Performing Leadership Differently: Co-Creating Collective Strategies for Change
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: School of Business and Management
Abstract
The project will focus on central research question: How can arts, social science researchers and creative communities co-create models of participatory leadership and engagement for BAME and working-class communities within theatre and performance after COVID-19? As part of our research we will pilot and test new leadership models, linking them to the theatre and performance community.
The methods that we are using are best suited to a participatory action approach which allow for maximum level of substantive participation from diverse stakeholders. This will allow us to innovate, co-create and share best practices for being able to respond to the crisis and enable diverse constituents in the sector to be heard by policy makers.
By co-creation we refer to the participation of subjects and partners in further articulating the central questions of this research. In contrast to previous arts diversity initiatives, the project embeds those systematically excluded from leadership within the arts at every stage of the research, drawing on their expertise to build relevant and effective strategies of investigation.
Throughout the project research methods will be adapted in response to participant feedback, to maximise impact, recognising that the practical expertise to combat discrimination and marginalisation lies in engaging, connecting with, and amplifying the voices of those directly affected by forms of institutional exclusion.
Engagement with artists, organisations and audience initiatives will be activated to facilitate this through partner Something To Aim For (STAF) a sector support organisation funded by Wellcome Trust to increase diverse engagement in the arts and to support centralising voices on the fringes. STAF's networks include over 500 000 individuals and 73 arts organisations, ranging from Wellcome Collection and The Barbican to SMEs including Raze Collective, HighRise Theatre and Migrants in Culture.
Direct engagement with artists and participants will mainly be conducted online, using strategies of digital networking to connect artists and networks who are increasingly fragmented and isolated. Workshops and other group activities will be facilitated through 'Us In the Making', a new digital hub developed to create and sustain communities who have been de-platformed, safely online, in response to Covid-19. Hub functionality allows video conferencing, group interaction and participation, remote hosting and presentation of materials and asynchronous access to documents and files.
The methods that we are using are best suited to a participatory action approach which allow for maximum level of substantive participation from diverse stakeholders. This will allow us to innovate, co-create and share best practices for being able to respond to the crisis and enable diverse constituents in the sector to be heard by policy makers.
By co-creation we refer to the participation of subjects and partners in further articulating the central questions of this research. In contrast to previous arts diversity initiatives, the project embeds those systematically excluded from leadership within the arts at every stage of the research, drawing on their expertise to build relevant and effective strategies of investigation.
Throughout the project research methods will be adapted in response to participant feedback, to maximise impact, recognising that the practical expertise to combat discrimination and marginalisation lies in engaging, connecting with, and amplifying the voices of those directly affected by forms of institutional exclusion.
Engagement with artists, organisations and audience initiatives will be activated to facilitate this through partner Something To Aim For (STAF) a sector support organisation funded by Wellcome Trust to increase diverse engagement in the arts and to support centralising voices on the fringes. STAF's networks include over 500 000 individuals and 73 arts organisations, ranging from Wellcome Collection and The Barbican to SMEs including Raze Collective, HighRise Theatre and Migrants in Culture.
Direct engagement with artists and participants will mainly be conducted online, using strategies of digital networking to connect artists and networks who are increasingly fragmented and isolated. Workshops and other group activities will be facilitated through 'Us In the Making', a new digital hub developed to create and sustain communities who have been de-platformed, safely online, in response to Covid-19. Hub functionality allows video conferencing, group interaction and participation, remote hosting and presentation of materials and asynchronous access to documents and files.
