Connect2Aspire: Cultural engagements and young people's professional aspirations
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Loughborough University in London
Abstract
This Fellowship will examine and promote the value of communication ecologies to afford new ways of seeing, examining and engaging with complex social challenges that cannot be dealt with through silo or monodisciplinary approaches.
A programme of RESEARCH will address a priority area in the UK government's 2017 Industrial Strategy Green Paper - Pillar 3: Developing skills, which emphasises the precariousness of the future job market and the need for future workers to upskill and reskill and engage in lifelong learning. Connect2Aspire will use communicative ecologies as a holistic framework to afford new ways to look at skills development and preparing youth for lifelong learning, shifting the focus from the triangle school-youth-employer to concentrate on young people, their information and communication practices and the interest-driven pursuit of learning opportunities distributed across the home, community, school, peer groups and cultural spaces.
My Fellowship builds on a research line on communicative ecologies, social networks and aspirations, which I have been pursuing for the past five years and which indicates the key role of aspirations for providing young people with drive, direction, informed choice and responsibility in pursuing life and career pathways. Building on the work of Indian anthropologist and sociologist Arjun Appadurai and economist Debraj Ray, I define aspirations as cultural capacities, which are formed, shaped and evolve in close connection to an individual's socio-cultural milieu, nurtured through meaningful social connections, and powerful drivers of behaviour and motivation.
Three research questions guide this study, dealing with understanding needs and gaps, scoping opportunities, and envisaging avenues for change:
(1) How do young people access and make sense of information to shape their professional aspirations and choose initial career directions?
(2) How can engagements in the cultural sector be leveraged to support young people in their professional aspirations and choices?
(3) What new structures, connections and cooperation pathways among local educational, community and cultural institutions can support young people to shape and pursue their professional aspirations and choices?
Working in collaboration with a cultural sector, an academic and two non-profit partners, I will design and conduct a community ethnography in Coventry and a study on cultural engagements in cultural sites and museums. Findings will shed light on how young people's aspirations and initial professional choices are shaped by the cultural and communicative practices and networks they are engaged in, and how these are embedded in broader socio-economic structures. On this basis, I will provide recommendations on new structures that connect among the educational, community and cultural sectors in a locality, aligned to young people's interests, needs and their information seeking practices.
A LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT programme will enable me to establish intellectual leadership in ecological approaches to communication studies, apply them to address sectoral needs in the UK, and shape new research agendas that bring communication and media studies in dialogue with other disciplines for socially engaged and policy relevant research. Leadership capabilities will be honed through a combination of mentorship, training, and opportunities to demonstrate leadership in the organisation of events addressing academic, practice and public audiences.
Outputs include 3 sector-targeted reports, a methodological toolkit for mapping young people's cultural and communication practices and aspiration pathways, 3 journal articles, a monograph, and 2 policy-informing briefings. Findings will be disseminated towards academic, practice, local community and policy audiences through a seminar at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 3 conference presentations, two postgraduate research workshops, and a final symposium in Coventry.
A programme of RESEARCH will address a priority area in the UK government's 2017 Industrial Strategy Green Paper - Pillar 3: Developing skills, which emphasises the precariousness of the future job market and the need for future workers to upskill and reskill and engage in lifelong learning. Connect2Aspire will use communicative ecologies as a holistic framework to afford new ways to look at skills development and preparing youth for lifelong learning, shifting the focus from the triangle school-youth-employer to concentrate on young people, their information and communication practices and the interest-driven pursuit of learning opportunities distributed across the home, community, school, peer groups and cultural spaces.
My Fellowship builds on a research line on communicative ecologies, social networks and aspirations, which I have been pursuing for the past five years and which indicates the key role of aspirations for providing young people with drive, direction, informed choice and responsibility in pursuing life and career pathways. Building on the work of Indian anthropologist and sociologist Arjun Appadurai and economist Debraj Ray, I define aspirations as cultural capacities, which are formed, shaped and evolve in close connection to an individual's socio-cultural milieu, nurtured through meaningful social connections, and powerful drivers of behaviour and motivation.
Three research questions guide this study, dealing with understanding needs and gaps, scoping opportunities, and envisaging avenues for change:
(1) How do young people access and make sense of information to shape their professional aspirations and choose initial career directions?
(2) How can engagements in the cultural sector be leveraged to support young people in their professional aspirations and choices?
(3) What new structures, connections and cooperation pathways among local educational, community and cultural institutions can support young people to shape and pursue their professional aspirations and choices?
