Evaluating the Legacy of Animative and Iterative Connected Communities Projects: A Three Dimensional Model of Change

Lead Research Organisation: Keele University
Department Name: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

Abstract

This study explores ways of evaluating and enhancing the legacy of Connected Communities projects though a detailed investigation of the methodological approaches, cultural outputs and partnerships established in four specific projects funded under this programme. The study will evaluate and reflect on the impacts these projects have had both in relation to the communities engaged in the projects and the degree to which they have come to stimulate research and cultural activities in new community settings.
The projects involved in this legacy project are: Exploring Personal Communities: A Review of Volunteering Processes (AH/J012238/1); Bridging the gap between academic rigour and community relevance (AH/K006185/1); and Untold Stories of Volunteering: A Cultural Animation Project (AH/K006576/1), all led by Mihaela Kelemen and conducted in collaboration with New Vic Theatre, Newcastle under Lyme, and 'Revisiting the Midpoint of British Community Studies' (AH/J006920/1) led by Martin Phillips and conducted in collaboration with Glossop Heritage Trust and High Peaks Community Arts.
The first three projects are based on animative (theatre-based) methodologies and have resulted in the creation of documentary/interactive dramas on volunteering, mini-performances about community, and an audio-visual installation that aims to bridge the gap between academic theory and community relevance. The final project embraces an iterative methodology and has led to the development of Glossopoly, a game that acts as a means of illustrating the outcome of the research, as a method for conducting community research and as a mechanism for stimulating wider debates about community amongst community members, practitioners and policy makers/planners.
This legacy project will evaluate the impact of three cultural outputs associated with its constituent projects, namely: The untold story of volunteering drama performance, The Boat audio-visual installation, and Glossopoly. Evaluations will focus on individuals and organisations who took part in the original research, as well as policy makers, community practitioners, academics and community members who were not part of the original research but have expressed interest in this research. Evidence will be gathered through narratives, testimonies, and experiential reflections before and after exposure to these outputs. We will use animative and iterative methodologies for collecting the data and this will be supplemented by formal evaluative techniques brought to the project by National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) who has been a partner on one of the original projects.
The project will also map out the trajectory and growth of partnerships that have been formed in association with the four original research projects. These include interactions between academics, between academics and community partners/institutional stakeholders, between community partners, and between community partners and community members. The resulting partnership map will encapsulate reflections, stories and artefacts co-produced with all the parties involved in this research.
Finally, the project aims to up scale the uptake of animative and iterative methodologies across a range of individuals, groups and organisations via a showcase event held in Leicester, a workshop held at the Locality Annual Summer Camp for Community Organisers and a workshop held at the Department of Communities and Local Government, London. The project will also benefit from international expertise on sustainability and community research through the involvement of Professor Tima Bansal, from Western Ontario University, Canada, her research and practitioner networks and City of Markham's (Toronto) community outreach team.

Planned Impact

It is expected that the following groups or organisations would accrue benefits from this research:

Academic community: see Academic Beneficiaries section.

Local community groups and residents. The projects that form the focus of this legacy project have already engaged a wide range of community groups, policy makers and community members (see Pathways to Impact Document), many of whom have expressed an interest in continuing their involvement to this new project. In addition this project will engage with a series of new local community groups and residents, including RODSEC (Rolleston on Dove) and Green:Keele, and will seek to engage more local community groups and organisations through showcasing the outputs and methodologies adopted in four earlier Connected Communities projects. These groups and people will gain skills, resources and experience of animative and iterative community research, as well cultural outputs and partnership connections that they can potentially use to further their own interests and objectives.

National community organisations. National community organisations such as the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Voice4Change and the Community Development Foundation have been involved in earlier projects and have expressed an interest in continuing their engagement into this legacy evaluation. In addition this new project will involve people from national organisations, including Locality, which is a key player in the Government's 'Big Society' and Localism' agendas, as well as Iranian and Kurdish Women Rights Organisation, Safety City Partnership, the Youth Offending Services and the Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association. The organisations will learn about and gain experience in the use of animative and iterative methods in community research that they can potentially employ in their community engagement related practice.

National and Local Government. The Department of Communities and Local Government, via its VCS Partnership Board, is keen to use cultural animation techniques to enthuse and support groups/organisations to engage with the 'Community rights' legislation by making it relevant to their day to day life and immediate concerns. The Department will also host a workshop in which various local authorities and community based organisations will be introduced to animative and iterative methodologies as means for improving engagement with their local communities.

International organisations. The project seeks to explore the relevance of the cultural animation and iterative methods to academics, local and national community groups and community policy makers and practitioners in countries beyond the UK. Specifically, the project team will meet with academics from Western Ontario University and representatives of community groups and policy makers in Markham, Canada. These will include officials in the City of Markham and members of the Network for Business Sustainability, Canada, and the Centre for Building Sustainable Value, Canada. The organisations and individuals will learn about and gain experience in the use of animative and iterative community research, as well as gain an understanding of the character of research outputs and partnerships created through involvement in the AHRC's Connected Communities programme.

AHRC Connected Communities Programme. The project will be of value to this research programme both by assessing and promoting the legacy of four specific projects in terms of their methodologies, cultural outputs and partnership connections, but also through developing a contextual, three dimensional perspective on legacy that could potentially be applied to other projects within the programme.
 
