year’s games. </p>
<p>Similarly – but somehow less famously – the Olympic Park developments for London 2012 involved the <a href="http://usj.sagepub.com/content/47/10/2069">largest programme of legally enforced evictions</a> in England. And it continues to this day. </p>
<h2>Welcome to Hackney Wick</h2>
<p>Hackney Wick and Fish Island is a quaint, former industrial area in east London, right at the edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Old warehouses – many of which have been converted into spaces for living, working, eating and making – sit beside canals, and old-fashioned barges line the banks. Here, more than 600 artist studios and other small creative organisations have produced an ecosystem which nurtures innovation and creativity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134636/original/image-20160818-12274-195gipf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134636/original/image-20160818-12274-195gipf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134636/original/image-20160818-12274-195gipf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134636/original/image-20160818-12274-195gipf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134636/original/image-20160818-12274-195gipf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134636/original/image-20160818-12274-195gipf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134636/original/image-20160818-12274-195gipf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A creative idyll.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ilaria Pappalepore/University of Westminster</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now this area is part of a <a href="http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/the-park/homes-and-living/existing-communities/hackney-wick-and-fish-island/hackney-wick-consultation">major regeneration project</a> and most of these artists feel under threat. Currently, one group of creatives based in Fish Island <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/why-we-need-to-save-hackney-wick">is fighting against the decision</a> to demolish parts of the building where they live and work. </p>
<p>The building – Vittoria Wharf – is one of many which were subject to compulsory purchase before the games by the London Development Agency. Now, the London Legacy Development Corporation – the public company responsible for delivering Olympic-led regeneration in east London – looks set to carry out the demolition, in order to build a new footbridge to the Olympic Park. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.change.org/p/save-hackney-wick-stop-the-demolition-of-a-community">A petition</a> to save Vittoria Wharf from demolition has so far reached more than 5,600 signatures. But this action is unlikely to save the building – at best, it will give residents a few more months to make their case public. A local musician said to me: “I feel they almost treat us as Conquistadors treated native Americans, with no respect for our philosophies.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134639/original/image-20160818-12300-hhwfp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134639/original/image-20160818-12300-hhwfp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134639/original/image-20160818-12300-hhwfp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134639/original/image-20160818-12300-hhwfp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134639/original/image-20160818-12300-hhwfp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134639/original/image-20160818-12300-hhwfp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134639/original/image-20160818-12300-hhwfp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Putting up a fight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ilaria Pappalepore/University of Westminster</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These residents are aware of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/30/art-blame-gentrification-peckham">well-documented cycle of gentrification</a>, which sees deprived neighbourhoods initially inhabited by young artists, <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-tweets-and-check-ins-can-be-used-to-spot-early-signs-of-gentrification-57620">who are later displaced</a> by established creative companies and middle-class residents. </p>
<p>New creative enclaves are commonly formed in cities this way over time. But in London, young artists worry that soon there will be nowhere left for them to go in the city. One of the residents of Hackney Wick told me that artists’ only option is to relocate to other parts of England – such as Margate on the east coast – or to go abroad, with Berlin the most popular option. With the average London house price pushing £472,000, and rent becoming <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/renting/london-rents-map">prohibitively expensive</a> in more and more boroughs, there is a real danger that low-income artists could be priced out. </p>
<h2>Looking back at London 2012</h2>
<p>Local artists’ difficulties with the legacy of the Olympics follows their disappointment with the games themselves. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517715300492">Research</a> I conducted between 2010 and 2014 showed that the games had minimal positive impacts on local artists and other small creative organisations. </p>