Working in collaboration with a cultural sector, an academic and two non-profit partners, I will design and conduct a community ethnography in Coventry and a study on cultural engagements in cultural sites and museums. Findings will shed light on how young people's aspirations and initial professional choices are shaped by the cultural and communicative practices and networks they are engaged in, and how these are embedded in broader socio-economic structures. On this basis, I will provide recommendations on new structures that connect among the educational, community and cultural sectors in a locality, aligned to young people's interests, needs and their information seeking practices.
A LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT programme will enable me to establish intellectual leadership in ecological approaches to communication studies, apply them to address sectoral needs in the UK, and shape new research agendas that bring communication and media studies in dialogue with other disciplines for socially engaged and policy relevant research. Leadership capabilities will be honed through a combination of mentorship, training, and opportunities to demonstrate leadership in the organisation of events addressing academic, practice and public audiences.
Outputs include 3 sector-targeted reports, a methodological toolkit for mapping young people's cultural and communication practices and aspiration pathways, 3 journal articles, a monograph, and 2 policy-informing briefings. Findings will be disseminated towards academic, practice, local community and policy audiences through a seminar at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 3 conference presentations, two postgraduate research workshops, and a final symposium in Coventry.
Planned Impact
This Fellowship addresses five categories of beneficiaries, reached through a combination of events, publications, web communication, and stakeholder engagement in knowledge exchanges:
(1) The UK cultural sector and museums in particular will deepen understanding of how cultural and creative engagements can shape young people's aspirations and inform their professional choices; and how they can strengthen cooperation with community and educational actors to create new support structures for young people's skills development and career orientation. Relevant outputs include 2 reports on the role of cultural and community engagements for shaping young people's professional aspirations. These reports will be published on the project website with updates on social media, disseminated by the V&A partner museum, sent in direct communications to my network of contacts in the cultural and museum sector, and findings shared in a dissemination seminar at the V&A. I will also disseminate findings in a national and international conference addressing museum practitioner and academic audiences.
(2) Local stakeholders in Coventry include Coventry youth, local communities, museums, cultural, and educational institutions and the Coventry City Council. Collaboration with these groups is built in the research design. Two participatory workshops will be organised to discuss findings and policy implications for Coventry. The second workshop will be relevant especially for local cultural professionals, and will engage them to shed light on new connections between the school, the community and the cultural sector to better support and orient Coventry youth. A tailored report on Coventry, 'Culture, communication and the professional aspirations of Coventry's young people' will be made available through the project website, disseminated through social media and through e-newsletters by partner organisations, and a printed summary distributed at the final Symposium on findings and implications. The Symposium will be organised in Coventry's iconic St. Mary's Guildhall, where partners and local stakeholders will be invited, as well as being open to the general public.
(3) Policy makers are addressed at local and national level. Findings will be interpreted to shed light on entry points and new approaches for youth support structures that mobilise local community, cultural and educational actors and resources. A local policy briefing will be delivered to the Coventry City Council; a briefing of national scope will be developed following
training for policy engagement, addressing DCMS and UKCES.
(4) Postgraduate researchers in media, communication, cultural studies and education will be addressed through two workshops on visual methods for youth engagement in research, the first involving Doctorate of Education (DoE) professional students at Bournemouth University and the second PGRs in Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London. This is expected to contribute to innovating research methodology in their respective fields of study and encourage openness to inter and cross-disciplinary approaches. The DoE students are professional teachers; the workshop and a seminar delivered during their residential practice will contribute as well to disseminate the findings of this project in professional educator circles, and strengthen awareness of the value of out of school cultural engagements for skills building and career orientation.
(5) General public. This Fellowship will inform public views on the value of cultural engagements for skills building and informing career trajectories, and shape attitudes favourable to lifelong learning. Public dissemination activities include regular communication on outcomes through the project website and social media, a public dissemination event in Coventry, and one article submitted to The Conversation.
(1) The UK cultural sector and museums in particular will deepen understanding of how cultural and creative engagements can shape young people's aspirations and inform their professional choices; and how they can strengthen cooperation with community and educational actors to create new support structures for young people's skills development and career orientation. Relevant outputs include 2 reports on the role of cultural and community engagements for shaping young people's professional aspirations. These reports will be published on the project website with updates on social media, disseminated by the V&A partner museum, sent in direct communications to my network of contacts in the cultural and museum sector, and findings shared in a dissemination seminar at the V&A. I will also disseminate findings in a national and international conference addressing museum practitioner and academic audiences.