Title A Bright Future for Stoke on Trent Exhibition 
Description This CASIC installation was part of the 'Back to the drawing board' exhibition and ran from November 23rd until January 16th. The installation contained a projection of Peter Rice's mural, Bridgewater artefacts, ordinary day to day objects, empty frames, voice overs and musical documentaries made by diverse communities which took part in previous CASIC research projects. Using Cultural Animation techniques of community engagement and knowledge co-production pioneered in the UK by Sue Moffat, Founding Director of New Vic Borderlines and developed further via the Connected Communities research, participants were encouraged to create and visualise a bright future for Stoke on Trent by filling empty frames with their own ideas and aspirations, drawing themselves in the projection, imagining conversations that will take place in the future, and writing haikus and cinquans about their aspirations, wishes and ambitions for Stoke on Trent. This living and interactive installation acted as a bridge between past, present and future and as a boundary object that can unite communities around ideas about the future. On November, 23rd, a steady stream of community members, students and staff came to visit the CASIC installation and take part in interactive workshops. Four theatre practitioners from the New Vic Boderlines encouraged participants to paint tea towels in the Pat Albeck's tradition, write haikus about their relationship with Stoke on Trent and put themselves in the projection of a mural by Peter Rice entitled 'A Bright Past for Stoke-on-Trent'. The discussions about Stoke and its impact on one's individual and collective identity have been fascinating. The created artifacts have been added to the installation and captured in picture and video form. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact Change of views regarding the past and present of Stoke on Trent Community members joining the Community Animation and Social Innovation centre 
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/pastevents/
 
Title Animating Communities: A Three Dimensional Interactive Installation 
Description As a symbol of longevity and endurance in Japanese mythology, the 'Tree of life' captures stories of loss, hope and resilience and artifacts made by the communities affected by the 2011 Japanese Tsunami, in experiential workshops conducted by Sue Moffat in November 2013 in the Minami-Sanriku area, Japan. The installation consists of the actual tree, some of the artifacts made by the Japanese communities and an audio and visual projection of the workshops conducted in Japan and the UK, the latter in June 2013. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact The installation was centre piece in workshops with Roma communities in Rotheram, 2014 as well as in international community based workshops held in Canada, Italy and Greece in 2014. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRa71sYijxI
 
Title Connecting Business and Society through Arts Based Methodologies: Introducing Cultural Animation 
Description Our exhibit will be highly visual in nature and include two interactive activities which will allow participants to experience the methodology first hand and reflect on ways in which they may be able to make use of it in their own field. It will comprise a visually striking poster on Cultural Animation, coupled with a film on 'Cultural Animation in action' containing rolling clips and images from our research projects in the UK, Japan, Kenya and the Philippines. The first of our interactive activities is 'The Tree of Life' installation which was co-designed on a project on post-disaster recovery with Japanese survivors and organisations in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami (see Picture Japan 5 in https://www.keele.ac.uk/bridgingthedivide/events/japan/). The installation is interactive and conference participants will be invited to add (paper) leaves to the tree reflecting their own stories of struggle, survival and development. Our second interactive activity is a chance for participants to take part in the 'Button game' This is a haptic methodology of stakeholder mapping that has been used as a core feature in many of our projects. After playing the game we will give participants game instructions to take away along with a small bag of buttons which they can use in their own research (button maps from a project on foodbanks in the UK are attached to provide a guide to the nature of this activity). Target audiences We have used CA exercises with management undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers from humanities, social and natural sciences, senior managers from private, public and charity organisations, NGOs, civil servants as well as with children, ex-offenders, people with disabilities, Roma and other categories of marginalised stakeholders. Therefore, our intended audience is wide and varied and includes academics and practitioners. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact Unfortunately the CABS exhibition was cancelled due to COVID 
 
Title Look and Look Again CASIC Exhibition 
Description Over 500 people had the opportunity to experience the CASIC exhibition held in Chancellors Building in october 2015 and curated by Kerry Jones, Keele's Arts Officer. The exhibition entitled 'Look and look again' comprises installations, film, music and photographs that celebrate the creativity and ground-breaking nature of the knowledge co-produced in collaborative research by CASIC academics and community partners. It also featured a number of interactive workshops starting with a moving audiovisual and multichannel concert about the lost industries of Stoke on Trent and the present hope and creativity of its inhabitants, with compositions by Professor Rajmil Fishman, Dr. Diego Garro and Dr Steve Bird. This was followed by an inspiring talk about the interactive Dorothy Richardson online exhibition by Professor Scott McCracken and Dr. Rebecca Bowler, and a jazz-philosophy fusion workshop run by Dr. James Tartaglia who played his saxophone and involved the audience in contemplating Schopenhauer's philosophy while singing along to co-produce a new piece of jazz-philosophy work. The audience also enjoyed some creative writing and homemade ice-cream, courtesy of the literary café run by Dr. Ceri Morgan and led by emergency poet, Deborah Alma. The programme ended with a participatory workshop run by Dr. Gemma Burford from Brighton University, the winner of the first CASIC working papers series prize. Throughout the day, participants were invited to visit the KAVE in the School of pharmacy and experience a 'health in the community' immersive workshop. This virtual environment provided an exciting and provocative opportunity for participants to explore the 'meaning of health' using a virtual environment designed by Luke Bracegirdle (School of Pharmacy) and incorporating findings from previous research funded by the AHRC and EPRC. During the day, creative experts and animateurs from the New Vic Borderlines team ran cultural animation workshops in the Chancellor Building, bringing to life the artefacts and the stories of the CASIC exhibition. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact widened engagement with the local community for Keele University 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjl3Hl7FA1o&feature=youtu.be&list=PLm6S_-wsxg6DNmYEOLC5LEbhGSF9gnC9J
 
Title Podcast: 'Weathering the Storm: How Communities Respond to Adversity' 
Description Coal mining, ship building, steel making and the production of ceramics are just some of the many industrial areas in the UK that have been affected by economic, political and social change in recent decades. The closure of a factory, coal mine or shipyard can, of course, devastate a whole community. As part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Connected Communities Programme one project is discovering more about the stories and experiences of people who have faced such adversity. The work will help different types of communities deal with similar challenges in the future. It also makes use of the philosophy of American Pragmatism, that there should be no division between academic knowledge and practical experience. Workshops include the use of a boat installation and creative activities. In this podcast, Professor Mihaela Kelemen from Keele University explains more about the project which is called Bridging the Gap between academic theory and community relevance. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2013 
Impact It has attracted over 240 viewers. Cultural animation is used in over 10 AHRC projects at the moment, one ESRC and one EPSRC project. 
URL http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Watch-and-Listen/Pages/Weathering-the-storm-How-communities-re...
 
