Phase 2 - Week Five
Week Five
Reflection from last week:
After finding some of the case studies and research last week, I was inspired by Coventry Creates and how they are connecting the local creatives with the community in order to try and fix problems within the area using a research and creative method. From this, it has me reflecting whether I want to change my research question to look more at how to involve the creative community within the community of Southampton. But i wonder whether this could just be within my question anyway?
From this reflection, I wanted to see if I could find other collaborations between Community and creatives to explore my idea further before a tutorial with Ben later in the week as well as continuing to find resources.
Play Nice
https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/ones-to-watch-2021-play-nice-graphic-design-220321
The above article on itsnicethat outlines information about the studio, Place nice, that wants to use ‘creative knowhow to elevate communities’. The article outlines hwo Ayo Fagbemi and Nate Agbetu set up the business with the goal of helping build intersections between communities, with them now starting a mentor programme that helps out emerging creatives. I feel the following paragraph really summaries the companies feelings towards getting a message across and creativity:
“That’s one of the really powerful things about creativity,” he says, “is that it allows you a space to do something”. The studio-cum enterprise is also described by Ayo as an “umbrella,” under which all manner of initiatives can materialise. They’ve learnt quickly over the past couple of years, their first lesson being how to craft ideas, then how to create that metaphorical umbrella, “how to make it flexible enough so you can have intersectionality, different ways of being, different identities, tell a range of stories, so it doesn’t feel like all the stuff we do has to be within a certain box”. So when people don’t really know what Play Nice is, “I actually look at that as the biggest compliment,” Ayo smiles. “Because you’re interested, but you don’t know why.”
Their latest project is called The Pattern which is an initiative that offers mentorship and funding to young people hoping to create their own community project. They describe the project as the following; “Aspiring creatives from underrepresented groups applied in their hundreds for a couple of dozen spots on the course, which is currently underway and aims to build skills in research, ideation, curation and production.” This concept is aspiring, especially helping those that want to follow their dreams and just need a bit of support along the way showing them how close the creative community can be.
Another demonstration of their work within the community is their workshop sessions that take place in Apple on Posters for change. Another way that they are using different systems to help educate those that surround them.
This article clearly shows that there are projects out there that are helping educate the community to be inspiring creatives and how they can use design to change peoples opinions and help them. I hope I can take these key values from this article and apply them to my own project.
Southwark Untold
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/tate-exchange/workshop/southwark-untold
Another programme that I found that looked at including the community within their work, was this one called Southwark Untold which takes place at the travelling gallery for a week a couple of years ago. It has been set up by PemPeople to bring together a week of workshops, exhibitions and performances by creative producers that are based within Southwark. The tate says the following about the project; “Our programme reflects the ethos of community building, arts organising and social activism that defines the collaboration of PemPeople and Project Mission Gallery. It encourages and supports engagement and interaction between the generations, with drop-in activities for everyone from school age children to adult visitors.”
I love how they are trying to showcase the people that are living locally to them and sharing them with the community, really gives a community warmth for all those that want to take part and to feel included. I also like that its collaboration across the creative community too which they have built and created.
After exploring the two case studies above, I felt confused in which direction I wanted to take my project in and wanted to discuss it by using up another one of my tutorial sessions.
Tutorial with Ben
Entering the tutorial session with ben feeling confused about the problem focus area within my question. Ben recommended that I go back through the case studies and look at the other city of culture case studies to create a frame work to place my question within. I feel at the moment my question is very open which is leaving me a bit confused when thinking of what to research and find out. Hopefully creating a frame work will allow me to analyse my project in a new way:
Coventry Creates (City of Culture 2021) :
https://coventrycreates.co.uk/project/art-and-the-urban-commons/
What is the project question?
Can we connect creatives and reserachers across the city to help solve different problems that change how we percieve the world?
What are the aims?
Connecting a researcher and a creative
Different ways of solving city and global wide problems
Change how we perceive and experience different worlds.
What did they do?
A website that is filled with projects where a researcher has paired with a creative to create a creative output in response to the research that has been done that surrounds a topic or question.