(2) Local stakeholders in Coventry include Coventry youth, local communities, museums, cultural, and educational institutions and the Coventry City Council. Collaboration with these groups is built in the research design. Two participatory workshops will be organised to discuss findings and policy implications for Coventry. The second workshop will be relevant especially for local cultural professionals, and will engage them to shed light on new connections between the school, the community and the cultural sector to better support and orient Coventry youth. A tailored report on Coventry, 'Culture, communication and the professional aspirations of Coventry's young people' will be made available through the project website, disseminated through social media and through e-newsletters by partner organisations, and a printed summary distributed at the final Symposium on findings and implications. The Symposium will be organised in Coventry's iconic St. Mary's Guildhall, where partners and local stakeholders will be invited, as well as being open to the general public.
(3) Policy makers are addressed at local and national level. Findings will be interpreted to shed light on entry points and new approaches for youth support structures that mobilise local community, cultural and educational actors and resources. A local policy briefing will be delivered to the Coventry City Council; a briefing of national scope will be developed following
training for policy engagement, addressing DCMS and UKCES.
(4) Postgraduate researchers in media, communication, cultural studies and education will be addressed through two workshops on visual methods for youth engagement in research, the first involving Doctorate of Education (DoE) professional students at Bournemouth University and the second PGRs in Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London. This is expected to contribute to innovating research methodology in their respective fields of study and encourage openness to inter and cross-disciplinary approaches. The DoE students are professional teachers; the workshop and a seminar delivered during their residential practice will contribute as well to disseminate the findings of this project in professional educator circles, and strengthen awareness of the value of out of school cultural engagements for skills building and career orientation.
(5) General public. This Fellowship will inform public views on the value of cultural engagements for skills building and informing career trajectories, and shape attitudes favourable to lifelong learning. Public dissemination activities include regular communication on outcomes through the project website and social media, a public dissemination event in Coventry, and one article submitted to The Conversation.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Amalia Sabiescu (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Sabiescu, A. G.
(2023)
Aspirations Mapping and Communicative Ecologies
Sabiescu, A. G.
(2021)
Developing Aspirations through Social Assemblages. Towards a Conceptual Model
Sabiescu, A. G. And Zajzon, N.
(2023)
Aspirations Mapping and Participatory Photography
Sabiescu, A. G. And Zajzon, N.
(2023)
Museums and Young People's Creative Careers
| Description | The main research aim of this Fellowship was to explore new approaches for mobilising cultural, creative and community resources to provide skills development and lifelong learning opportunities for UK's young people, aligned to their interests and aspirations. These aims have been pursued by placing a strong emphasis on capturing the views, needs and wants of young people. 285 young people have been involved overall in this study. A research strand on the Victoria and Albert Museum's Young People's Programme involved 83 young people who attended V&A events on career orientation and creative skills; this dataset was analysed jointly with data from a V&A pilot study that preceded this Fellowship, for a total of 265 young people consulted overall among young people having attended V&A events. An additional data corpus collected through a community ethnography in Coventry included the views of 20 young people with a Roma ethnic minority and migrant background. 20 additional interviews have been conducted with practitioners from community, cultural and creative organisations. Key findings are summarised below: A THEORETICAL MODEL FOR ASPIRATIONS DEVELOPMENT: The original perspective brought by this research comes from interpreting the formation of aspirations in an ontological and epistemological framework drawing on assemblage theory, as expounded by Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Manuel DeLanda (DeLanda 2016). According to assemblage theory, our physical and social worlds are made by assemblages of assemblages, which can be broken down by analysis to ever smaller units. The formation of aspirations in this study is analysed as part of constant interactions between young people and diverse social and communicative assemblages, from family and schools to mediated interpersonal networks, where they constantly exchange information and exercise their capacities. This original perspective has been used to shed light on how information and identity shape aspirations, how aspirations drive behaviour, and the key role played by influence and support structures such as the family, schools and cultural organisations in the development and fulfilment of aspirations. CREATIVE APPROACHES FOR ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE IN ASPIRATIONS RESEARCH: One of the key outcomes of this project, the Connect2Aspire Aspirations Mapping Toolkit has been designed to support research and engaged practice with young people in transition - those young people finding themselves at a crossroads, having to make choices that might come to define the rest of their life and career pathways. The toolkit includes three stand-alone components, each emphasising a different approach for engaging young people: (1) Aspirations mapping through creative expression: Offers an engagement approach that uses the reflexive and expressive potential of participatory photography and zine making. (2) Aspirations mapping and communicative ecologies: Focuses on the role of media and social networking to make sense of aspirations