| Description | Performing Leadership Differently Developing alternative leadership models which actually encourage and allow diverse participation in the arts is an essential response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Performing Leadership Differently highlights the historical and on-going forms of institutional racism and cultural and class exclusions that characterise today's performance and theatre sector in order to develop sustainable models for change. This action research poses crucial questions regarding newly intensified issues of precarity, accessibility, and participation in the sector, topics which are more relevant than ever as a result of Covid-19. The arts and hospitality sectors are among those hit hardest by the pandemic. Whilst there are a number of initiatives now emerging that focus on the sustainability and rebuilding of the arts, too often the focus is restricted to engaging with existing leaders and leadership models. Artists and arts organisers, as well as cultural leaders from backgrounds of lived experience of racism and exclusion have criticised the DCMS task force in particular, raising the concerns that these initiatives are not representative of the diversity of the sector and reproduce structural inequalities (Arts Professional May 2020). An emergent collaboration of practitioners and action researchers have developed Performing Leadership Differently in order to respond to this problem. Dynamically engaging with our creative sector partner, Something to Aim For, and their networks of artists and organisations, this research is devoted to developing sustainable strategies in response to the frustrations around the lack of relevancy in the current frameworks for the rebuilding of the arts. It is informed by and relevant to those most impacted, in order to create useful and inclusive rebuilding strategies and to feed into a more equitabe and relevant arts sector moving forward. The outcomes of this research will be shared across the whole arts sector and will include useful strategies and 'anti-racist ecological mapping' which can be adapted for use in other contexts and creative ecologies, such as live music and festivals. There are also applications beyond the arts, including in public health, education, and academia, where the research is sited and where there are also urgent ongoing conversations about race and class. Some questions we are staring with: ? If access to arts leadership trajectories are governed through a privileged system of class-based and racialised power relations, how can researchers and cultural practitioners co-create leadership training programmes that move beyond them? ? Which forms of self-organisation in the cultural sector can be made more sustainable and resilient through diverse, user-oriented leadership models? ? What forms of participation can enable diverse cohorts of leaders to engage urgent issues of racism and classism in the cultural sector? ? How would success be measured? We propose to pilot an action research programme to engage & train diverse, hard to reach young people for employment in the creative industries - This proposal is based on the initial outcomes of AHRC COVID quick turnaround funded research, (AH/V014293/1) Performing Leadership Differently: Co-Creating Collective Strategies for Change (PLD), which focused on developing a better understanding of the blocks and solutions to the well documented ongoing lack of diversity in the creative industries (incl. substantive reports from ONS, DCMS, ACE, Panic Report, Creative Majority, 2016, 2020, 2021). The research was developed iteratively with networks of POC, Black and working class creative (POCBWC) workers, in response to frustrations around the lack of relevancy and impact in existing creative diversity initiatives and 'post COVID' rebuild frameworks. In contrast to previous diversity initiatives, this research embedded POCBWC workers at every stage of the research, to build relevant and effective strategies of investigation, maximising impact. Between January - November 2021 PLD researchers consulted 100 people (1:1 interviews and groups). Key amongst the research's findings were the multifaceted barriers POCBWC workers face in the sector, from entitlement, empowerment, accessing employment and worker retention, to taking leadership roles and exclusive models of governance and organisation structures. Exclusionary structures in the arts are numerous and varied, reproduced and participated in unconsciously. They include access to formal education, knowledge and use of knowledge, organisational 'know how' and administration and a lack of entitlement, often stemming from family and cultural background. Funding and opportunities in the arts often rely on an exclusive system of networks to highlight them, or to provide advocacy on an applicant's behalf. Recognizing the wealth of expertise gained through practical or informal practice, is a way of attending to aspects of life marginalised by structures and systems that seek to predominantly confer opportunities on people from specific groups. A more diverse workforce in the arts sector makes for a more resilient to shock sector. At this stage, based on the findings of this research, we want to test a practical route for change and engagement through developing, prototyping and rolling out Performing Leadership Differently: Pipeline Access to Creative Industries This will be delivered through a planned knowledge exchange programme between the researchers, partners and users/participants. It will be overseen by the PLD interdisciplinary steering group, who will monitor outcomes. |
