"Chicken Wings and Chips"

drawing ends together

Still confused after all this time...
I realise I have been putting off drawing together the research project, our group project, the things that have happened at AirSpace as a result and the Leadership programme as a whole.
I like things to make sense, and this is not easily or neatly wrapped up. Reading Susan's drawing together process is really helpful, as it doesn't attempt to make it all fit neatly together. There have been a number of  correlatory things going on at once, and so I think I need to treat them like that to understand them.
I think then, my output for this project will be
3 X transcripts with 2 project participants and one lead organiser.
A piece of writing about the questions raised by the group project, and how this lead to an organisational development session with AirSpace and the rewriting of our Mission Statement.
Some collages which relate to evidence of decision making that I will draw out from the transcripts and the writing about the development. Still to do...
Through conversation I realise that in some ways we have come back to the original thoughts: I realised that at the beginning I  wanted to talk about survival. The research undertaken made me look at personal survival in relation to organisational survival, and put those things together.

ruminating

A bit of text to accompany the photographs and quotes that I hope gives context to the work.  This is the first of two pieces, the next will attempt to answer my question.

When you ruminate, it means you think deeply about something.  It can also mean to chew the cud, to chat.  Either way, it’s a process not to be rushed.  Through conversations with peers and time to return to previous projects, the Extend leadership programme has been an opportunity to ruminate, in both senses.  Through a group project we discussed our work and asked questions of each other.  The group members encompassed many roles, areas of interest and skill.  We didn’t form a homogenous project; instead we supported each other to pursue our interests.

The questioning process has been particularly useful in reflecting on our participatory work and reflects my overall learning from the course.  Recurring phrases in my notebooks read “ask questions”, “be curious”.  The enquiring, not the answering has been hugely beneficial as a way to open discussion, consider different perspectives and return to overlooked details - often with the outcome of further questions. 

The question I was posed by the group was “how to put art at the centre of access?”  Much of my work is collaborative, bringing artists and participants together around a common point of interest.  It’s a process that values and benefits from the diverse experiences and ideas of everyone involved.  In thinking about my question, I returned to previous conversations I have had with participants and artists.  I found many points of wisdom and insight about the way projects are set up, how people are involved, the attitudes of the artists and what taking part means for people. 

There is not one answer to the question how to put art at the centre of access, but among the wealth of information, there were several points that I find useful to keep in mind.  These are presented here with extracts from the conversations and photographs representing that time shared, ruminating.