Creative Margins: Building capacity to widen participation in arts spaces and practices

这一网络竞标建立在一系列会议的基础上，在这些会议上，艺术家、公共资助的艺术机构的成员以及专门从事青年和社区工作的学者通过共同关注英格兰和威尔士持续存在的艺术参与不平等问题走到了一起。许多被边缘化的群体，特别是那些同样生活在贫困中的群体，面临着社会孤立、物质滥用、自我伤害和公民脱离的风险。过去15年来，有证据表明，参与艺术和以艺术为基础的活动可以在减少这些风险方面发挥积极作用。然而，研究表明，被边缘化的群体不会继续参与艺术活动，也不会从长期的艺术体验中受益，从而改善自己的生活。我们的会面让我们提出了这样一个问题：‘既然参与艺术越来越多地被纳入包容性议程，为什么这些往往在实践中无意中以排他性的方式发挥出来？’该网络旨在探索更多的艺术组织和艺术家可以通过多学科的视角迎合被边缘化群体的需求和知识而取得什么成就。到目前为止，关于扩大艺术参与度的具体方法的辩论一直在相互独立发展的领域内进行。例如，青年和社区工作领域利用以艺术为基础的实践来增强边缘化群体的能力，并发展了与发现自己处于社会边缘的群体交朋友和合作的技能。然而，虽然艺术学科努力使获得艺术的机会民主化，但与在国家剧院、博物馆、美术馆和艺术中心等公共资助的艺术组织工作的参与者进行的磋商显示，社会对艺术的参与不均表示相当关切。继续教育学院关于创意媒体课程的讲座经常教授被边缘化的年轻人。虽然艺术学科与社区和青年工作的范畴是互相独立发展的，但我们仍有很大的潜力分享不同的观点，以了解这个复杂的问题。这个复杂的问题既需要进行批判性的辩论，也需要包含多个观点。对此，我们会建立一个网络，方便在艺术方面有不同方法和目的的各个孤立领域之间建立边界。通过一系列地区性的多学科、多机构的BarCamp(N=5)风格交流空间，来自艺术学科的利益相关者以及在公共资助的剧院、博物馆、画廊和艺术中心工作的人将与社区和青年工作领域的学者和实践者聚集在一起，对参与、民主、企业、信任、街头工作和节日等问题进行批判性辩论。两个BarCamps将由一个青年中心和一个社区中心主办，使边缘群体能够领导活动。活动将被设计成通过制作、调谐、倾听和辩论的过程来实现多样化的观点。总体而言，我们的目标是开发新的方法来想象和理解边缘化是如何以往往难以察觉的方式发生的，并建立新的工作方式，利用被边缘化群体的优势和创造性资源。网站将使人们能够在BarCamp活动中逐步收集见解并公开分享。长期目标是为那些第一次努力满足文化白皮书(CM 9218)的期望的艺术组织提供指导，即所有接受政府资助的博物馆、剧院、画廊、歌剧院或艺术团体“应该向每个人伸出援手，无论他们的背景如何”。这里的挑战是为有效的伙伴关系开发新的模式，这些模式可以根据所暗示的价值观在特定的当地社区进行调整，而不是通过门前清点数字等表演性行为。

This network bid builds on a series of meetings at which artists, members of publicly funded Arts institutions, and academics specialising in youth and community work, came together through a shared concern with the persistent inequality in arts participation in England and Wales. Many marginalised groups especially those who also live in poverty are at risk of social isolation, substance misuse, self-harm and civic disengagement. Evidence that involvement in the Arts and arts-based activities can play a positive role in ameliorating these risks has accrued over the past 15 years. Yet, research shows that it is marginalised groups who do not sustain their involvement or benefit from long-term experiences of Arts to enhance their lives. Our meetings led us to ask the question, 'Why, given that participation in Arts has come to be framed increasingly within inclusion agendas, do these often play out in practice, unintentionally, in exclusionary ways?' The network set out to explore what more arts organisations and artists can achieve by attuning to the needs and knowledge of marginalised groups through a multidisciplinary lens. Hitherto, debates about specific approaches to widening participation in the Arts have taken place within fields that have developed independently of each other. For example, the fields of youth and community work draw on arts-based practice to empower marginalised groups, and have developed skills for befriending and working with groups who find themselves on the periphery of society. However, while the Arts disciplines strive to democratise access to the Arts, yet consultations with participants who work in publicly funded Arts organisations, such as national theatres, museums, galleries and arts centres revealed considerable concern about the uneven social participation in the Arts. Lectures on creative media courses in Further Education colleges often teach marginalised young people. While the disciplines of the Arts and the fields of community and youth work have developed independently of each other, there is enormous potential to share different perspectives to understand this complex problem which requires both critical debate and the inclusion of multiple viewpoints.In response, we will create a network to facilitate boundary crossings between hitherto siloed fields that have different approaches and purposes in relation to the Arts. Through a series of regional multidisciplinary, multiagency BarCamp (N=5) style exchange spaces, stakeholders from Arts disciplines as well as those who work in publicly funded theatres, museums, galleries and art centres will come together with academics and practitioners from the fields of community and youth work to critically debate issues such as participation, democracy, enterprise, trust, street work and festivals. Two BarCamps will be hosted by a youth centre and a community centre enabling marginal groups to lead activities. Events will be designed to enable a multiplicity of perspectives through processes of making, attuning, listening and debating. Collectively, we aim to develop new ways to imagine and understand how marginalisation takes place in often-imperceptible ways, and to forge new ways of working that draw on the strengths and creative resources of marginalised groups. A website will enable insights to be gathered incrementally across the BarCamp events and shared publicly. The long terms objective is to create guidance for Arts organisations who are grappling with the Culture White Paper's (CM 9218) expectation for the first time that all museums, theatres, galleries, opera houses or arts groups that receive government money "should reach out to everyone, regardless of their background". The challenge here is to develop new models for effective partnerships that can be adapted in specific local communities based on the values implied, rather than through performative acts such as counting numbers through the door.