Title Tree of Life installation 
Description As a symbol of longevity and endurance in Japanese mythology, the 'Tree of life' captures stories and artefacts made by Japanese communities affected by the 2011 Tsunami, in experiential workshops conducted by Sue Moffat, Director of New Vic Borderlines. The installation was chosen to represent the UK Connected Communities programme at CUVIC 2014, Victoria University, Canada 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact Mihaela Kelemen had talks with Dr. Leslie Brown, the Director of the Institute for Studies and Innovation in Community University Engagement, the organiser of the conference. Based on insight into how she set up the institute, Professor Kelemen was able to argue the case for a new research centre to be created at Keele University. The Centre for Community Animation and Social Innovation was approved by Keele University in October 2014 and will be launched via an international submit in 2015. 
URL http://www.uvic.ca/cuvic2014/
 
Title Voices from below: sustainable artizanal mining in Kenya exhibition 
Description Co-curated by Nottingham University Business School and the award-winning New Vic Borderlines, this exhibition brings to life stories, knowledge and artefacts co-created by miners and stakeholders via cultural animation workshops aimed at co-producing sustainable mining futures in Taita Taveta. Displayed on Jubilee campus, Nottingham University from February 24-march 6th, 2020 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact The exhibition seeks to challenge public understandings of what counts as sustainable mining in the context of economic and social deprivation. 
 
Description Positive outcomes - learning and ripples
Overall the Legacy Project has achieved a range of positive outcomes. For the original project teams there has been considerable learning as the methods and artefacts have lived through different iterations with different groups and have continued to evolve. At the same time new 'audiences' of community practitioners and researchers in the UK, Japan, Greece and Canada have also benefited. They have been challenged in their thinking and inspired to try new techniques to engage differently, more equally and more creatively, in their work with communities.
Power and potential of the methods - creativity, co-production and change
The project has tested and confirmed much that was previously suspected about the power and potential of the methods following the original research projects, and in so doing it has enabled us to add to understanding being developed elsewhere in the field about the value of different kinds of knowledge and about creative approaches to knowledge production and 'sense-making'. Echoing work taking place elsewhere in the growing field of creative research practice, through the project we have clearly confirmed that:
"creative practice can be a form of research in itself Inquiry through creative practice privileges such things as play, intuition, serendipity, imagination and the unexpected as resources for making sense."
The project has also confirmed the potential of the methods to create a more inclusive culture or practice of research where knowledge is co-produced for the benefit of the individuals and communities taking part; as well as the potential not only to change the way that researchers and others engage with communities, but also how communities themselves perceive and respond to the issues that face them.
"A fabulous way to explore ideas about community that results in a visual representation of our values and beliefs. At first was sceptical and at the end shocked by what a good, yet fun way of exploring our views on communities it was."
Unanswered questions about the methods
We have identified some of the challenges of this way of working, including understanding different roles when working in a research/artist partnership; deciding what matters most in relation to process and outputs when delivering a creative research activity; and working with different ideas about what data is, who it needs to be useful for, and how it can be captured and represented. As the project draws to a close we are still left with some unanswered questions about some of the practicalities of how others might begin to use the methods in their work and how some of these challenges might best be overcome, but we have identified a number of important next steps that we believe might prove helpful in supporting more widespread take-up of the methods going forward.
Exploitation Route 1. Produce a clearer description of the methods and how they work
We have talked in our report about the need for the project to not just "show" (the methods) but also to "tell". However, the project team has so far not always found it easy to explain clearly to others outside the project what the methods comprise and how they work. In light of growing interest in the methods, and limited time or resources to continue with a very time-intensive demonstration model, it would seem timely now to develop a clearer way of describing them and also capturing the whole set of values, principles and techniques that sit behind the methods so as to create a description of an emerging methodology or methodologies (animative and iterative) as opposed to what could otherwise, without this important information, seem a loose collection of creative tools or techniques rather than a methodology. If the project team could find a plain English way to describe the methods, one that mirrors the ethos and values that underpin the methods themselves - eg, accessible, inclusive, levelling - we believe this would considerably help future engagement and understanding of both academic and non-academic audiences.

2. Build capacity by offering advice/support on the "how to" of the methods
We identified a keen interest in practical support and advice or even training as a next step for building legacy, a real appetite for follow-up support and advice on the "how to" side of things. If resources and advice could be developed where the methods could be explained and skills and confidence built to work with them, this would support wider adoption of the methods.
"The session was engaging but could have done with a bit more context and practical ideas about how this could be used in community settings and what the outcomes are for those who take part."
"Can I please have a copy of all stages as would love to use this?"
"Can we have access to the written steps / guides to each of the activities we experienced to apply to work with all ages as appropriate?"

3. Build and strengthen the network of those interested in the methods
The project has created a genuine excitement about the methods and a growing network of people interested in and trying out the ideas. We have not been able by any means to capture the extent of the ripples of change the project has contributed to as this was outside the remit of our particular element of the project, but we are aware of a growing list of contacts keen to know more and also aware that the project team have delivered many more workshops and activities based on the methods outside of the legacy project that have had similarly positive results. Continued engagement with and networking with those interested individuals would certainly be valuable in ensuring a longer-term legacy and wider adoption of and development of the methods. Feedback from one workshop participant, an academic, suggested that the project has been and could continue to be an important contributor to not just a shift in her thinking, but a wider shift in attitudes towards the value of working in partnership between researchers, artists and communities, and of using creative and innovative techniques to engage and conduct research in and with communities.
" there is something in the air at the moment - finding ways to work with people who are coming at a problem from a different background to university researchers, to produce good research, on equal terms (or as equal as we can manage) somehow, slowly these innovative techniques are making their way into university departments."
As we write this report, it is exciting to conclude by noting that Keele University has recently demonstrated its own commitment to be a part of that shift in thinking about interdisciplinary and creative approaches to research with communities.

Last but not least - an important footnote - CASIC
In March 2015 Keele University launched a new Cultural Animation and Social Innovation Centre (CASIC) under the Directorship of Professor Mihaela Kelemen, the lead partner for this Legacy Project. More than 60 people attended the launch and many more again, this time from within and outside the UK, will attend the Centre's first international summit in October 2015. The Centre will see the original Connected Communities project partners and some of that growing network of people interested in the projects' methods coming together to share ideas and take forward plans for work that will continue to develop and share the methods further afield.

