Developed in partnership with the Universities of Warsaw and Poland and funded by the EU, the Residency project has been an action research project exploring how the model of an artist residency could be used as a training model to help support artists and communities wishing to develop work for civic engagement purposes.
Increasingly community arts work has a civic focus, ranging fromcampaigning and community building to helping people get involved in decision making and urban planning. However, for artists and communities trying to work together, there is a surprising lack of resources or professional support for those that are involved – despite the fact the work can be quite intense and emotional.
During Residency we conducted three Residencies in each country to explore whether this way of working can help people in this field. These were all identified and developed using the Creative Communities Get Talking model.
For a fresh perspective on this matter, an artist from a partner country led each Residency, and a local trainee artist and a community practitioner were appointed to help develop the project locally. We’ve had projects in care settings, urban spaces and residential communities. The action research has culminated into the development of a Toolkit and website providing case studies, templates and support for anyone wishing to use the arts for civic engagement work.
If you have any questions about Residency, please get in touch with Janet Hetherington, Senior Lecturer Creative Communities, at J.Hetherington@staffs.ac.uk
There’s also more information on the Residency website: http://residencyproject.eu/