drawing together

Drawing on the work all submitted so far, my proposal is to focus on key principles underpinning the work.  This could hold it all together while allowing room for individual exploration.   I would like us all to come together to discuss experiences, I think this would consolidate our learning, however firstly I feel I need to embark on some research to provide the content for the discussion.  Again this would enable us to explore our own areas of interest in a way relevant to our work.  This might not be the same for everyone.   The different areas of interest and expertise will make the outcomes very rich.

Underlying principles or areas of interest will need to be strong for this to hold together.  Here’s my attempt:

Meaningful participation

Value of experiences

Importance of environment and context to participation (broadened this from walking)

Authentic representation of experiences

The project will seek to generate and understand social exchanges as part of meaningful participation in the arts.  Through a democratic approach the projects will explore what we can mean by participation.  The importance of environment and context will be a key theme across the projects as will exploring appropriate and authentic ways to represent experiences.

The project will draw on the experiences within the group to understand experiences of participation in meaningful ways and from multiple perspectives.  This will create opportunties for learning within the group as well as presenting heterogeneous outcomes that does not treat one form of practise as superior. 

Each participant will have the opportunity to reflect on and extend their own practise through a research period.  This will generate rich content for a group sharing event.  A central focus of the project is exploring authentic and appropriate ways to represent experiences.  As this forms a part of the explorations and multiple perspectives, it is impossible at this stage to predict the method of documentation and outcome.

The coherence of the project will be maintained by a common aesthetic as outlined by Bourriaud: “we must judge that domain of exchanges on the basis of its aesthetic criteria, or in other words by analysing the coherence of its form and then the symbolic value of the world it represents”.  The principles of participation and representation will be both employed and interrogated across all projects.

The projects aim to present imaginative ways to connect with participatory practice.  The focus on environment and context potentially has important implications for ways we plan, conduct and evaluate educational and participatory projects.  We will propose new approaches to who we involve in these processes and where which can have revitalising and generative effects on our thinking.

Through the process of planning, negotiating, researching and presenting, each participant will reflect their developing understanding of leadership.  This will be layered with reflection on ongoing professional development through participation in the Extend programme.

Research questions

How important is the environment and context for learning and participation in the arts?

Can the environment have a restorative and generative affect on participation?

What can we mean by meaningful participation?

How should we consider value in relation to the arts?

In what ways can we capture and represent authentic experiences?

Milestones

July                  proposal

Aug-sept         personal projects

Oct/nov           meeting

Dec                  compile outcomes

Jan                   presentation