Among its ambitions the Centre aims:
To develop interdisciplinary and creative solutions to complex issues based on a recognition that creativity is an equal partner in the scientific pursuit
To foster local and global connections for action, to support social innovation and change.

The establishment of this Centre, with these bold ambitions, gives us confidence that some of the ideas that have emerged from our work for ensuring a longer-term and living legacy might be considered even as this legacy project comes to an end. The launch of CASIC represents an exciting step for the methods and their proponents, and though not strictly within the scope of this project, in its own way the Centre stands as both a part of the original Connected Communities projects' legacy and as an exciting way to continue building legacy in the longer term.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/
 
Description The findings have been used by local community groups, umbrella organisations such as NCVO, NANM, Locality and Big Local, as well as by academics and communities in Japan (Osaka City). In addition, the findings and the methodology of Cultural Animation have helped secure three more GCRF grants, the first one allowed us to work with community groups in the Philippines to co-design pictures of rural health, the second one linked to sustainable artizanal mining in Kenya and the third one focusing on women's rights and dignity in fragile contexts in the Philippines
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment
Impact Types Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services
 
Description Taita Taveta Sustainable Mining Action Plan
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Taita Taveta County Sustainable Mining Action Plan document is an outcome of multi-stakeholder dialogue which enabled artisanal miners and mining communities to participate more in mining governance and decision-making processes. The Action Plan adopts the SDGs framework in developing five thematic areas of focus (see Figure 2). We acknowledge that the numerous linkages between the SDGs and ASM are indivisible. • Economic Development o SDGs 1 - No Poverty o SDGs 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth o SDGs 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure o SDGs 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production • Social Development o SDGs 3 - Good Health and Wellbeing o SDGs 4 - Quality Education o SDGs 5 - Gender Equality o SDGs 10 - Reduced Inequalities • Clean Energy, Infrastructure, and Sustainable Communities o SDGs 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy o SDGs 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure o SDGs 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities • Environmental Stewardship o SDGs 13 - Climate Action o SDGs 15 - Life on Land • Governance and Partnership o SDGs 16 - Peace and Justice o SDGs 17 - Partnerships
 
Description influence on methods for community engagement and co-researching with communities
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact increases in quality of life for marginalised groups such as Roma youths, unemployed and young people with disabilities Using cultural animation methodologies we have conducted a series of workshops in Rotherham, Manchester and Stoke on Trent
 
Description Catalyst Fund
Amount £3,000 (GBP)
Organisation Connected Communities 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2016 
End 06/2017
 
Description Co-Production and Creativity: ethos, typologies and innovation in public engagement practice
Amount £99,787 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/R019908/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2017 
End 09/2019
 
Description Connected Communities Cardiff Festival
Amount £16,000 (GBP)
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2014 
End 03/2015
 
Description Connected Communities Festival 2015
Amount £13,000 (GBP)
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2015 
End 12/2015
 
Description I am my dignity: A Moral Capability Assessment Tool (MCAT) for women's rights in fragile contexts
Amount £135,000 (GBP)
Organisation United Kingdom Research and Innovation 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2020 
End 07/2021
 
Description Scale and growth Award
Amount £7,000 (GBP)
Organisation NIHR/HEFCE Higher Education Fund for England 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2015 
End 03/2016
 
Description University of Nottingham GCRF
Amount £230,000 (GBP)
Organisation United Kingdom Research and Innovation 
Department Global Challenges Research Fund
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2019 
End 07/2020
 
Description early career Leverhulme fellowship
Amount £40,000 (GBP)
Organisation The Leverhulme Trust 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2016 
End 08/2019
 
Title Cultural Animation 
Description • draws on the everyday experiences of people and their creative abilities to make sense of the world • builds up trusting relationships between participants by inviting them to work together in activities which may be new to them but which rely on their life experiences • when people move about and complete tasks together, it facilitates new ways of seeing and thinking • boundary objects (everyday objects) are central to the collaboration and communication between academics, medical practitioners and members of the public • common sense, academic expertise and practical skills are valued in equal measure • knowledge and experiences are articulated in actions, images, installations as well as via the written word • the cultural animateur acts as a facilitator • pioneered in the UK by New Vic Borderlines and the Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre at Keele University 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Cultural animation provides a route to co-produce research agendas, empowers the public to engage actively with health professionals/academics/policy makers and make a positive contribution to their community. 
URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221717310779
 
Description Audencia Business School 
Organisation Audencia Business School
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution On April 7th, 2016, CASIC hosted Professor Latchezar Hristov from Audencia Business School, Nantes who gave a talk about responsible innovation to a mixed audience that included both academics and community partners. Professor Hristov outlined the economic and social context of innovation, providing insightful examples of technological and social innovations that have changed the world. He stressed the need for organisations to embrace a more responsible approach to innovation that would ensure social benefits and a sustainability for future generations. The talk was followed by three cultural animation exercises run by theatre practitioners from New Vic Borderlines. Participants debated and enacted the meanings of responsible innovation, creating installations, poems and performances. The event concludes with a collective reflection on the topic and suggestions for future events on social innovation.
Collaborator Contribution Mihaela Kelemen has given a talk on Academia-Community Engagement: Creative Approaches to Knowledge coproduction September, 2016 , Audencia Business School, Nantes Further events will follow in 2017
Impact one workshop and one academic talk
Start Year 2015
 
Description CASIC summer school for creative methods of research and community engagement 
Organisation Arts Council England
Department New Vic Theatre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/summerschool2017/Speakers will include: · Professor Mihaela Kelemen - CASIC Director · Dr Lindsay Hamilton - Keele Management School, Keele University · Dr Emma Surman - Keele Management School, Keele University · Dr Ceri Morgan - School of Humanities, Keele University · Professor Rajmil Fischman - School of Music, Keele University
Collaborator Contribution · Véronique Jochum - Research Manager, National Council for Voluntary Organisations · Sue Moffat - Director of New Vic Borderlines, New Vic Theatre
Impact Arts-based research · Transformative research frameworks · Mixed-methods research · Knowledge co-production · Research using technology · Writing creatively for research
Start Year 2017
 