What were the outputs?
Each project was different depending on the local creative that they worked with but ranged from videos to posters to poems.
How was it successful?
It was successful as it showed on the creative work by local artists and showed that they were able to come together for a mutual interest. Also changed how we perceive different topics as the user.
Kingston upon Hull 2017 / Playfulness:
https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/hull-city-culture-tour/states-of-play
What is the project question?
How can art show the public that there is another side to playfulness and that creativity surrounds them?
What are the aims?
Exploring play in the day to day of our lives and how we can improve the amount of play that is in our lives
Remind people that creativity is all around us
Exploring a new way of seeing through making
What did they do?
They created a multi artist exhibition, their work falls under 5 different themes; “wonder, possibility, freedom, game play and masquerade. The works on show offered an innovative approach to play, ranging from a game of table tennis frozen in time to a lampshade that knits itself.”
All having a different interpretation to play
What were the outputs?
16 different projects, ranging from table tennis frozen in time and a lampshade that knits itself, pineapples that are playful, reality of chairs, hanging lights that are activated by blowing on them.
How was it successful?
It was successful as it allowed the users to see a different side to playfullness and exploring their inner child. It also worked as it showed off a selection of artists and what they are capable of.
Kingston upon Hull 2017 / Poetry from Hull:
https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/hull-city-culture-tour/talking-doorsteps-poetry
What is the project question?
Can connecting film makers and poets across the globe, create a platform that will bring them together to collaborate on a mutual topic?
What are the aims?
To create opportunities for writers to travel
Help develop new work by emerging and established international poets
Connect young poets and filmmakers across the globe
Focus on ideas that surround “Home”
What did they do?
Talking Doorsteps connected young poets and film makers across the globe exploring ideas of home. They travelled to different countries to work with different writers.
What were the outputs?
A series of short films that were shot in the streets of Hull.
Performed at a festival called “ Contains strong language festival”
How was it successful?
Through a series of workshops, it connected poets and film makers that allowed them to come together to create something meaningful around the ideas of “home”. The output series explored the talent that was on offer within Hull.
Derry 2013 / Nerve Centre - Museum in a box
https://nervecentre.org/culture/reimagine-remake-replay/museum-in-a-box
What is the project question?
How can we engage young people with archive artefacts whilst teaching new technology skills?
What are the aims?
Showcase the interesting artefacts that are chosen by the young people
Audience Engagement
Young people to feel engaged and to learn something new
What did they do?
They partnered with museum in a box that allowed young people to choose and curate their own exhibition, learning photogrammetry skills and 3D print their own pieces.
What were the outputs?
Museum in a box for every participant as well as a 3D printed piece of their own work.
How was it successful?
It was successful as there were participants that took part and it was apart of a larger project that were encouraging young people to engage with technology.
Summary
The main summaries from the projects and the take aways from them are the following:
Collaboration really worked across all the projects
Physical output vs an Online output
Having a range of possibilities as an outcome
A focus within the city to work upon
Partnering with another company or business.
This was a really helpful exercise to do and I wish that I had done it with all the case studies that i have already looked at as it opened my eyes to different areas of possibility. From this I decided to try and type out what I thought I could do with my own project and the subject but first I wanted to do a mind map of my current ideas towards my project as I didn’t feel that it had a focus and a wish washy.
Mindmap:
My Current Project:
What is my project question?
How can design help build creative communities in Southampton City?
What are the aims?
Explore the relationship between communities and Southampton City
Discover the current artists and designers that call Southampton their home.
Define what community means to those within Southampton
What will I do?
Create an awareness around the creative community and showcase the work of the local creatives that live within the city.
What are the outputs?
The outputs at the moment would be a festival or a tool that would allow the creatives to communicate and to show their work off.
Having written out my current project in the way that I did with the other projects, I feel there is a lot that I need to think about within my project and work upon which i shall take within the next week as I felt I was beginning to have a creative block due to working upon the same idea and having a lot of research.