development, while also drawing on the power of social connections to support young people to crystallise and follow their aspirations. (3) Mapping pathways to creative careers: Addresses young people interested in creative careers, helping them reflect on skills and pathways to creative sectors, helped by skilled facilitators and (ideally) by creative professionals/employers. Each of these toolkit strands includes insight and guidance for practice and research, including downloadable materials to be printed and used in workshops with young people and source files to adapt resources for new contexts of use. MUSEUMS AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S CREATIVE CAREERS: To shed light on how cultural institutions can support young people with skill building and career orientation, this study looked at: (1) how young people can best be addressed by responding to unique interests, needs and motivation patterns; (2) the range of influencers that shape young people's career choices; and (3) information needs and challenges for career choice and progression. In collaboration with the V&A's Young People's Team, we mapped young people's different interests and motivation patterns for creative careers, and based on a thorough segmentation study we identified five profiles of young people to whom cultural institutions can target different types of programmes and activities. We analysed the role of museums amidst a range of influencers that shape young people's career choices, from creative professionals and schools to social media. The study findings suggest that the role of the museum is best understood as that of an actor in an ecology of organisations and resources that support young people in different ways. The contribution of museums in this ecology of lifelong learning spaces and resources is not restricted to skills development, but also plays a role in shaping attitudes, values and mediating between young people and sectors and actors otherwise difficult to reach, such as creative professionals. (RE)ENGAGING YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH INTEREST-BASED LEARNING APPROACHES: Part of the research was concerned with understanding how museums and other cultural institutions might engage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, not in education, employment and training, or who may otherwise have had disappointing experiences with formal education. Findings shed light on how museums may kindle or rekindle a double connection for young people: with museums as places of inspiration, knowledge exchange and skill building; and with education as a process that includes but goes beyond learning in schools. Outcomes include an identification of engagement factors for interest-based learning, mirroring the views and needs of the young people consulted for this study. For further information, please see: Connect2Aspire outcomes: https://connect2aspire.lboro.ac.uk/outcomes-overview/ Connect2Aspire Working Papers Collection: https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.c.7118683 References DeLanda, M. (2016). Assemblage theory. Edinburgh University Press. |
| Exploitation Route | FINDINGS NON-ACADEMIC USE & IMPACTS: (1) Through the aspirations development model and insights about young people's interests and challenges in accessing and progressing careers aligned to their aspirations, this study sheds light on how engagements in the cultural sector are best integrated in youth training and career trajectories and how the cultural sector can cooperate with community and educational actors to design them. These findings will be relevant for the UK cultural sector (museums in particular). Given the rich ethnographic research on young people in Coventry, the findings will be relevant as well for Coventry city stakeholders, including young people, local communities, museums and cultural institutions, educational institutions and the Coventry City Council. (2) The Connect2Aspire Aspirations Mapping Toolkit addresses researchers and practitioners whose interest in working with and supporting young people might be associated with different areas: career development, social care, communication for social change, formal and informal education. Practice-based researchers might use these insights in order to devise novel, richer data collection protocols for investigating the relationship between aspirations, communication and creative engagement. Toolkit materials include applied practical guidance for data collection via aspirations mapping workshops and theoretical insight for analysing data in consideration of the multi-disciplinary body of theory surrounding aspirations research. Practitioners can find within a series of guidelines and templates for aspirations mapping workshops with young people, which they can use as such or adapt for their contexts, as source files for workshop downloadable materials are made available. FINDINGS ACADEMIC USE & IMPACTS: (1) In media and communication studies, this study contributes to establishing the value of frameworks drawing on ecological perspectives and assemblage theory to explore complex issues whose understanding requires holistic thinking. The aspirations development model firmly establishes the crucial role of communication and social interaction in aspirations development, and linkages with identity and competence building. The Connect2Aspire toolkit further offers engaged, creative approaches for exploring the interplay between aspiration formation and communication practices, with potential to generate deep, reflexive data. (2) In cultural and museum studies, the findings advance scholarship on the role that museums can play in supporting young people to overcome two crucial challenges as they seek to embark on a creative career: the complex process of career choice; and obstacles around creative industry access. Findings confirm as well the important role of museum learning engagements not only for (creative) skills development, but also for shaping youth attitudes and values that might come to affect their education and career choices and trajectories. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.c.7118683 |