Description Creative Collaboration on human rights and dignity in fragile contexts 
Organisation Ateneo de Manila University
Country Philippines 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The collaboration led to securing a University of Nottingham GCRF grant in 2020. My team will be creating an innovative Moral Capability Assessment Tool (MCAT) by digitalising the methodology of Cultural Animation and training local community organisers to how to use it in the ethnic Muslim and indigenous enclaves of Mindanao (Philippines), where deadly and destructive civil strife and massive civilian displacements have been breaking on and off for the last 50 years. Earthquakes, flooding, typhoons and disease outbreaks are worsening the impact of conflict-induced under-development. This dis-proportionally affects women, opening the road to a normalisation process of rights-abuse and to modern forms of slavery. MCAT i) sheds sheds light on how women (beneficiary 1) are engaged as agents of their own rights and development and ii) designs context-sensitive preventative & resilience building measures to be delivered by development actors (beneficiary 2) based on considerations of moral capability and agency.
Collaborator Contribution Our partner will be testing the MCAT tool in Mindanao, and co-produce cultural artifacts with fringe and other relevant stakeholders in Mindenao.
Impact This collaboration is multi-disciplinary: sociology, consumption studies, human rights, visual arts, community studies and theatre studies A website and a training package are currently being developped
Start Year 2018
 
Description Cultural Animation and Social Innovation Centre, Keele University 
Organisation Arts Council England
Department New Vic Theatre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre (CASIC) is rooted in Keele University's tradition of multi and trans-disciplinary research and its commitment to community engagement as reflected in the Strategic Plan. The Centre builds on existing relations with the award-winning New Vic Theatre, with which Keele developed a specific methodology of knowledge co-creation and of community engagement, entitled 'Cultural Animation'. Keele University has funded a two day per week admin support post for CASIC.
Collaborator Contribution Cultural Animation has been used to co-create knowledge on diverse topics such as volunteering (http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/), personal community (http://www.keele.ac.uk/exploringpersonalcommunities/), community asset mapping, energy poverty and energy use/reduction, sustainability, ageing, violence, exclusion, communities in crisis (http://www.keele.ac.uk/bridgingthedivide/), within multiple community settings in the UK, Canada, Japan, Greece and Poland.
Impact https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/workingpaperseries/
Start Year 2015
 
Description SEISMIC collaboration 
Organisation SEiSMiC Project
Country European Union (EU) 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution SEiSMiC National Workshop On April 12th 2016, CASIC and the New Vic Theatre co-hosted a SEiSMiC National Workshop on 'Improving the Engagement of Public Authorities with Community Organisations'. The event attracted over 60 participants from the UK and Holland. Academics, public authorities, funders and community partners explored how community organisations, and especially community enterprises, could work more effectively with formal (public) authorities in accessing funding, in public procurement and in conducting research and delivering innovation. The participants were divided into three groups to debate 1) accessing public funding - grants and projects, 2) public procurement and 3) being involved in research and innovation projects. The key issues identified in the morning were then animated via three experiential workshops led by theatre practitioners from the New Vic Borderlines. Participants created poems, installations and performances that were presented to the larger group. The event concluded with a presentation by Professor Kate Pahl from Sheffield University who synthesised the main communicative challenges in collaborating with multiple stakeholders and highlighted the potential of community animation techniques to surpass them, followed by a talk by Mike Coyne (SEiSMiC) who placed the findings of the workshop in a European context.
Collaborator Contribution After an introduction to CASIC by Professor Mihaela Kelemen, there was a panel discussion led by representatives from two community enterprises: Cordwainers Grow and Firesouls, The Heritage Lottery Fund West Midlands, Birmingham City Council and JPI Urban Europe.
Impact the collaboration was multidisciplinary: management, social policy, theatre studies, cultural studies Workshop and best practice paper
Start Year 2015
 
Description The International Federation of the Red Crosses and Cresents 
Organisation International Federation of Red Cross and Crescents
Country Switzerland 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Working together towards developing their learning strategy platform
Collaborator Contribution We held a series of Skype meetings and introduced our Cultural Animation methodology to their annual learning conference in Madrid.
Impact This collaboration is at an early stage and it is likely to result in applying for follow on funding.
Start Year 2017
 
Title KAVE 3D virtual environment game on health in the community 
Description This virtual environment provided an exciting and provocative opportunity for participants to explore the 'meaning of health' using a virtual environment designed by Luke Bracegirdle (Keele School of Pharmacy) and incorporating findings from previous research funded by the AHRC and EPSRC. 
Type Of Technology Webtool/Application 
Year Produced 2015 
Impact widened participation 
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/connectedcommunitiesfestival/healthcommunity/
 
Description Cultural animation workshop: Using experiential drama techniques to co-design knowledge 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The workshop allowed practitioners and academics studying creativity to question taken for granted views about what counts as creatvity. The worshop was held in Copenhagen in July 2014

After the workshop, many peple asked for more information on cultural animation methodologies
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description 8th April 2014 Kelemen, M. and Moffat, S., Using Cultural Animation to Engage and Co-design Research with the Community, talk given at the Department of Communities and Local Government 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The talk sparked discussion regarding the possibility of organining a cultural animation workshop for DCLG

after the talk, we engaged in a regiuar exchange of emails with DCLG
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description A workshop on the Legacy of Cultural Animation/Glossopoly 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The workshop encouraged participants to engage with notion of crisis and comunity/individual responses

as a result of ther workshop two local community groups have approached us to help them with launching of new local intitiatives (through the use of animative and interative methodologies)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.keele.ac.uk/media/keeleuniversity/ri/risocsci/thelegacyofconnectedcommunities/Legacyworks...
 