| Exploitation Route | Performing Leadership differently, stage 3: Through this project we will develop and trial a prototype for a new training scheme for NEET diverse young people as a pipeline into the arts, developed directly from initial research outcomes and created through action research with end users. Pipeline: Access to Creative Industries (working title) aims to engage young people, who are currently defined as NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) 85% of NEETS are from diverse, less privileged backgrounds, to co-create and trial a training programme introducing them to employment skills needed for entry level jobs in the creative industries. The project will be developed through collaborative co-creation between SBM @ QMUL, Arts Engagement partner STAF (industrial need), Urban MBA (a social enterprise developing youth specific education programmes and testing alternative teaching methods) and young people (the end users). We envisage the trial will include training/workshops, pathway assessments, mentoring and supported work experience at STAF or through their networks. We will deliver this trial in underserved wards and London Boroughs, including Barking and Dagenham and Newham (ACE 2021). Through evaluation processes built in throughout the participatory process, we will deliver a case study and write ups of our findings for academic and non academic audiences and at the end of the project we will have an effective training and support prototype for roll out. Long term we aim to develop enterprise skill sets to equip marginalised and disengaged young adults to be resilient during the journey of building a career or business, to engage young people with accessible employment opportunities, to build diverse talent pipelines for artworkers and future art leaders in the creative industries. The area of knowledge exploited here pertains to the findings of PLD, which include: The importance of diverse representation and role modelling in the arts; Issues of relevance and entitlement as exclusion; The need to recognise expertise gained through practical or informal practice and diverse backgrounds is a crucial to attend to aspects of life marginalised by racist/privileged structures and systems and to create models which operate differently; A person's community can serve as a form of resistance due to the belief that minoritized individuals do not belong professionally, and /or will not be welcome, in the arts in the UK; Informal knowledge and creative practises, in particular those based on life experience, need to be validated; The assertion that what POCBWC creatives are involved in creating has value; Diversity and other inclusion schemes within the arts sector and wider society frequently pay lip service to creating genuine solutions. Another key area of knowledge this project will exploit is the necessity of ensuring co-creation is genuine. Using techniques developed through the PLD research process, we will create the conditions needed for effective co creation, including trust-making, equitable hierarchies and resource allocation. Dr Rai will work on the co-creation workshops and ongoing trialling to ensure co-creation is co-powered, that areas of action research in this process will be contingent on generating questions, areas of research and solutions together. Evidence of demand for this project was evidenced through: * An extensive literature review which included 'grey material' (recent reports) * The individual and group interviews with POCBWC arts workers, which included 'non traditional' senior management leaders operating in large arts organisations, support agencies and funding bodies * Interviews with emergent POCBWC arts workers * Feedback from STAF's networks and social media outlets. (Dr Rai/STAF have already been approached by a number of arts organisations requesting - paid for - support and service provision) * This proposal has been co-created with Urban MBA Ltd (UMBA) who recognise the need for this work * Evidence from trade press - e.g. Arts Professional 11th February 2022 refers to the current crisis arts organisations are facing in filling roles, especially with diverse staff (Amanda Parker Inc Arts) and Adele Remond points to 'a surge of vacancies in the sector, borne out by record numbers of jobs on the Arts Professional website. Through our project's mentoring scheme, young people will learn skills of resilience in the face of precarity in the arts sector from people who have relatable backgrounds and experiences. The project team has identified a number of potential barriers to impact generation and mitigators: Engaging and recruiting disaffected NEETS: Young people will be recruited from UMBA, mainly young people who have recently completed an UMBA pre-engagement programme, Spirit. We will also recruit through partners Da Crib (Hackney based youth centre) and HighRise Theatre (Young peoples street theatre training programmes). The team at STAF and the PLD steering group have considerable experience between them in engaging marginalised and disengaged groups. Authentic Co Creation and Co Powering: The action research team, and steering group, is comprised of 80% POCBWC and the rest of the team have protected characteristics. The PI and STAF CEO and Executive Director are all people of colour. UMBA's founder and CEO is Black, his initial employment in the creative industries drew him away from a pathway into urban gang culture. These lived experiences inform their approach to co-creation it's unique complexities and possibilities. (+ see knowledge exploitation above) Resources to support further roll out (Context of funding cuts and loss of income to the arts): Ongoing planning will focus on mixed revenue models (see Next Steps below) and business development support is included in the budget A London centric approach is not applicable to national roll out: Potential for national rollout will be addressed throughout and consider ways of including 'bespoke template creation' as part of the prototype. STAF has national networks and partners and is imminently moving to Manchester. We will extend the steering group to include greater representation nationally Large and diverse partnership group: Supported by an experienced producer and engagement producer with regular meetings and communications |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://www.somethingtoaimfor.com/performing-leadership-differently-holding-page |