<p>Many were disappointed by how difficult it proved for local artists and companies to take part in the cultural programme of London 2012. A key problem flagged up by my interviewees was the curators’ preference for internationally renowned artists over local ones. Unfortunately, this stems from the nature of mega-events, which are <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1028663042000212355">highly dependent on sponsorships</a> and international media attention. </p>
<p>But as one cultural policy consultant interviewed for the research said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The cultural programme curators] saw themselves as trying to do something substantially different and of better quality and more international and a lot more contemporary than a lot of the practice they thought they were looking at in east London. Not to take seriously any of the talent that is on their doorstep, except around the edges and kind of cosmetically, seems to me to be fundamentally misdirected.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Hackney Wick, organisers went so far as to remove graffiti by local artists, only to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/aug/06/olympic-legacy-street-art-graffiti-fury">replace it with specially-commissioned pieces</a> by international artists. In many ways, London missed an invaluable opportunity to promote local creativity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134641/original/image-20160818-12309-119pd0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134641/original/image-20160818-12309-119pd0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134641/original/image-20160818-12309-119pd0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134641/original/image-20160818-12309-119pd0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134641/original/image-20160818-12309-119pd0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134641/original/image-20160818-12309-119pd0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134641/original/image-20160818-12309-119pd0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evocative art in Hackney Wick, by Edwin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/maureen_barlin/16955921311/sizes/l">Mabacan/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For security reasons visitors were carefully marshalled between train stations and Olympic venues, which prevented them from wandering around the area. What’s more, the International Olympic Committee’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-iocs-protection-of-the-olympic-brand-over-the-top-62914">extremely restrictive copyright rules</a> made it impossible for local artists to use Olympic-related symbols in their practice – although <a href="http://www.blowe.org.uk/2012/01/anti-olympics-poster-competition.html">some did so anyway</a> as a form of resistance. </p>
<h2>A new cultural quarter?</h2>
<p>Yet the Olympic regeneration programme did have a small number of positive outcomes for local residents. One of the very few aspects which seems to have been well received by the artists we spoke to is the plan for a <a href="http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/the-park/attractions/cultural-and-education-district">culture and education district</a>, to be built on the Stratford waterfront in the Olympic park by 2020. </p>
<p>This project – dubbed “Olympicopolis” by former London mayor Boris Johnson – was initially inspired by “Albertopolis”; the cultural cluster built in South Kensington following the Great Exhibition in 1851. The new cultural district will accommodate world class cultural and education institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), Sadler’s Wells theatre, University College London (UCL) and London College of Fashion. Both UCL and the V&A have already liaised with local Hackney Wick artists, with a view to develop creative collaborations. </p>
<p>The project is expected to create 3,000 jobs, and contribute to the wider <a href="https://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/%7E/media/qeop/files/public/lldc_artculturestrategy_webhigh.pdf">cultural legacy strategy</a> for the Olympic Park, which is “centred around developing east London as a creative destination with an international reputation”.</p>
<p>But given what happened at London 2012, there’s a real risk that this new development could, once again, create a “tourist bubble” – a sanitised cultural island, completely separated from the local neighbourhood. Indeed, the plans for the new district – which were unveiled very recently – have already <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/03/london-olympic-legacy-stratford-suburb-on-steroids">been described</a> as “a cacophony of luxury stumps”.</p>
<p>Previous <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738313001485">research has shown</a> that successful creative areas are characterised by a diverse built environment, a bohemian look and the coexistence of people who produce and consume culture. Yet all of this already exists in Hackney Wick and Fish Island, thanks to a community which has been there since long before the Olympics. The question is – will it still be there in five years?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63791/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilaria Pappalepore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Looking back on the legacy of London 2012, it’s clear the local artistic community has lost out.