| Description | Aspirations have generated significant interest in scholarly, third sector and policy circles in the UK and beyond, already in the decades preceding the start of this project. This interest generated a body of theory and a series of interventions and case studies for 'raising' aspirations in disadvantaged environments as means for generating positive social change (UK Cabinet Office's former Social Exclusion Task Force - SETF 2008). However, these initiatives were also met with a wide-ranging critique of the underlying premises of Government initiatives, thought to assign blame to individuals for poverty and under-attainment, for what are considered to be in reality structural inequalities (see for example Spohrer 2011; Spohrer, Stahl and Bowers-Brown 2018). This project sought to redress the balance by placing young people at the centre of aspirations research and generated insight on approaches and methods for enabling young people themselves to become aware of their inner drives, aspirations, (potential) life and career choices and likely consequences of these choices and pathways. These insights have been shared by means of reports, academic publications and engagement activities and the Connect2Aspire Aspirations Mapping Toolkit, which offers three approaches to engaging young people in exploring aspirations and career pathways: (1) Aspirations mapping through creative expression (participatory photography and zine-making); (2) Aspirations mapping and communicative ecologies; and (3) A game-like, playful approach to mapping pathways to creative careers. The toolkit includes detailed research insight and application guidance and downloadable materials, and is free to access and use [https://connect2aspire.lboro.ac.uk/outcomes/aspirations-mapping-toolkit/]. At present, the Fellow has been awarded further funding from the Higher Education Innovation Fund to adapt the Connect2Aspire aspirations mapping toolkit and explore its use with young refugees in a refugee camp in Kenya. A pilot project is under way in 2024, and building on the pilot results, the aim is to produce an extension of the toolkit specifically addressing refugees and young people from severely deprived global contexts. References Spohrer, K. (2011). Deconstructing 'Aspiration': UK Policy Debates and European Policy Trends. European Educational Research Journal, 10(1), 53-63. https://doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2011.10.1.53 Spohrer, K., Stahl, G. & Bowers-Brown, T. (2018) Constituting neoliberal subjects? 'Aspiration' as technology of government in UK policy discourse, Journal of Education Policy, 33:3, 327-342. DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2017.1336573 UK Cabinet Office's former Social Exclusion Task Force - SETF (2008). Aspiration and attainment amongst young people in deprived communities. Department for Schools, Children and Families. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | A situated toolkit for aspirations mapping with young refugees: Engagement and pathways to impact (StarPath) |
| Amount | £27,747 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2024 |
| End | 10/2024 |
| Title | Connect2Aspire Aspirations Mapping Toolkit |
| Description | One of the key outcomes of this project, the Connect2Aspire Aspirations Mapping Toolkit has been designed to support research and engaged practice with young people finding themselves at a crossroads, having to make choices that will define the rest of their life and career pathways: young people in transition. The focus of the toolkit is on the young person, more precisely on an inner determinant that can act at the same time as a beacon, vehicle and driver for enhanced training, life and career development: their life and career aspirations. As a psychological construct, a young person's aspiration is not merely a wish, a dream, or a faraway, elusive goal. Aspirations bridge between what a person wilfully seeks to attain and a deep understanding of one's own capacity to reach out to it, accompanied by awareness of aspects that one has to shape or build, such as personal competences or social networks and opportunities. As such, aspirations are not found, they are crystallised and built. From this perspective centred on the young person, this toolkit is first and foremost a tool for raising awareness about and enhancing reflexive engagement with aspirations in young people. WHO IS THIS TOOLKIT FOR? The toolkit addresses researchers and practitioners whose interest in working with and supporting young people might be associated with different areas: career development, social care, communication for social change, education and so on. Practice-based researchers might use these insights in order to devise novel, richer data collection protocols for investigating the relationship between aspirations, communication and creative engagement. The materials inside include applied practical guidance for data collection via aspirations mapping workshops, and theoretical insight for analysing data in consideration of the multi-disciplinary body of theory surrounding aspirations research. Practitioners can find within a series of ready-made templates to use for aspirations mapping workshops with young people, which they can use as such or adapt for their contexts and needs. Whether addressing researchers or practitioners, at the core remains a genuine preoccupation with generation of knowledge and reflexivity: as a research tool, the kit incorporates a practice-based approach, where workshops are used to generate rich, reflective data about young people's aspirations. As a practice tool, it integrates a component of knowledge generation, which can enhance understanding for the kind of support that young people need as they advance towards the aspirations and goals. TOOLKIT CONTENTS The toolkit includes three stand-alone components, each offering a unique strategy for youth engagement: (1) Aspirations mapping through creative expression: Offers an engagement approach that uses the reflexive and expressive potential of participatory photography and zine making. (2) Aspirations mapping and communicative ecologies: Focuses on the role of media and social networking to make sense of aspirations development, while also drawing on the power of social connections to support young people to crystallise and follow their aspirations. (3) Mapping pathways to creative careers: Addresses young