Coproducing research with communities: reflections and practical

lessons

Professor Mihaela Kelemen, Keele University

Arts and Humanities Rresearch Council Connected Communities Project

– Partners: Keele University (Project Leader), Leicester University, New Vic Theatre and NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations)

– A co-design research project: trans-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary using a cultural animation approach (February 2013-June 2014)

– More than 30 interviews were carried out across the UK – Six experiential workshops held at The New Vic Theatre, London

and Manchester– Participants included individual volunteers, volunteer managers,

researchers and policy makers

Cultural Animation: Our Approach

• Pioneered in the UK by Susan Moffat, New Vic Borderlines Director, Newcastle-under-Lyme

• Draws on the experiences of ordinary people and their creative abilities to make sense of and change the world around them

• Builds up trusting relationships between participants by dissolving hierarchies

• Academic expertise, commonsense knowledge and practical skills are valued in equal measure

• Articulates ideas and experiences in actions and images as well as the written word

Cultural Animation Outcomes

• A series of artefacts, based on themes and issues raised by the volunteers themselves: poetry, songs, puppets and models, installations, and short plays

• A documentary drama that toured the UK (London, Leicester and Newcastle under Lyme)

It’s paradoxicalYou can volunteer for a short time friendBut you better find yourself a job in the end(It’s paradoxical)

They want the community to have more saySo why are you taking all the funding away?(It’s paradoxical)

I want to do something for my communityBut you come and tell me I need a CRB(It’s paradoxical)

We’d like to do everything that comes our wayThere’s only 24 hours in a day(It’s paradoxical)

They sent me to work in a factoryWhat! You want my time and you want it for free!(It’s paradoxical)

Big Society is a propagandaBut we all have a proper agenda(It’s paradoxical)

Stacking shelves for free is not my future seeI want to work in geology(It’s paradoxical)

Some people see volunteering as fashionThe rest of us think that it’s all about passion(NOT paradoxical)

http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/culturalanimationoutcomes/

What does volunteering encompass?

– ‘Mundane’ volunteering: Multiple, small, daily tasks being undertaken by volunteers (cleaning, shopping, cooking, talking and listening)

– ‘Unusual’ volunteering: biohacking, setting up media labs, holy dusters, magistrates

– Volunteering as a memory (done in honour of dead person’s memory, as a way of staying close to that person)

Volunteering and identity

– Volunteering is bound up with people’s sense of identity: some people divulged very private matters (marriage breakdown, job loss, suicide attempts, vicious official politics)

– Volunteering as a pathway to a new career (especially for women who had taken career breaks to raise children)

– Volunteering as a new lease of life / morale booster– Being empowered by volunteering by matching

volunteering activities to one’s hobbies/expertise– The uncontrollable urge to volunteer for some people

Stresses of volunteering

– Health risks of volunteering (exhaustion, infighting/conflict, dealing with other fragile volunteers)

– Hurt feelings (offers to help are ignored, ‘fired’ as a volunteer, incompetent management)

– Potential for conflict when highly skilled/professional volunteer is asked to do tasks considered ‘beneath’ them

– Volunteering can often be altruistic and selfish at the same time - putting something in and getting something back

Management Issues– Clear roles for volunteers– Who are the volunteers answerable to? – Importance of training for volunteers and volunteer

managers– Communication with volunteers– Need for clear policies and procedures – Treating volunteers well and supporting them (when

they’re being pushed around)– Dealing with volunteers who are no longer capable of

volunteering (i.e. letting them down gently)

Volunteering and Government

– The stigma of volunteering if you are long-term unemployed (non-monetary benefits not recognised)

– Being forced to volunteer in an area you are not interested in/have no skills (Voluntolding)

– The commodification of the voluntolds– People having no idea what the policy is but are very

opinionated about what the government should do. – There does not seem to be a recognition of local

government– People volunteer despite and not because government

intervention

Useful links

• http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/culturalanimationoutcomes/

• Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre-CASIC https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/

CASIC: a research centre with and for communities

• rooted in Keele University’s tradition of trans-disciplinary research and its commitment to community engagement.

• builds on existing relations with the award-winning New Vic Theatre, with which Keele developed a specific methodology of knowledge co-creation and of community engagement entitled ‘Cultural Animation’.

Objectives

• to foster community based research using creative and artistic ways of engagement and research

• to build capacity for community-centered solutions to local and global issues

• to encourage the co-production of knowledge in order to facilitate social innovation and democratic changes in our society

• to improve the social conditions of individuals and their communities through the application of knowledge that is co-created

The story so far

• CASIC launch on March 16th, 2015• 100 members and affiliates (academics and

community members and associations)

The story so far

• Connected Communities Festival, June 2015

The story so far

• International Summit, October 2015

The story so far

• CASIC Exhibition, October 2015

Plans for the future

• To become a member, email Liz Riley on supportcasic@keele.ac.uk

• Workshop on social innovation• The Active Citizen Conference• Cultural animation training for community

members