Description Animating Cities in Crisis: lessons from the UK and Japan 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The talk was part of an International seminar on 'Social Innovation and Creative Responses to Global Urban Challenges', organised by the British Academy, AHRC and ESRC. We were invited by the AHRC to showcase the 'Bridging the Gap' project as an example of a successful international collaboration in the field of cities in crisis. The talk reported on the main findings of the project and was followed by an interactive workshop that used cultural animation techniques (developed by the New Vic Theatre, our community partner) to encourage people to think differently about cities in crisis and the ways in which we need to approach such crises at an individual and collective level.

After my talk, participants reported that the interactive workshop provided a fresh perspective in techniques for researching with communities. In the closing speech, the chairmain said that cutlural animation technologies are needed in order to tap into different regimes of order in the cities, which are under the radar and therefore not visible and accounted for by planners and policy makers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description CASIC International Summit, Keele, October 14-15, 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A new research centre had its international launch at Keele University on October 14-15th,

2015. The launch of the Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre - CASIC -

attracted over 150 participants, both academics and community members from the UK and

abroad. The event opened with an address by Keele's Vice Chancellor, Professor Trevor

McMillan who, stressing the strategic importance of the relationship between Keele

University and its wider community, emphasised the central role CASIC plays in building

capacity for community-centered solutions to local and global issues. CASIC's main

ambition is to expand the co-production of knowledge with community members in order to

facilitate social innovation and bring about democratic changes in society.

The ground-breaking work undertaken by CASIC was recognised by a number of high profile

speakers including AHRC Associate Director Gary Grubb who shared his vision about

CASIC's future prospects for creative, cross-disciplinary, and community co-produced

research. The Connected Communities Leadership Fellow, Professor Keri Facer from Bristol

University praised the uniqueness of CASIC in the academic world, inviting the audience to

rethink research in the age of collaboration, interdisciplinarity and precarity, while Professor

Kate Pahl from Sheffield University shared her views on why centres such as CASIC are key

to improving the social conditions of individuals and their communities through the

application of co-created knowledge.

The Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the New Vic Theatre, Staffordshire, a founding

partner of CASIC, gave a completing talk about the history of the New Vic and its

relationships with the local community and the university. The audience then participated in a

panel discussion with practitioners from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations

(NCVO), the National Association of Neighbourhood Management and Jericho Road

Solutions. The debate focused on the expectations that communities have of academic

research and from universities in general.

The first day closed with two inspiring addresses: the first from Dr. Lai Yong Tan, director of

outreach and community engagement at the College of Alice and Peter Tan, NUS. He

mesmerised the audience with his stories about community engagement in the Yunnan

Province, where he spent 15 years, training and educating community doctors in very remote

villages. In the final talk, Dr. Aki Koponen, Director of the Finnish Centre for Collaborative

Research at the University of Turku stressed the significance of the relationship between his

centre and CASIC.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/theinternationallaunchofcasic/
 
Description CASIC International Summit, Keele, October 14-15, 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A new research centre had its international launch at Keele University on October 14-15th,

2015. The launch of the Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre - CASIC -

attracted over 150 participants, both academics and community members from the UK and

abroad. The event opened with an address by Keele's Vice Chancellor, Professor Trevor

McMillan who, stressing the strategic importance of the relationship between Keele

University and its wider community, emphasised the central role CASIC plays in building

capacity for community-centered solutions to local and global issues. CASIC's main

ambition is to expand the co-production of knowledge with community members in order to

facilitate social innovation and bring about democratic changes in society.

The ground-breaking work undertaken by CASIC was recognised by a number of high profile

speakers including AHRC Associate Director Gary Grubb who shared his vision about

CASIC's future prospects for creative, cross-disciplinary, and community co-produced

research. The Connected Communities Leadership Fellow, Professor Keri Facer from Bristol

University praised the uniqueness of CASIC in the academic world, inviting the audience to

rethink research in the age of collaboration, interdisciplinarity and precarity, while Professor

Kate Pahl from Sheffield University shared her views on why centres such as CASIC are key

to improving the social conditions of individuals and their communities through the

application of co-created knowledge.

The Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the New Vic Theatre, Staffordshire, a founding

partner of CASIC, gave a completing talk about the history of the New Vic and its

relationships with the local community and the university. The audience then participated in a

panel discussion with practitioners from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations

(NCVO), the National Association of Neighbourhood Management and Jericho Road

Solutions. The debate focused on the expectations that communities have of academic

research and from universities in general.

The first day closed with two inspiring addresses: the first from Dr. Lai Yong Tan, director of

outreach and community engagement at the College of Alice and Peter Tan, NUS. He

mesmerised the audience with his stories about community engagement in the Yunnan

Province, where he spent 15 years, training and educating community doctors in very remote

villages. In the final talk, Dr. Aki Koponen, Director of the Finnish Centre for Collaborative

Research at the University of Turku stressed the significance of the relationship between his

centre and CASIC.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/theinternationallaunchofcasic/
 
Description CASIC video 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We commissioned a short film to showcase the research done by CASIC members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.moonbrushed.com/casic
 
Description CASIC, 2018 The Keele Showcase Global Brochure 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact CASIC
Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre

CASIC is an international and interdisciplinary research centre founded by Keele University in collaboration with the New Vic Theatre. The centre has developed a unique and highly effective methodology of community/business engagement and knowledge co-production entitled Cultural Animation. At the heart of Cultural Animation is the creation of democratic research environments that challenge existing scientific hierarchies and empower community partners to play a more central role in shaping what counts as knowledge and truth.

With academic and community members in the United Kingdom, Japan, Poland, France, Singapore, USA, Malaysia and Finland, the centre aims to build capacity for community-centred solutions to local and global problems and bridge the gap between theoretical rigour and practical relevance, thus making it possible for policy makers and others in positions of power to better understand the real needs and the ambitions of communities.

To date, CASIC researchers have tackled a variety of social problems including food poverty, volunteering, disaster management, community assets and community leadership. Since its launch, the centre has attracted more than fifteen grants including from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, and the Leverhulme Trust.