people interested in creative careers, helping them reflect on skills and pathways to creative sectors, helped by skilled facilitators and (ideally) by creative professionals/employers. Each of these toolkit strands includes insight and guidance for practice and research: • Research: Includes a working paper that maps the theory underpinning a specific strand of the toolkit; and/or a reflective brief based on workshops conducted as part of the Connect2Aspire research. • Application: Offers a workshop-based format that can be adapted for engaging young people in aspirations mapping and associated downloadable materials (a personal board/zine/careers map, facilitation cards and a workshop guide). |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | At present, the Fellow has been awarded research impact funding by HEIF to explore the use of the Aspirations Mapping Toolkit with young people in a refugee camp in Kenya. A pilot project is underway to co-design a tailored aspirations mapping toolkit adapted to the needs and context of young refugees. Building on the pilot results, the aim is to develop a modular extension of the toolkit specifically addressing young refugees as well as young people from severely disadvantaged global contexts. |
| URL | https://connect2aspire.lboro.ac.uk/outcomes/aspirations-mapping-toolkit/ |
| Description | AMPS International Conference Heritages 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The paper "Heritage Assemblages and the Emergence of Youth Participatory Spaces in a British Multicultural City" has been presented in the International Conference "Heritages. Past and Present - Built and Social" organised by the AMPS (Architecture, Media, Politics, Society), 28-30 June, 2023. Abstract This talk employs assemblage theory to trace the contours and the outreach of the culture and heritage ecosystem in a British multicultural city and how it affords (or denies) cultural engagement opportunities for young people. As developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (1988), and most recently by Manuel DeLanda (2006, 2016) assemblage theory aligns to principles of ecological and systems thinking, privileging an investigation approach that accounts for holism, interrelatedness, process and constant change. This perspective has been adopted in critical heritage studies to theorise heritage as entanglements of material, biological and socio-technical components and thus examine hegemonic systems of heritage interpretation, management and governance (e.g., Harrison 2021, 2013; Bennett et al 2017). The presentation draws on an ethnographic study conducted in the multicultural city of Coventry (UK) to explore the role of cultural engagements in informing young people's aspirations. The data corpus captures the views of official heritage institutions, as well as those of young people and community organisations, particularly from the Roma migrant community, gathered through semi-structured interviews and creative research workshops via participatory photography and communicative ecologies mapping. By applying assemblage theory on this rich data corpus, the paper offers a deep, nuanced analysis of the constitution of volatile cultural engagement spaces and the strategies used to reach out to the diverse youth population of the city. Theoretically, the paper extends previous scholarship on heritage assemblages by tracing the role of official and grassroots culture and heritage organisations in the constitution of youth engagement spaces, interpreted through a dual lens, coming from organisations and young people themselves. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://amps-research.com/conference/heritages-prague/ |
| Description | Connect2Aspire Symposium [Fellowship closing event] |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Connect2Aspire Symposium was held on June 30th, 2023 and shared the outcomes of the AHRC-funded ECR Leadership Fellowship Connect2Aspire. Cultural Engagements and Young People's Professional Aspirations (2019-23), contextualised in current research on the role of media, communication and culture in shaping choice and catalysing change for young people from underrepresented communities. Dr Isabella Rega (Global Research Director at Jesuit Worldwide Learning and Associate Professor at Bournemouth University) held the opening keynote on youth engagement through the arts. This preceded the sessions on Connect2Aspire findings, informed by the views of 285 young people from all walks of life, and including: an empirically-grounded conceptual framework on how cultural engagements and communication shape aspirations (Explore); a creative research methods toolkit that offers three distinctive modes of engaging young people in playful, reflexive explorations of emerging life and career aspirations (Engage); a nuanced understanding of the role that social connectedness plays in developing aspirations and self-efficacy (Connect); and insight into the actual and potential role of socio-cultural assemblages for providing support to young people at critical life stages (Support). This latter featured a talk by artist researcher and Roma scholar Dr Rosamaria Cisneros (Coventry University), on the role of co-created books for generating environmental awareness among Roma children. Prof Julian McDougall (Bournemouth University) held the closing keynote which drew attention to critical components of media literacies as conduits for change, encompassing situated capability development, critical awareness of key societal issues and full acknowledgement of the consequences that media ecosystems bear in our interconnected societies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://connect2aspire.lboro.ac.uk/symposium/ |