| Description | Staf have used the PLD findings for creating this: Continuing Project planning and Authentic Co-creation - 3 Co creation workshops The project will be co-created with the young people (the end users) once they are recruited. Three in person workshops will be run to enable the training sessions, work experience and structure of the project to be shaped by the young people and their specific needs and experience. This will involve resource output for: - space hire - refreshments - facilitators fees - Production support from STAF - Monthly production meetings The project will be kept on track with monthly production meetings with the business support, producer, engagement producer from STAF, Kofi Oppong from Urban MBA, and Dr Amit Rai. These will take place online. - Bi monthly steering group meetings A steering group comprised of Justin Hunt (Arts Council, England) Prof Gerry Hanlon (Professor of Organisational Sociology QMUL SBM) Frank Sweeney (Community leader + Producer Da Crib, Bernie Grant Arts Centre) Kofi Oppong (Founder/CEO Urban MBA) Joon Lynn Goh (CEO Migrants in Culture + What's Next) Jodie Worton (Administration, training and wellbeing consultant), and chaired by Dr Amit Rai, will meet bi monthly to offer their expertise to the project and inform developments as they happen. This will involve resource output for: - Steering Group stipends - Coordination support from STAF - Evaluation Green Spiral, evaluation specialists, will work with the engagement producer to develop an integrated evaluation process that will operate at every stage of the project, providing feedback and gathering data for the case study and future write ups. Training sessions - Six in person group training sessions will be run for our recruited young people by Kofi Oppong from Urban MBA https://urbanmba.co.uk with Jodie Worton, senior administrator and industry trainer. This will involve resource output for: - space hire - refreshments - trainers fees - Production support from STAF - One Pathways and skills session will be run for the young people by experienced trainers from CC Skills. This will involve resource output for: - space hire - refreshments - CC Skills fees - 24 mentoring sessions (2 x mentoring session per young person) will be run with our recruited mentors and young people. This will involve resource output for: Mentor fees - Production support from STAF - Work Experience The work experience scheme will be set up through STAF's extensive networks within the arts sector, and coordinated by the Engagement Producer. This will involve resource output for: - Payment for young people on placements - Production support from STAF Communications and marketing The project will be marketed through STAF's extensive networks. Recruitment of the young people will draw on STAF's experience engaging with under-represented groups within the arts and those considered hard to reach. STAF will lead on design of outreach and outcomes documents, ensuring quality resources that reach diverse and multidisciplinary audiences. |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Policy Brief Performing Leadership Differently: Co-creating Collective Strategies for Change |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| URL | https://pandemicandbeyond.exeter.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Entrance to Creative Industries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | PLD co-creating with NEETS (current application in to the second round for a QMUL Impact Fund for £45k. We are also through this collaboration developing insights into the organisation of intersectional Mentoring (QMUL H&SS Collaborations Fund). We will also apply to Paul Hamlyn Foundation for BIPOC Admin Support Group Mapping and highlighting different routes into leadership in Creative Industries. Through PLD we are involved in a program called Legislative Theatre which are artist commissions exploring and reimagining governance and leadership in the sector. This ongoing co-created research is forming the basis of STAF's upcoming Arts Council NPO funding under the category Investment Principle Support Organisations and NPO application by partners--Extant. Having established a sound evidence base, and substantially developed our understanding of its complexities and challenges, we now want to focus on PLD's practical routes for change and engagement over an 18-month period. There are three core strands: 1. Pipeline: This focuses on entry points and access to different parts of the arts sector, and in establishing more robust, and sustained, leadership pathways. It comprises three programmes: Access to Creative Industries : A 12-week programme with and for c.10 young people, this will focus on those currently not in education, employment, or training, who are exploring prospective careers as artists, and/or arts workforce. Co-created with young participants during initial planning sessions, the programme will include workshops designed to build confidence, build understanding of the arts sector, and develop individual pathways. This will include roles in the design and delivery of STAF's 'The Sick of the Fringe' Festival (see above). We'll initially deliver this programme in underserved London