The Story of Lidice and Stoke-on-Trent: Towards Deeper Understandings of the Role of Arts and Culture

Lead Research Organisation: Staffordshire University
Department Name: Faculty of Arts & Creative Technologies

Abstract

This project seeks to improve our understanding of the potential of arts and culture to develop reflection and empathy across geographical divides. It offers a unique case study: that of the relationship between Stoke-on-Trent and Lidice, a tiny village in the Czech Republic that was destroyed by the Nazis on 10 June 1942. In response to this horrific event, local Doctor and Councillor Barnett Stross launched the 'Lidice Shall Live' campaign in September of the same year, rallying the local working people of Stoke-on-Trent to donate to a fund that ultimately contributed to the rebuilding of the village after the war. That ordinary working miners and pottery workers donated in many cases up to a week's wages to this campaign in the middle of the hardship of the Second World War is an astounding testament to the ability of people to demonstrate empathy, compassion and understanding. The village of Lidice today expresses its story through arts and culture: visitors from all over Europe travel there to visit the largest rose garden in Europe, and the museum and art gallery that sit adjacent to the new village. A commemorative event takes place each year on the anniversary of the tragedy, attended by around 5000 visitors and Ambassadors from all over the world. In recent years, the links between Lidice and Stoke-on-Trent have been refreshed with cultural exchanges between the two places, involving a range of arts projects and events that celebrate the cultural ties between the two places. It is striking that in all of the civic engagement and partnership working recently developed between these places, we choose to explore, express and celebrate these ties almost exclusively through arts and culture.
Our project addresses the limited understandings that we have of the relationship between arts and culture and empathy, compassion and understanding, despite the fact that evoking such responses is often an implicit objective of arts and cultural activities. Since there is little literature that directly addresses the topic in question, this project seeks to generate new knowledge and understandings by engaging with academics and creative practitioners to explore their understandings of empathy, compassion and understanding; how this impacts on practice, and in what ways this supports and demonstrates the value of arts and cultural activities. The research will focus specifically on story-telling approaches in the contexts of community and participatory arts projects and museums and exhibitions. It will therefore consider both active engagement and the visitor experience.
A working group of interdisciplinary academics and creative practitioners will contribute to the development of new approaches and tools that will be utilised when designing and evaluating new arts projects. The findings and tools will be tested by applying them to the chosen case study. It provides a unique opportunity for creative practitioners in both geographical locations to contribute to addressing the research objectives in a variety of ways. As well as analysing existing arts and cultural activities by applying the research findings and outputs, there will also be a funding proposal developed for a new research-informed arts project. This further demonstrates the value of this particular case study, as the relationship between Stoke-on-Trent and Lidice is an on-going one, and there will therefore be opportunities to test, sustain, and further develop the outcomes of this research project in the context of future activities.
The findings and outputs of the project will be shared in ways that reach academics, practitioners and the wider public. The project will offer new insights and understandings of the value of arts and culture in terms of empathy, compassion and understanding, and we anticipate that this will influence policy makers as well as contributing to more informed practice across a very wide geographical area.