Ilaria Pappalepore, Senior lecturer in Events and Tourism, University of Westminster
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/47531
2015-09-14T18:08:02Z
2015-09-14T18:08:02Z
The Koorie Heritage Trust re-centres Indigenous communities by design
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94716/original/image-20150914-23631-1vpgle9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jefe Greenaway leads a sneak preview tours of the new Koorie Heritage Trust place.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This Saturday marks the 30th anniversary of the <a href="http://www.koorieheritagetrust.com/">Koorie Heritage Trust</a>. The Trust will mark the occasion with the official opening of a new place in the Yarra Building on Federation Square. The move represents the re-centring of South Eastern Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in the heart of the Melbourne’s cultural precinct.</p>
<p>Based on my sneak preview during <a href="http://www.openhousemelbourne.org/">Melbourne Open House</a> in July, the design of the Trust’s new built environment by <a href="http://www.lyonsarch.com.au/">Lyons Architects</a>, with advocacy by <a href="http://iav.org.au">Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria</a>, introduces an alternative paradigm for community heritage places. This alternative paradigm inverts the old notions of the museum collection and decolonises the collecting practices that the Trust fought in its establishment.</p>
<p>I recently interviewed Jefa Greenaway of <a href="http://www.greenawayarchitects.com.au/">Greenaway Architects</a> and Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV), who worked on the fit out. His brief was to help design the expressions of local Indigenous values and the Trust’s legacy into the new place. According to Greenaway, IADV and Lyons Architects sought to:</p>
<blockquote>Find a methodology and a process by which we could ensure that Indigenous ideas were woven throughout the process and the design itself.</blockquote>
<p>He highlights three specific ideas expressed in the new built environment for the Trust:</p>
<p></p><li>Greater access to the Trust’s over 60,000+ items in its collections;</li>
<li>Connection to Country, specifically to the cultural and topographic features of the Birrarung (Yarra River); and</li>
<li>Community engagement and exchange.</li>
<br>
<strong>Access to Collections</strong><p></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94715/original/image-20150914-2969-11ela7d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of the transparent display shelving in the new Koorie Heritage Trust place.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">In-house photography: Lyons Architect</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For those who may not know the <a href="http://www.koorieheritagetrust.com/about_us/history__1">history</a> of the Koorie Heritage Trust, ensuring Indigenous community access to cultural heritage material was its founding principle. Uncle Jim Berg, Ron Castan, and Ron Merkel successfully sued the University of Melbourne and the Museum of Victoria for their collections of Indigenous cultural material. Greenaway describes:</p>
<blockquote>The original vision of Koorie Heritage Trust was to use the collection as a means to connect with community and showcase cultural continuity.</blockquote>
<p>Although the original KHT building on King Street had nearly three times the space as the Yarra Building, it is estimated that less than 20% of the artefacts were ever on permanent display. In the 2003 opening of the Trust on King Street, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/01/1062403450701.html">the Age reported</a> that included:</p>
<blockquote> Over 600 paintings, 10,000 artefacts - woven eel traps, spears and shields - 6000 books, videos and documents, and 50,000 photographs.</blockquote>
<p>Greenaway talks about how through the consultation process the desire was expressed to move from the more static museum-like displays at the King Street place to designs that more clearly say:</p>
<blockquote>Let’s display with pride the collection.</blockquote>
<p>In a stunning design, the architects innovatively turned the internal “walls” into transparent display shelving, with drawers that can be accessed by the public. Now, twenty times more of the Trust’s collections can be displayed with the public and the staff sharing access to the collections. Plans for the Indigenous communities’ curating of display shelves further enhance their access to the collections.</p>
<p>Other means of ensuring access to the collections are through a state of the art temperature and light controlled collections room for Indigenous community members and researchers, drawers full of touchable and viewable artefacts in the “canoe” table for the public, and a large worktable in the staff’s area.</p>
<h2>Connection to Country</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94713/original/image-20150914-4695-iyc9zz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of the third level kitchenette, seating, and view of Birrarung in the new Koorie Heritage Trust.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">In-house photographer: Lyons Architect</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Connection to Country is one of the most important Indigenous values. The sense of the custodial relationships between people and the lands upon which they depend is enshrined in the Acknowledgements and Welcome to Country that precedes many Melbourne events. Greenaway says:</p>