Peer to Peer
Within the Peer to Peer session this week, we discussed all the projects as we usually do but also talked about ways that we can move forward with our projects. One of the ways was starting to think about mood boards and starting to design an ideation of ideas which was suggested by Ingrid. So from this, I wanted to start to create mood boards which I still want to do and save for next week when I feel more settled on a question and concept.
Lizzie, who is also from Southampton, mentioned this case study; https://solentlep.org.uk/calendar/championing-the-solents-creative-industries/ Which is an event happening within Southampton in the next couple of weeks :
The summary of the information that is shown on their website talks about a virtual event that helps creatives achieve their full creative potential by being apart of the story to become City of Culture 2025. “Championing the creative* industry in all its forms, the virtual event will open with keynote speaker Caroline Norbury, founder and CEO of Creative England and the CEO of the Creative Industries Federation.
This will be followed by panel discussions and workshops, with opportunities to ask questions and discuss a range of topics affecting the industry including diversity, accessibility, skills, business support, and promoting an environment in which the creative industries can flourish.”
It seems interesting that there are these events that are taking place across the city and virtually. I feel the need to attend this one to get a greater understanding of whats going on.
Weekly Summary
This week I spent a lot of the week this week thinking over the ideas and the questions that are surrounding my project question at this time. I am glad that I took the time to process and to try come up with a different approach to the project this week, which I will continue to do next week as well. This will hopefully give me a fresh perspective of the city of culture and allow me to come up with an idea that will really help the creative community and Southampton as a city post bid.
I found it really helpful to go through each of the current projects as ben suggested within the tutorial this week, this allowed me to see a different perspective of each project and the aims and objectives which are very easy to see when looking at each project. I want to continue exploring projects next week and coming up with fresh ideas for the project.
References
Brewer, J. (2021). Shape-shifting studio Play Nice wants to use creative knowhow to elevate communities. [online] www.itsnicethat.com. Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/ones-to-watch-2021-play-nice-graphic-design-220321
Britishcouncil.org. (2017). Talking Doorsteps: Poetry from Hull | British Council. [online] Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/hull-city-culture-tour/talking-doorsteps-poetry.
Britishcouncil.org. (2022). Urban interaction: States of Play | British Council. [online] Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/hull-city-culture-tour/states-of-play.
coventrycreates.co.uk. (2022). Art and the Urban Commons. [online] Available at: https://coventrycreates.co.uk/project/art-and-the-urban-commons/
Nerve Centre. (n.d.). Museum in a Box. [online] Available at: https://nervecentre.org/culture/reimagine-remake-replay/museum-in-a-box
solentlep.org.uk. (n.d.). Championing the Solent’s Creative Industries - Solent LEP. [online] Available at: https://solentlep.org.uk/calendar/championing-the-solents-creative-industries/
Tate (n.d.). Southwark Untold. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/tate-exchange/workshop/southwark-untold
Things to Remember
What do you do now to start testing the viability of your project?
Who do you need to talk to?
What specific explorative initiatives should you set up?
Report outline / plan is to be refined, and logistics of running your studio, practice-based project must be defined (project management) as two A4 text documents
Experimental work and testing for your Studio Practice should be clearly presented and peer reviewed by a relevant external critic of your finding (creative directors, design studios, writers, journalists from within or beyond the subject), as befits the needs of the area of your proposal.
a two-minute case study of your final project (both practice and critical report), peer reviewed by an industry specialist. You must find your own industry specialist and include a quote / soundbite of feedback from them in your presentation for the panel in the Case Study Panel Review Webinar.
In addition to the case study presentation, you need to create a section on your blog for an ongoing literature review that has academic integrity, a bibliography, a clear structure and role of appropriate histories and theories that contextualise and support your idea. An ongoing archive area for your research sources using Falmouth University Harvard ReferencingLinks to an external site..
Or if you are writing a business orientated essay / report, make sure you integrate relevant market intel and data to support the positioning and viability of your project.
All outputs to be clearly documented on your blogs, with evidence of active engagement with the Ideas Wall.