Community Organizing in an Era of Precarity: Forging Creative Solidarities

想象一下，社区艺术组织在废弃的社区空间放映户外“弹出式”电影;社区中心为木材加工和烹饪车间提供空间;社区中心提供社区广播节目课程以及关于创业的研讨会：这些都是“艺术社会企业倡议”的例子，旨在创造替代和可持续的社会和经济组织形式。在不稳定和零碎的公共，私人和慈善资金的支持下，艺术社会企业组织是目前与一系列人合作促进社区主义和职业培训的多元化社区经济（例如社区企业，合作社）的例子。虽然这些组织在英国各地的社区开展各种活动，但批评人士声称，这些战略对解决主流经济发展和城市复兴计划中更深层次的结构性不平等问题几乎没有帮助。另一方面，许多草根艺术社会企业团体据说为边缘化社区抵制紧缩提供了立足点。此外，对它们的分析可能会阐明新的战略，使代表性不足的社区/人民参与地方复兴和经济发展规划。该研究方案以社区经济研究为基础，这是一个探讨替代经济发展模式的分析领域。在三个不同的英国社会企业团体的参与。本研究项目的研究对象包括英格兰西南部、苏格兰城市以及偏远的苏格兰高地和岛屿，研究艺术社会企业团体如何应对工作中的矛盾压力，并产生变革。它评估和跟踪以艺术为基础的社区发展组织如何分享促进社会和经济发展以及促进艺术创作的战略。该项目绘制并审查了旨在挑战不平等模式的创造性战略的范围和目的。它将对艺术社会企业在鼓励社会和经济可持续性方面的潜力有更细致的理解。这项研究将使广泛的受众受益：研究社会企业和社区经济的学者;社会企业从业者;社会政策和文化政策研究人员;从事社区工作的艺术家;城市再生规划师。为了最大限度地扩大该项目的影响，计划开展以下活动：为期刊和会议编写学术论文，并编写一本关于艺术社会企业的书，从业人员和研究人员均可阅读;设立网上“艺术社会企业中心”，让艺术家和社会企业从业员上传和讨论创新的社区经济发展模式，举办“知识交流及策略论坛”，让社会企业团体聚首一堂，分享良好的实践经验，并就他们的策略如何在社区内推广进行深入讨论;与一系列艺术社会企业从业员制作有关艺术社会企业活动的简介文件及最佳实践小册子;到澳大利亚进行研究访问，与社区经济专家合作，并促进与社区经济研究网络悉尼分会的公开讨论;制作创新的数字故事，分享关于艺术为基础的社区参与和发展的教育，我将在网上发布Hub;在高地和岛屿大学以及布里斯托大学与艺术家、学者和社区利益相关者举办关于创新艺术社会企业战略的公共研讨会。这个未来研究领袖奖将建立新的国家和国际合作，并促进跨学科奖学金。

Imagine community arts organisations screening outdoor 'pop up' movie screenings in abandoned neighbourhood spaces; community centres providing space for wood working and cooking workshops; neighbourhood hubs offering courses on community radio programming alongside workshops about starting your own business: these are all examples of 'artistic social enterprise initiatives' that seek to create alternative and sustainable forms of social and economic organisation. Supported by precarious and piece-meal public, private and philanthropic funding, artistic social enterprise organisations are examples of diverse community economies (e.g. community enterprises, cooperatives) currently working with a range of people to foster entrepreneurialism and job training. While these organisations program diverse activities in communities across the UK, critics claim that these strategies do little to address deeper structural inequalities within mainstream economic development and urban regeneration initiatives. On the other hand, many grassroots artistic social enterprise groups are said to offer a foothold for resisting austerity in marginalised communities. Furthermore, analysis of them may illuminate novel strategies for engaging underrepresented communities/people in local regeneration and economic development planning. This research programme builds on community economies research, an area of analysis that explores alternative economic development models. Engaging social enterprise groups in three diverse U.K. regions - South West England, urban Scotland and the remote Scottish Highlands and Islands -- this research programme examines how artistic social enterprise groups negotiate contradictory pressures on their work and generate change. It assesses and tracks how arts-based community development organisations share strategies for promoting social and economic development as well as promote artistic production. This project maps and examines the reach and purpose of creative strategies that seek to challenge patterns of inequality. It will develop a more nuanced understanding of the potential of artistic social enterprise for encouraging social and economic sustainability. This research will benefit a wide range of audiences: scholars researching social enterprise and community economies; social enterprise practitioners; social policy and cultural policy researchers; artists practicing community-engaged work; urban regeneration planners. In order to maximise the impact of the project, the following activities are planned: the production of academic papers for journals and conferences and a book on artistic social enterprise accessible to both practitioners and researchers; the creation of an on-line 'Artistic Social Enterprise Hub,' a space for artists and social enterprise practitioners to upload and discuss innovative community economic development models, examples of arts practices and strategies for enacting alternative business strategies; a 'Knowledge Exchange and Strategy Forum' that will bring together social enterprise groups to share good practice and critically debate how their strategies traverse communities; the production of briefing papers and best practice booklets on artistic social enterprise activities with a range of artistic social enterprise practitioners; research visits to Australia to work with community economies experts and to facilitate a public discussion with the Sydney chapter of the Community Economies Research Network; the production of innovative digital stories to share education about arts-based community engagement and development that I will post on the on-line Hub; public workshops about innovative artistic social enterprise strategies with artists, scholars and community stakeholders at the University of the Highlands and Islands and the University of Bristol. This Future Research Leader award will build new national and international collaborations and foster interdisciplinary scholarship.