Boroughs, including Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Croydon, and Brent. We'll collaborate with delivery partners including URBAN MBA, HighRise Theatre, Generation Uncovered, Rapid Creative Responses, and CC Skills, to recruit participants, and to develop programme content. Following evaluation, we plan to replicate the programme and extend it (including to older age groups) to ultimately gain wider national reach: in 2024, for example, we plan to replicate the programme in Greater Manchester, where STAF has a strong delivery and partner base. Demystifying administration for artists: This initial programme will run for 8 weeks, with 20 emergent and early career arts workers. It will be delivered online via our accessible STAF Live digital platform, with some live sessions bookending the programme. Its purpose is to strengthen the skills, knowledge and confidence of participants in confronting career administration in the arts, including financial and budget management (with consultants Sedulo), understanding organisational structures, navigating contracts, project management, and care and wellbeing. As well as group sessions, it will include 1:1 mentoring for all participants, and ongoing support via STAF's collaborative network, whose home is held on the STAF Live platform. Following evaluation, we plan to roll this programme out more widely, with organisations working closely with those at the beginning of creative careers. Mapping different access routes to leadership: A six-month scoping project enabling us to gather further information about access to the arts and different routes into arts leadership in particular, with a focus on informal learning, grassroots participation, mentoring, and (working with CLOCK and potentially CCSkills) accreditation for life experience. This will inform onward PLD development, and result in a publication, to be shared with our networks, and a presentation on our STAF Live platform. 2. Retention: This strand will test programmes designed to support people from underrepresented backgrounds to maintain and progress their existing roles in the arts sector, and prevent attrition. Support network for arts administrators and managers of colour: A group of up to 50 diverse, intergenerational arts administrators will establish and facilitate an active network for arts workers of colour, providing a confidential safe forum for exploring and addressing 'blockages' in workplaces and in the wider sector. It will also operate as a space for peer-to-peer support, with opportunities to host facilitated mutual professional skill-sharing. We will recruit network participants via open and targeted call outs, leveraging our audience and participant base, and our cross-sector partnerships, to reach beyond the 'usual' arts and culture networks. Creating a new cohort of mentors for the arts sector: This four-session training programme will recruit and train 10 diverse creative practitioners as mentors, working for and within a more representative arts sector. Our facilitators will focus on peer-to-peer and asset-based approaches, based on the learning from PLD's initial research findings (see above). Following training, we'll establish 10 mentor-mentee pairings, to run over an initial 10-month period, with a wider roll-out planned. 3. Developing different structures for leadership in the arts: This strand of the programme will focus on piloting alternative models of arts leadership, and collaborating on further advocacy around new and more equitable models and methods, as well as challenging existing exclusionary structures. The Lab: A space for critical discussion and challenge around issues in arts leadership, hosted publicly on the STAF Live platform. This will include a series of talks from the core Performing Leadership Differently steering group, as well as monthly sessions with different guest speakers from organisations piloting/ successfully working with different leadership models. It will explore questions around arts leadership, including, for example, co-creation models, circular models, and grass-roots approaches. Artist commissions: This aspect of the programme is a space to creatively amplify challenges and ideas that seek to make a difference on structural level: using art as a tool for re-imagining the world. This responds specifically to PLD's initial research findings, which emphasised that this kind of 'Blue Sky' presentation is an important way to enact a different kind of thinking and agency around dismantling and rebuilding leadership structures in the arts. This would comprise one large-scale artist commission, and three smaller scale commissions, invited via an open call. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Pandemic & Beyond Episode 16: Performing Leadership Differently in the Cultural Industries |
| 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 | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The overlap between Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement has led to a lot of soul-searching in the cultural industries. In this episode, Pascale Aebischer speaks to Amitabh Rai of Queen Mary, University of London, about the work he's done with leaders in the creative industries about the leadership structures needed to provide the right level and kinds of support for a diverse workforce, and to Tracy Gentles, CEO of STAF (Something To Aim For), a partner in this research. They talk about the need for change, how to effect it together with people within the industry, about trauma, how different forms of disadvantage intersect, and how to create diverse communities through mentorship and infrastructures of care. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://anchor.fm/pandemicandbeyond/episodes/Pandemic--Beyond-Episode-16-Performing-Leadership-Diffe... |