| Description | Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The conference paper "The Expressive and Reflective Value of Participatory Photography in Research with Young People" has been presented at the Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society, New Aesthetic Expressions. The Social Role of Art, 5-7 July 2023. ABSTRACT Photography has a long history of being utilised in social science research for its capacity to capture and document material culture and human behaviour (Szto, Furman and Langer 2005; Pauwels 2020). More recent articulations of participatory photography draw on the value of photography as a tool for self-exploration and reflection to shed light on personal histories, experiences and aspirations (Gomez & Vannini 2017). In this paper, we explore the value of participatory photography for engaging young people in deep, reflexive explorations of their aims and aspirations and how these are contextualised in the socio-cultural and economic environments that they were inhabiting. We report on two creative research workshops with distinctive approaches, the first focused on enhancing visual and photography skills as tools for enhanced reflexivity; and the second engaging young people in a custom workshop experience of creating their personal aspirations zines. The two workshops were offered as part of a mixed methods study that looked at the bearing of cultural and interest-based engagements for shaping young people's aspirations. 285 young from all walks of life have been involved overall, through methods ranging from interviews to surveys and focus groups, creative workshops and analysis of creative artefacts produced by participants. The analysis of rich data corpus enabled us to single out the distinctive role played by creative research approaches in studying rich, complex constructs such as aspirations. In this paper, we offer insights from this analysis focusing on the methodological approach and techniques, and how these served to enhance the expressive potential and reflexivity in young people in ways that are not afforded by traditional data collection methods. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://cgscholar.com/cg_event/events/A23en/proposal/67773 |
| Description | Fellowship website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This is the dedicated website of this Fellowship, which provides information about Fellowship activities, events and outcomes. The website will be updated on an on-going basis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | http://connect2aspire.lboro.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Fourteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The presentation "The Museum Who Cares: Tapping into the Art of Relevance for Diversifying Young People Audiences" was delivered online at the Fourteenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum (September 2021). The presentation had 179 online engagements, mainly from an academic audience. ABSTRACT Young people, particularly if coming from disadvantaged or economically deprived communities, are an audience notoriously difficult to reach out to by museums. Drawing on Nina Simon's concept of "relevance", this paper explores how museums can change young people's perceptions and build relationships by filling a genuine need in their lives. The focus in this paper is on young people who are grappling with difficulties in getting a start on creative careers, and how museums can play a supportive role to fill this gap. The paper presents findings from a research study on two editions of a five-day photography course offered as part of the Victoria and Albert Museum's Young People's Programme in 2018 and 2020. The courses addressed young people not in education, employment or training and have been run by the V&A in collaboration with two local charities. Workshop sessions were held alternatively at the V&A in South Kensington and in East London locations. Based on a rich qualitative dataset that gathered the views of 27 young people via focus groups, surveys, observation and analysis of creative outputs, the paper analyses young people's needs and expectations when joining the workshop, modes of engagement and outcomes, and interprets them through the theoretical lens of 'relevance'. Findings show how the V&A experience filled a genuine need in young people's creative career orientation, and in turns how this contributed to changing young people's perceptions about the V&A, museums and their relevance to their lives and professional pathways. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://cgscholar.com/cg_event/events/Z21/proposal/55263 |
| Description | IAMCR 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The online paper "Assemblage theory, communicative assemblages and problematising the notion of 'borders' in community communication" has been delivered at the annual conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research - IAMCR 2021. ABSTRACT - Assemblage theory, communicative assemblages and problematising the notion of 'borders' in community communication This paper proposes a theoretical reflection on the notion of 'borders' and discusses its implications for issues of community socio-cultural preservation and change. It draws on assemblage theory as conceptualised by Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and more recently Manuel DeLanda and its application to communication. Assemblages are the building blocks of natural and social life. They are constituted, dissolved and reconfigured through processes of territorialisation and deterritorialisation, which carry with them the constant making, dissolution and re-configuration of borders. Assemblage theory enables a fresh look at theorising borders. First, it suggests that processes of territorialisation and deterritorialisation - and associated borders, are provisional fixations, which may gain some stability over what may seem like long periods of time, but will remain temporary. Second, assemblages may be constituted at multitudes of scales that interrelate and overlap - for example at the level of a community, of groups within the community and at individual level. The implication is that the borders that come with them are relative to the assembling entities and elusive. The paper discusses these aspects in relation to processes of information exchange and communication. It fleshes out the concept of "communicative assemblages" as assemblages whose primary function is to produce and exchange information, and shows how these play a critical role in defining borders instantiated at various scales, community to individual. These notions are illustrated through empirical research with two Roma minority communities in the UK and Romania. The Roma transnational minority is considered an example of a persisting cultural system, a quality associated with its strong intra-community orientation. While there are various different groups of Roma, and they have all adopted to various degrees the language and customs of host populations in different countries, many Roma groups still maintain their cultural identity, sticking together as a community and abiding by ancestral social values and norms. This paper will contribute to on-going debates about borders and border-making in community communication studies, challenging established dichotomies such as global/local, or physical/digital, and arguing instead for the provisional, elusive and relative nature of borders constituted at different scales, and the critical role of communication in their configuration, temporary stabilisation and transformation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://iamcr.org/nairobi2021/online |
