Evaluating the Legacy of Animative and Iterative Connected Communities Projects: A Three Dimensional Model of Change

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This study explores ways of evaluating and enhancing the legacy of Connected Communities projects though a detailed investigation of the methodological approaches, cultural outputs and partnerships established in four specific projects funded under this programme. The study will evaluate and reflect on the impacts these projects have had both in relation to the communities engaged in the projects and the degree to which they have come to stimulate research and cultural activities in new community settings. The projects involved in this legacy project are: Exploring Personal Communities: A Review of Volunteering Processes (AH/J012238/1); Bridging the gap between academic rigour and community relevance (AH/K006185/1); and Untold Stories of Volunteering: A Cultural Animation Project (AH/K006576/1), all led by Mihaela Kelemen and conducted in collaboration with New Vic Theatre, Newcastle under Lyme, and 'Revisiting the Midpoint of British Community Studies' (AH/J006920/1) led by Martin Phillips and conducted in collaboration with Glossop Heritage Trust and High Peaks Community Arts. The first three projects are based on animative (theatre-based) methodologies and have resulted in the creation of documentary/interactive dramas on volunteering, mini-performances about community, and an audio-visual installation that aims to bridge the gap between academic theory and community relevance. The final project embraces an iterative methodology and has led to the development of Glossopoly, a game that acts as a means of illustrating the outcome of the research, as a method for conducting community research and as a mechanism for stimulating wider debates about community amongst community members, practitioners and policy makers/planners. This legacy project will evaluate the impact of three cultural outputs associated with its constituent projects, namely: The untold story of volunteering drama performance, The Boat audio-visual installation, and Glossopoly. Evaluations will focus on individuals and organisations who took part in the original research, as well as policy makers, community practitioners, academics and community members who were not part of the original research but have expressed interest in this research. Evidence will be gathered through narratives, testimonies, and experiential reflections before and after exposure to these outputs. We will use animative and iterative methodologies for collecting the data and this will be supplemented by formal evaluative techniques brought to the project by National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) who has been a partner on one of the original projects.The project will also map out the trajectory and growth of partnerships that have been formed in association with the four original research projects. These include interactions between academics, between academics and community partners/institutional stakeholders, between community partners, and between community partners and community members. The resulting partnership map will encapsulate reflections, stories and artefacts co-produced with all the parties involved in this research.Finally, the project aims to up scale the uptake of animative and iterative methodologies across a range of individuals, groups and organisations via a showcase event held in Leicester, a workshop held at the Locality Annual Summer Camp for Community Organisers and a workshop held at the Department of Communities and Local Government, London. The project will also benefit from international expertise on sustainability and community research through the involvement of Professor Tima Bansal, from Western Ontario University, Canada, her research and practitioner networks and City of Markham's (Toronto) community outreach team.