<blockquote>Given that the building is adjacent to Birrarung (the Yarra River), that was a key reference point. That was pivotal for me finding a means in—to connect to that cultural continuity of the river being the lifeblood of a community. And being close proximity to cultural sites, like the MCG, just up the road, which was a gathering place for the five Kulin Nations. This began to create a narrative where we could connect to where we were, and therefore we could acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which the site is located.</blockquote>
<p>An odd feature of the Yarra Building is that it turns its back to the Birrarung, which is the Wurundjeri name for the Yarra River. In response, the architects created design features that literally point one towards the presence of the Birrarung.</p>
<p>They opened up window apertures that allow one to glimpse the river. Chevrons patterns of light on the ceiling and on textiles on the floor point one towards the river view. The blue colours on the ceilings and the smooth grey pebble concrete floors evoke a feeling of the Birrarung, even when one cannot see it well. An expansive balcony provides unobstructed views of Birrarung.</p>
<h2>Community engagement and exchange</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94714/original/image-20150914-29108-g6jguf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Foyer of the new Koorie Heritage Trust place.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">In-house photographer: Lyons Architect</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When one enters the foyer of new Koorie Heritage Trust’s place, the seating on the first level indicates that here is a different kind of engagement with visitors. Greenaway talks about the importance of providing a place for respite, where elders and children can sit down without having to buy a drink at a café and engage in exchange:</p>
<blockquote>What people are looking for is the capacity to connect in with where you are. I think there is a thirst for tourists to connect with Indigenous cultures, thus by extension Indigenous people.</blockquote>
<p>Informal and formal spaces have been designed to enable the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to engage and exchange with one another. When one rides the escalator up to the third level, one encounters a seating area with a kitchenette to make a cup of tea.</p>
<p>Formal spaces for community engagement and exchange include the large workshop room that accommodates up to 120 school children. A map of local Indigenous languages operates as the room divider that creates two smaller rooms for business meetings, cultural competency workshops, and other corporate functions.</p>
<p>The 7-meter “canoe” table serves as the signature design feature for the idea of community engagement and exchange. First, it pays homage to the scar tree that served as a signature feature of the Trust on King Street and thus held significant memories for many community members. Scar trees represent Indigenous custodianship of the land where communities only took what was required and left the tree to continue living.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94711/original/image-20150914-8747-oha5a8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of the ‘canoe’ table and the shelving display cases at the new Koorie Heritage Trust.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">In-house photographer: Lyons Architect</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the canoe table is an interactive and inclusive furniture piece. Greenaway describes why the table is his favourite design for the new building:</p>
<blockquote>It is a hub for activity and engagement. It encourages you to open draws, look through things through the top of the table, which has glass on it, and see artefacts within the table. The drawers all have artefacts from the collection. They are set at different levels so that from kids to adults, all can interact with the materials close at hand. It has a cantilever on one end, which allows people with wheelchairs to come in. We can have weaving workshops, where people sit around and use it. It could be used for art demonstrations.</blockquote>
<h2>Go experience the new Koorie Heritage Trust’s place</h2>
<p>There are so many other design features of the Koorie Heritage Trust’s fit-out that I could describe. But on Saturday, 19 September, you will have the opportunity to experience them all yourself. I leave Jefa Greenaway with the last word:</p>
<blockquote>Indigenous culture is a living culture. This is a living organism of which you become part of that experience. You have the opportunity for engagement in a meaningful way with the Trust.</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This Saturday marks the 30th anniversary of the Koorie Heritage Trust. The Trust will mark the occasion with the official opening of a new place in the Yarra Building on Federation Square. The move represents…
Elizabeth Dori Tunstall, Associate Professor, Design Anthropology, Swinburne University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/46389
2015-09-11T07:24:29Z
2015-09-11T07:24:29Z
Knitting your way to a healthier, happier mind
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94360/original/image-20150910-21233-1y2z0z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Knitting and neuroscience have more in common than you might think.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/dl2_lim.mhtml?src=oNCfIpHiCOxmc381xKu_3g-1-81&clicksrc=download_btn_inline&id=163647491&size=huge_jpg&submit_jpg=">www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What do knitting and neuroscience have in common? Most people would say not a lot - one activity involves yarn and knitting needles and the other studying the body’s nervous system. But <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/science/outreach/inspiring/news/health-benefits-of-yarn-craft.shtml">research </a> shows knitting and yarn craft, like other meditative activities, can “activate areas of the brain that are good for generating a sense of calm, (and contribute to) improved emotional processing and better decision making”. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://bjo.sagepub.com/content/76/2/50.abstract">recent study</a> conducted out of Cardiff University in the United Kingdom also found knitting has significant psychological and social benefits. In a survey of 3,545 knitters worldwide, respondents who knitted for relaxation, stress relief and creativity reported higher cognitive functioning, improved social contact and communication with others. </p>