| Description | Keynote address: Communicative ecologies and aspirations mapping. A reflective practice approach |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The keynote presentation 'Communicative ecologies and aspirations mapping: A reflective practice approach' was offered to students enrolled in the Doctor of Education programme, Creative and Media, at Bournemouth University, on October 6th, 2022. Abstract This keynote presentation offers a critical, reflexive look at the epistemological premises of knowledge-making activities and how socially engaged researchers might position themselves with respect to 'extractivist' forms of research and data collection. After an overview of the epistemological implications of our research methodologies, the presentation introduced an assemblage theory perspective on the development of aspirations. This lens allows examining the way information exchanges and interactions in social and communicative assemblages underpin the development of interests, aspirations, as well as over the long term contributing to building skills, self-confidence and identities in children and young people. The keynote address was followed by a hands-on workshop with Ed D students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Online workshop: Communicative ecologies and aspirations mapping. A reflective practice approach |
| 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 hands-on online workshop 'Communicative ecologies and aspirations mapping: A reflective practice approach' was offered to students enrolled in the Doctor of Education programme, Creative and Media, at Bournemouth University, on October 6th, 2022. It followed a keynote presentation that critically examined the epistemological implications of our knowledge-making activities as academic researchers. Abstract This online workshop takes a hands-on and reflective practice approach to explore the dynamics between communication, social interaction and the development of aspirations. The hands-on part of the workshop draws on communicative ecologies mapping, an established practice in communication for social change research and practice, adapted in this workshop to look at the role of communication practices in the formation of life and career aspirations. Participants used a ready-made mapping template on an online collaborative whiteboard, where group work has been interweaved with sharing and reflection. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Profiles of young people interested in creative careers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This blog post by one of the project partners, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) describes the first set of findings from this Fellowship: a structured analysis of young people interested in creative industries careers, available here: https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/Profiles-from-Loughborough-report-3-AS-Final2.pdf. This analysis produced a set of five profiles, segmented according to career stage, motivation pattern for skill building, and type of career information required to advance in their professional pathways. These profiles are currently being tested against new datasets, aiming to produce a toolkit useful for museums, cultural organisations and other institutions who offer information, support and skill building activities for young people embarking on a creative career. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/young-people-gaining-career-advice-who-are-they |
| Description | Sixteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The talk "Museums and Dilemmas of Choice in Young People's Creative Education and Career Pathways" has been delivered online at the international conference on The Arts in Society, which addresses joint academic and practitioner audiences. The online presentation had 116 engagements. ABSTRACT The role of museums in informing young people's creative education and career choices is increasingly recognised. While numerous museums now have dedicated young people's programmes that include creative education and careers support, there is a gap in knowledge about the profiles, information needs and challenges faced by young people while they attempt to choose, train for and access creative careers. This paper draws on a 3-year study on two flagship events offered by the Victoria and Albert Museum's Young People's Programme: three editions of a creative careers fair and two editions of a creative education 5-day course for young people not in education, employment or training. The study consulted more than 260 young people who attended one of the two events, by means of interviews, questionnaires, focus groups and analysis of creative outputs. Based on this rich dataset, the study found that young people's information needs differ according to two aspects: decision-making about a creative career and associated education pathways; and creative career stage. On this basis, the paper offers a detailed segmentation of young people that features socio-demographics, career interests and the type of information and support they need to choose, train for and access creative careers. The findings can be taken up by cultural institutions to inform the design of their programmes that address young people, creative education and creative careers support. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://cgscholar.com/cg_event/events/A21/proposal/55268 |