Find out more at www.keele.ac.uk/casic or follow @KeeleCASIC on Twitter.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Connected Communities Festival Health in the community workshop, Keele, 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact More than forty participants from academia and the community took part in an interactive immersive workshop organised by the Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre (CASIC), on June 25th, 2015, as part of the Connected Communities Festival sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Participants worked collaboratively to explore what health meant for their communities and created models of ideal communities using artifacts and theatrical props provided by the New Vic Theatre. Sue Moffat and her team of theatre practitioners from the New Vic Borderlines ran a number of activities prior to the event capturing stories of health in various community venues such as schools, community centres and food banks. Parallel cultural animation activities took place on the day in Darwin Building, on the Keele grounds where a health tent was erected and in the KAVE (School of Pharmacy) where Luke Bracegirdle designed a virtual health environment. The latter incorporated findings co-produced with communities in previous research projects carried out by Mihaela Kelemen (KMS), Rajmil Fischman (Music) and Emma Surman (KMS). The workshop stimulated community-academia debate as well as personal and collective reflection on the meanings health in the diverse communities of Stoke on Trent, providing also a fertile ground for enhancing community assets and connections with academia.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/connectedcommunitiesfestival/healthcommunity/
 
Description Cultural Animation with Mining Stakeholders in Taita Taveta, Kenya 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The workshops promoted dialogue and cooperation between and among mining stakeholders with the goal of re-imagining a more responsible and inclusive ASM future in Taita Taveta. The participants in the CA workshops drew on both their everyday experiences to make sense of sustainability, and their creative abilities to co-produce strategies to address their local social, economic, environmental and governance challenges. The miners and other mining stakeholders were encouraged to reflect on the potential for change within themselves and their own communities. During the CA workshops, the miners were able to express their concerns in front of a variety of institutional stakeholders and ensure that their ideas were taken seriously and reflected in future policy and practice interventions by other mining stakeholders in Taita Taveta.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Round table 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Mihaela Kelemen was invited to the September, 2016 Round table organised by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee as part of their Culture Inquiry http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/culture-media-and-sport-committee/news-parliament-2015/countries-of-culture-launch-15-16/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Embodied Research through Creative Digital Methodologies Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact The workshop attracted over 30 PhD students from Keele, Lancaster, Loughborough, Derby and Sheffield Universities. The event was led by ILAS fellow, Anna Macdonald, from MMU who is an artist and scholar specialising in bringing creative embodied research methods to interdisciplinary research projects. Following a presentation on co-production and digital technology by CASIC members, Prof. Mihaela Kelemen and Prof. Rajmil Fischman, the participants explored connections between bodies, research experiences and concepts as well as the potential for interactive technology to contribute to their own PhD research. Central to the delivery was an artwork made by Anna in collaboration with digital composer Will Brearley (PhD student in Music Technology), 3D developers Karl Reid and Tom Pardoe (School of Pharmacy) and socio-legal scholar Prof. Marie-Andrée Jacob. The participants commented on the innovative, disruptive and cathartic nature of the training and the need for more events of this sort to encourage PhD students to ask different sorts of questions by becoming more mindful of the body in the process of doing or writing up research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/pastevents/
 
Description Experiential workshop on sustainability in collaboration with GreenKeele 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Thirty participants (students and academics) attended a cultural animation workshop in which we debated the meanings of sustainability and constructed new worlds out of ordinary materials available all around us.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/pastevents/
 
Description Food Festival, Middleport Potteries 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Over 500 people from across North Staffordshire gathered at Middleport Pottery on June 28th, 2015 for the Connected Communities Food Festival. The family event was organised by Keele University's Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre (CASIC), in collaboration with New Vic Borderlines, with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It aimed to celebrate local food and to showcase ways of eating, shopping and cooking cheaply and sustainably. The event was informed by community based research carried out by Dr. Emma Surman and Professor Mihaela Kelemen in collaboration with New Vic Borderlines. A display of plates decorated by members of the local community on the themes of healthy eating, sustainability and community living was also displayed. The plates were accompanied by a piece of sound art by Keele University music's Professor Rajmil Fischman.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/connectedcommunitiesfestival/foodfestival/
 
Description Forum for Rural Research in Health and Well Being 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This initiative is a partnership between the Research Institute for Primary Care and Health Sciences, the Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre (CASIC), South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Healthcare Foundation Trust (SSSFT), and the New Vic Borderlines (the outreach department of the award winning New Vic Theatre). The FRRESH Initiative provides an opportunity - that would otherwise be lacking - to explore and respond to rural health inequalities and the apparent research gap.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Interview for Cash and Culture, Nantes Radio 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact http://www.euradionantes.eu/article/cash-culture
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.euradionantes.eu/news/2017/2/6/cash-and-culture-on-the-importance-of-communities-to-cultu...
 
Description Kelemen, M. Untold Stories of Volunteering, Big Local Spring Events, Birmingham and London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The intended purpose was to share with community members lessons from our previous project on volunteering and to introduce to them Cultural Animation, a methodology of knowledge co-creation and community engagement.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/legacyofconnectedcommunities/activities/
 