<p>In short, knitting made them happier. And warmer - nothing beats the winter chills as well as a homemade jumper or scarf. </p>
<p>Tapping into these findings is Neural Knitworks, a community engagement project first developed for National Science Week in 2014. So successful has it proven that hundreds of knit-ins have been held across the country - in regional towns, remote Indigenous communities, libraries, galleries, schools, hospitals and at community centres - since. </p>
<p>The pattern for each knit-in is simple: participants learn to knit, crochet or simply wrap woollen neurons while listening to an expert discuss brain and mind health. Topics have included how neurons work, the effect of cannabis on brain function, nurturing adolescent brains, the effect of dementia on neural pathways, neuroplasticity, and healthy brain ageing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94353/original/image-20150910-4741-17apok3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Knitting and neuroscience have more in common that you think.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neural Knitworks</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Workshops have been held for preschoolers, retirees and sufferers of dementia and depression. Participants have included students, library and mental health service patrons, university staff and scientists, with expert guests ranging from dementia carers and mental health workers to neuroscientists and university researchers. </p>
<p>At a recent knit-in held at Redfern Community Centre, former Sydney Rooster Ian Roberts spoke about a career of sustaining concussions in football, with fans making footy neurons in team colours to raise awareness of brain injury in sport. Other speakers have discussed the effect of mindfulness activities such as yoga, meditation and knitting on brain health. </p>
<p>In a neat quirk, knitting first-timers create woollen neurons in their hands at the same time as they forge new neural pathways in their brains. That’s what acquiring a new skill does; enhancing brain health in the process. </p>
<p>At the end of each knit-in, individual neurons are gathered together and displayed in a network. The first major show held at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery during National Science Week 2014 featured a giant, walk in brain sculpture made from more than 1600 knitted, crocheted and woven brain cells donated from crafters all over Australia. </p>
<h2>How did the project start?</h2>
<p>Neural Knitworks was founded by Pat Pillai and Rita Pearce, who developed the idea into a National Science Week community engagement initiative with the support of Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre and Inspiring Australia. </p>
<p>With the help of neuroscientists <a href="http://yourbrainhealth.com.au/">Sarah McKay</a> and Heather Main, and science communicator Jenny Whiting, the pair developed scientifically informed patterns. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94361/original/image-20150910-21222-q4dvye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Woven woollen neurons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neural Knitworks</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These patterns reflect what a neuron looks like when it’s placed under a microscope - complete with dendrites, a nucleus, axons and synapses. As makers create these wollen objects, they come to understand just how complex the human nervous system is. </p>
<p>The human brain is thought to contain 80 billion neurons, give or take a few billion, so when we talk about mind health, a project like Neural Knitworks shows in simple terms just how large, sophisticated and fragile the nervous system is. It’s learning that starts with the basic building blocks of the mind.</p>
<p>The beauty of Neural Knitworks is how the project extends the reach of scientific knowledge by engaging participants with hands on educational experiences that connect them with experts as they actually improve their own brain and mind health. </p>
<p>Yarn craft, with its mental challenges, social connection and mindfulness, helps keep brains fit by solving creative and mental challenges, developing eye-hand coordination and fine motor dexterity and increasing attention span. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/91SwlTe3pvg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The first Neural Knitworks exhibition at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre was seen by thousands of visitors over a three-week period. High profile supporters included brain surgeon Dr Charlie Teo, who held a knit-in at Canberra hospital, and Todd Sampson and Dr Karl, who each tweeted images of themselves holding colourful textile neurons. </p>
<p>Hundreds of neurons recently adorned the library at Queensland University of Technology too, and Neural Knitworks has also been part of National Science Week events in Albury and Sydney. Last month, the National Museum of Australia ran knit-ins to launch Dementia Awareness Month and last week the Caringbah Lions Club Nifty Knitters held a knitted brain challenge.</p>
