Coproducing research with communities: reflections and practical lessons

1. Coproducing research with communities: reflections and practical lessons Professor Mihaela Kelemen, Keele University

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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)

5. It’s paradoxical You can volunteer for a short time friend But you better find yourself a job in the end (It’s paradoxical) They want the community to have more say So why are you taking all the funding away? (It’s paradoxical) I want to do something for my community But you come and tell me I need a CRB (It’s paradoxical) We’d like to do everything that comes our way There’s only 24 hours in a day (It’s paradoxical) http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/culturalanimationoutcomes/ They sent me to work in a factory What! You want my time and you want it for free! (It’s paradoxical) Big Society is a propaganda But we all have a proper agenda (It’s paradoxical) Stacking shelves for free is not my future see I want to work in geology (It’s paradoxical) Some people see volunteering as fashion The rest of us think that it’s all about passion (NOT paradoxical)

6. 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)

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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

11. Useful links • http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/culturalanimationoutcomes/ • Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre-CASIC https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/

12. 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’.

13. 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

14. The story so far • CASIC launch on March 16th, 2015 • 100 members and affiliates (academics and community members and associations)

15. The story so far • Connected Communities Festival, June 2015

16. The story so far • International Summit, October 2015

17. The story so far • CASIC Exhibition, October 2015

18. 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