Description Presentation at the UK Participatory Research Network 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I gave a talk on the work CASIC have been undertaking recently, entitled: "Co-creating knowledge with communities using cultural animation".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description SOLACE exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The exhibition was curated by Professor Mihaela Kelemen and Sue Moffat (New Vic Borderlines) and was attended by over 500 people. The creative outputs displayed demonstrate the power of knowledge co-production, Cultural Animation and ethnographic methodologies to break down cultural barriers and dissolve power structures in order to co-create a collective picture of receiving and providing health care in rural areas that resonates with the needs, dreams and aspirations of marginalised communities in the Philippines. The research underlying the stories and artifacts displayed in the exhibition is funded by AHRC-MRC under the GCRF initiative.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Social Futures, community based research installation showcased at the launch of the Keele Deal Culture, January 23rd, 2019, Spode Creative Village, Stoke on Trent 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This CASIC installation was showcased at the launch of the Keele Deal Culture, January 23rd, 2019, Spode Creative Village, Stoke on Trent. More than 60 people attended and we had a number of artistic interactive activities for the participants.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Stories of Public Health through local arts-based community engagement - SOLACE blogs 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Stories of Public Health through local arts-based community engagement - SOLACE blogs, 2018 https://solace-research.com/happiness-is-what-you-do/ and https://solace-research.com/1310-2/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description The Internal Launch of Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre-CASIC, Keele 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre-CASIC was launched on March 16th in the presence of more than 60 participants from academia and the local community. Professor David Shepherd, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences welcomed the participants and gave a short overview of CASIC, re-iterating the centrality of community based research and knowledge co-production, to the strategic plan of the University. His welcome address was followed by a talk given by CASIC Director, Professor Mihaela Kelemen (KMS), who emphasised that the main ambitions of CASIC are to dissolve the boundaries between academia and its wider community and to embrace a way of working and researching that recognises that common-sense, experience and day to day creativity are as important as academic expertise in the pursuit of truth and knowledge. Sue Moffat, Director of New Vic Borderlines, invited participants to experience Cultural Animation Methodologies of knowledge co-production and community engagement. Some groups wrote and performed cinquains about community and research, whilst others worked together to create an installation by using ordinary objects, items, small frames and large frames to explore ways "to improve the social conditions of individuals and their communities through the application of knowledge that is co-created". Participants were also invited to contribute haikus that expressed their own personal aspirations regarding CASIC to the 'Tree of life' while other participants experienced the 'Button exercise'. Buttons that represented The University and its Community had to be sorted as finely as possible, categorised and labelled with the view to create a map of the relationships that currently existed and then participants had to redraw an ideal version of the relationships and a CASIC charter. The CASIC launch ended with a collective reflective process and a discussion about plans for future events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/casicinternallaunch/
 
Description Untold Stories of Voluntering Workshop for BigLocal 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On September 25, 2014, we held an interactive workshop and presentation on Volunteering at the National Association of Neighborhood Management/Big Local event, in Stoke-on-Trent. The participants liked the drama exercises and asked for permission to use them in their daily work activities

After the workshop, Big Local approached us to do another workshop targeted at a different audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL https://www.flickr.com/photos/70196547@N02/sets/72157648513163032/
 
Description Visit to Audencia Business School 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Professor Mihaela Kelemen (CASIC) visited Audencia Business School in Nantes in June 2017 for a series of meetings, talks and workshops aimed at strengthening the collaboration between the two business schools. The highlight of the trip was a Cultural Animation workshop focusing on food poverty and waste in the UK and France. The event brought together academics, students and industry and was facilitated by Sue Moffat from the New Vic Borderlines. The workshop was part of a series of activities funded by Audencia to research CASIC's social innovation practices and its contribution to enhancing community engagement and research impact.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description field visit for the Alley Theatre Huston, USA 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact A team from the Alley Theatre, Huston, USA (https://www.alleytheatre.org/) visited CASIC on April 26-27th. The team composed of the Director of Education and Community Engagement, the Executive Manager of Education and Community Engagement and the Associate General Manager received a travel grant to research best international practices with regards to theatre-university-community partnerships.

During their first day, the team visited Keele University's digital MakerSpace (https://www.keele.ac.uk/make/) where Dr. Dimitra Blana run a workshop on how technology could be used creatively for community engagement purposes. Following this, Professor Rajmil Fischman demonstrated the Manual Actions Expressive System - MAES, https://cycling74.com/tools/maes-manual-actions-expressive-system-3/) and PhD student William Brearley (Music) presented ongoing work on music expression through body tracking in the Moser Motion Capture Suite. The team also visited the KAVE in the School of Pharmacy where the visitors immersed themselves virtually in the food and health research carried out by CASIC researchers for the 2015 Connected Communities festival. The second day consisted of a visit to the New Vic Theatre where they were hosted by New Vic Borderlines Director Sue Moffat and to various communities groups in Stoke on Trent. Cathy Bencivenga, Shayna Schlosberg and Mary Sutton said about their visit to CASIC:

" Besides the getting to observe the exemplary cultural animation techniques, what made our visit to CASIC special was the idea of measuring "legacy," rather than impact. So often, when trying to animate a group through art-making, the assessment is difficult to capture. It seems so evident now that we think about it, that when dealing with populations living at the margins of society, measuring impact doesn't adequately define the work. The CASIC folks are really onto something! We do this work to deeply effect our community in a way that reverberates beyond that one intervention or project, i.e. to create a lasting "legacy." Our visit with the dedicated professionals at CASIC helped us reframe and refresh our desire to work within our community in Houston."
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.keele.ac.uk/casic/news/alleytheatrehoustonusavisitscasic.php
 
Description visit and talk at Turku Centre for Collaborative Research. Finland 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Kurt Allman (Director of KMS) and Professor Mihaela Kelemen (KMS/CASIC) visited Turku University on a mission to forge closer links between KMS and Turku School of Economics and between CASIC and the Finnish Centre for Collaborative Research (CCR). Hosted by Dr. Aki Koponen, CCR Director, the visit included two round tables. The first discussed the challenges of HEIs in supporting regional business growth across traditional manufacturing industries as well as new start-ups in sectors. As the Turku region has managed to retain internationally competitive ship-building capabilities as well as being home to online gaming companies, participants drew parallels with the current situation in the Stoke-on Trent area.
The second roundtable focused on Culture, Arts and Higher Education and centered on Professor Kelemen's presentation of the achievements and aspirations of the Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre (CASIC). Both events attracted a diverse audience of practitioners and academics who engaged in a lively exchange of ideas and practices across the two countries. Professor Kelemen also presented her Connected Communities research findings to PhD students from the Human Research Department, while Professor Allman visited the Boost Incubator, whilst only 7 months old, was already incubating pre-start ups and born-global businesses.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description workshop on cultural animation and Glossopoly at Locality Community Organisers Action Camp, June 20th -23rd 2014 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The workshops equipped Community Organisers with new techniques to think through local problems and stimulate residents to get involved in initiatives of their own.

After the talk we were approach by numerous community organisers regarding the possibility of offering further training
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.keele.ac.uk/legacyofconnectedcommunities/activities/