<p>The range of mind health issues that can be explored at knit-ins is exceptionally broad, from ageing and addiction through to dementia, brain injury, depression and more. Even without an expert on hand, neuron crafters can listen to a mind health podcast as they create, or just enjoy the mindfulness that comes with yarn craft – in particular through expressing creativity and by learning something new while being with others. </p>
<p>Participating in Neural Knitworks is a great way for people of all ages to learn about the billions of neurons in our bodies that save memories, send electrical signals to every muscle and receive signals from every sense. </p>
<p>A free pattern book and installation ideas are available on the <a href="http://www.scienceweek.net.au/neural-knitworks/">National Science Week website</a> </p>
<p>Share your creations by joining us on Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/648068261927343/">Neural Knitworks </a> or on Twitter via #neuralknitworks</p>
<p><em>The artists acknowledge inspiration derived from Knit a Neuron UK, Sydney Hyperbolic Reef Project, Wrap with Love Inc, Pistil – X Chromosome and the mentorship of Hiromi Tango as part of the 2013 collaborative project Hiromi Hotel: Moon Jellies.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Hickie is a NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow. His work has been funded by a variety of research councils, philanthropic support and investigator-led research studies funded by the pharmaceutical companies. He is Executive Director of the Brain & Mind Research Institute (BMRI), University of Sydney. The BMRI operates two Headspace Centres in Central Sydney and Campbelltown, NSW and is a member of the Young and Well CRC. He is also a Commissioner in the Australian National Mental Health Commission. He is also Patron of Neural Knitworks.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jackie Randles is the Manager of Inspiring Australia at University of Sydney, a founding partner of this project. </span></em></p>
Neural Knitworks, an event first staged for National Science Week in 2014, has since grown into an Australia-wide engagement project promoting connections between knitting and brain health.
Ian Hickie, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Sydney
Jackie Randles, Manager, Inspiring Australia, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/22086
2014-02-02T19:39:41Z
2014-02-02T19:39:41Z
But is it any good? On art, audiences and evaluation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40078/original/6mjrrznv-1390960972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">French artist Virgile Ittah poses with her wax sculpture titled 'Dreams are guilty, absolute and silent by fire'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andy Rain/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A spectre of evaluation is haunting the arts. The relationships between artists and their audiences are being mediated by an ever-more complex system that determines the value of art. It’s a system driven by a conglomeration of experts: gallery directors, critics, historians and academics. </p>
<p>That’s the proposition made by Swiss artist <a href="http://www.arndtberlin.com/website/artist_1030">Thomas Hirschhorn</a> in his artwork, The Spectre of Evaluation. Hirshhorn makes complex installations from everyday materials such as cardboard, foil and masking tape. In his art-making he is searching for a direct, unmediated route to everyday people, what he calls “the non-exclusive audience”.</p>
<h2>Art for everyone</h2>
<p>Over the last decade, this “non-exclusive audience” has been playing a more prominent role in the arts – not just as audiences but also as the creators and the content of stages, screens and galleries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39652/original/29sbzzfy-1390365311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39652/original/29sbzzfy-1390365311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39652/original/29sbzzfy-1390365311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39652/original/29sbzzfy-1390365311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39652/original/29sbzzfy-1390365311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39652/original/29sbzzfy-1390365311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39652/original/29sbzzfy-1390365311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The audience was invited to clamber over Leandro Erlich’s Merchants Store at the 2014 Sydney Festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Halans</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This move towards forms of participatory arts is being driven by a variety of different interests. </p>
<p>Artists, activists, governments and cultural institutions all have different reasons to look to Hirschhorn’s “non-exclusive audience”. These include aesthetic innovation, political salvation, revenue raising, audience diversification or a range of social goals. </p>
<p>Today, there is a broad “instrumentalisation of the arts” – signalled by a range of social uses for art. Witness the new interest in art from non-art agencies and government departments across all public policy areas – from health and urban renewal, to crime prevention and anti-discrimination. RMIT researchers <a href="http://www.rmit.edu.au/staff/martinmulligan">Martin Mulligan</a> and <a href="http://au.linkedin.com/pub/pia-smith/11/72/b2a">Pia Smith</a> have termed this trend the <a href="http://mams.rmit.edu.au/fc1d0uu0zhpm1.pdf">“turn to community”</a>, the renewed interest in forms of local, collective identities.</p>
<h2>Community-based arts – for which communities?</h2>
<p>So, is the idea of community-based arts being co-opted or reinvented? </p>
<p>And what does community-based arts mean when it is as likely to be found at the Venice Biennale as at a local community centre? Certainly the terms in which community-based art were previously been understood – in opposition to an elitist and exclusive system of art forms or a standardised system of mass culture – have now shifted dramatically.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39650/original/bgdjp78h-1390364869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39650/original/bgdjp78h-1390364869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39650/original/bgdjp78h-1390364869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39650/original/bgdjp78h-1390364869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39650/original/bgdjp78h-1390364869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39650/original/bgdjp78h-1390364869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39650/original/bgdjp78h-1390364869.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artist Ash Keating prepares to install a work at Melbourne Now. How do we evaluate works like these?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/David Crosling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Central to ongoing debates about the nature and definitions of community-based arts is the problem of evaluation – which involves dealing with broad questions about its value and technical questions about the mechanisms through which it might be measured. </p>
<p>Some aspects of these debates are not new: indeed, community-based arts have often brought questions of evaluation to the fore. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2857240">her account</a> of the Australia Council’s Community Art Programs in the 1970s and 1980s, Australian sociologist <a href="http://cccs.uq.edu.au/hawkins">Gay Hawkins</a> argues that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the establishment of social or non-aesthetic measures of value was [its] greatest achievement. These discourses remain as a significant alternative to the idea of art as a minority of “excellent” forms at the top of a universal cultural hierarchy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But current debates about evaluation have a renewed urgency and complexity. It’s possible to identify six broad reasons why evaluation is currently a problem: <br></p>
<ul>
<li>there’s a lack of clarity about what evaluation means: it’s currently used to refer to a range of very different procedures with different aims<br></li>
<li>many community-based arts activities aim to contest the idea of singular, narrowly-defined or pre-defined ideas of value: these aims are not usually reflected in evaluation frameworks or processes<br></li>
<li>evaluation also poses technical problems: what methods will register the kinds of data required?<br></li>
<li>cultural activities are often complex and unfold in non-linear, unpredictable ways, posing challenges for evaluation, particularly where resources are limited<br></li>
<li>partnerships between arts and non-arts agencies can mean differing frameworks for evaluation, with divergent assumptions about success and measurement<br></li>
<li>evaluations often consider “the arts” in the abstract, without reference to the specific processes through which art making and collaborative activities actually unfold.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Measuring cultural value</h2>
<p>The spectres of evaluation should also be understood in relation to global discussions about cultural value and measurement.</p>
<p>Recent discussions of cultural value in the UK in the shadow of a global financial crisis have asked how cultural value could be measured at a time when financial systems were being re-evaluated, and issues of governance and accountability were also to the fore. </p>
<p>These debates highlight the ways in which evaluation is ultimately about value: that behind the series of abstract technical operations and measures lie a series of value-laden, political decisions. In a system where economic values and measurements are dominant, articulating alternative values can be a challenge.</p>
<p>Secondly, evaluation should be considered in relation to debates about cultural measurement. </p>
<p>For example, can we use methods from other disciplines – such as the limits to predicting causality or the ethics of requiring control groups – to measure the distinctive qualities of arts and culture? </p>
<p>The challenge for the arts is how to negotiate the new pressures to evaluate itself while also inventing new ways that artists, artworks, a non-exclusive audience, experts and the processes of evaluation and judgement might connect with each other. </p>
<p><br>
<em>The <a href="http://www.spectresofevaluation.com">Spectres of Evaluation: Rethinking: Art/Community/Value conference</a> takes place on February 6-7 at <a href="http://footscrayarts.com">Footscray Community Arts Centre</a>, Melbourne.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lachlan MacDowall leads a three-year project investigating the effective evaluation of community-based arts with Professor Martin Mulligan (RMIT University), Frank Panucci (Australia Council for the Arts) and Research Fellow Dr Marnie Badham (University of Melbourne), funded by the Australian Research Council and the Australia Council for the Arts.
</span></em></p>
A spectre of evaluation is haunting the arts. The relationships between artists and their audiences are being mediated by an ever-more complex system that determines the value of art. It’s a system driven…
Lachlan MacDowall, Head, Centre for Cultural Partnerships Faculty of the VCA and MCM, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.