Planned Impact

This research will be of benefit to a wide range of academics both nationally and internationally. It will have particular relevance to academics working in the fields of social philosophy and community and participatory arts, but will also be of interest to other sectors, such as health and education. It will increase understanding of the value of arts and cultural engagement, and facilitate exchanges of theoretical understandings of issues of empathy, compassion and understanding between different academic disciplines. This will generate new insights and perspectives.
As well as involving interdisciplinary knowledge exchange, the research will also promote dialogue between academics and creative practitioners. This will help to ensure that theory is influenced by practice and vice versa. It will also open up new opportunities for further collaborations between academics and practitioners. The new resources and tools that are produced as research outputs following the research workshops will have a direct impact on professional practice and on teaching on the MA in Community and Participatory Arts programme at Staffordshire University. This will result in more critical understandings of the value of arts and cultural activities in relation to empathy, compassion and understanding, which in turn will be of value to policy makers, who will be interested in understanding more about the potential of arts and cultural activities to contribute to stronger and more cohesive communities. The project will thus contribute to evidence-based policy. The involvement of a Local Authority Strategic manager as a partner in the research contributes to the impact of the research in the Public Sector. In particular, the project's focus on story-telling approaches in museums and exhibitions will be of interest to Local Authorities, as well as other organisations in the museums and heritage sector.
The impact of the research will not be restricted to academics and creative practitioners in Stoke-on-Trent and the rest of the UK: involving participants and undertaking fieldwork in Lidice in the Czech Republic, and also making links to our other international research partners means will help to ensure that the impacts are achieved more widely.
People living in communities in Stoke-on-Trent and Lidice will benefit from the ways in which the proposed project will build upon and further develop the existing links between the two places. This will help to enhance their cultural enrichment, and to contribute to quality of life, for example through the development of the proposal for a new arts project. Ensuring that the findings of the project reach a wide audience, for example through the film documentary, will contribute to wider public discussion about and awareness of the value of arts and culture. In an area such as Stoke-on-Trent, which has low levels of arts and cultural engagement, this is an important way to contribute to regeneration. It will add extra value to other arts and cultural initiatives currently happening in Stoke-on-Trent, such as Arts Council England's Creative People and Places programme, which is designed to increase levels of arts participation. The dissemination strategy is specifically designed to ensure maximum impact. In particular, the distribution via email networks and social media channels of both an accessible research summary and the project documentary, aims to engage members of the public outside of academic and arts communities in reflecting on and discussing the value of arts and culture in relation to empathy, compassion and understanding.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Title Cultural Value Film: B Arts, Reading the Book of Freedom Case Study 
Description This short film is one of a series of case study films of arts projects that have had a key focus on issues of empathy, compassion and understanding. It focuses on the project 'Reading the Book of Freedom' by B Arts. It is designed as a resource for artists and creative practitioners who wish to more explicitly address issues of empathy, compassion and understanding in their work. The film was made by Junction 15 and is shared on the Staffordshire University Cultural Value project blog. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact For many of the artists and creative practitioners who took part in the project, it was the first time that they had explicitly talked about issues of empathy, compassion and understanding, and several felt that this would influence their future approach to work. This film is designed to support on-going reflection and we will monitor the longer term impacts of sharing the resources. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/resources/case-studies/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: Do: Weaving Stories 
Description This short film is intended as a resource for arts practitioners. It includes interviews with Cultural Value project participants, in which they explain how they address issues of empathy, compassion and understanding in the implementation of their projects. The film was made by Junction 15 and is available on the project blog. It is one of a series of films, structured around a 'plan, do and review' project cycle. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact For artists and creative practitioners who took part in the project, it was generally the first time that they had explicitly talked about issues of empathy, compassion and understanding, and several felt that this would influence their future approach to work. We will monitor the longer term impacts of sharing the resources. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/resources/do/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: Empathy, Compassion and Understanding 
Description This is a 13 minute film that highlights key aspects of our Cultural Value award, including the background to the research; methods; key findings and outputs. It is designed to disseminate the research to a much wider audience, via our project blog, email networks and social media. The film was made by Junction 15 and includes interviews with the project team and participants. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact Whilst we are not yet aware of specific impacts, the film is continuing to be used as part of our project dissemination. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: Impact - Project Reflections 
Description This short film includes some of the Cultural Value project participants reflecting on the impact that they felt that the project will have on their future practice. It was made by Junction 15 and shared on the project blog. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact The film, in itself, captures some of the overall impact of the project on people's practice. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/our-research-project/impact/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: Plan: People and Place 
Description This short film is intended as a resource for arts practitioners. It includes interviews with Cultural Value project participants, in which they explain how they address issues of empathy, compassion and understanding in the planning of their projects. The film was made by Junction 15 and is available on the project blog. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact For artists and creative practitioners who took part in the project, it was generally the first time that they had explicitly talked about issues of empathy, compassion and understanding, and several felt that this would influence their future approach to work. We will monitor the longer term impacts of sharing the resources. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/resources/planning-a-project/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: Research Visit 
Description This film shares the experiences and insights gained from the research team's visit to Prague and Lidice in June 2014. It includes contributions by the research team, and also by creative practitioners in the Czech Republic. As well as documenting the visit, it shares some of the findings of the research team. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact The film has generated interest in both the UK and the Czech Republic. We were invited to submit the film into a competition called 'Musaionfilm' in the Czech Republic, and did so in 2015. This involved translating the film into Czech, and further contributed to the international impact of the work. See http://musaionfilm.wix.com/musaionfilm 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: Review: Conversations and Change 
Description This short film is intended as a resource for arts practitioners. It includes interviews with Cultural Value project participants, in which they explain how they address issues of empathy, compassion and understanding in the evaluation of their projects. The film was made by Junction 15 and is available on the project blog. It is one of a series of films, structured around a 'plan, do and review' project cycle. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact For artists and creative practitioners who took part in the project, it was generally the first time that they had explicitly talked about issues of empathy, compassion and understanding, and several felt that this would influence their future approach to work. We will monitor the longer term impacts of sharing the resources. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/resources/review/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: The Cultural Sisters, Moving Forward Case Study 
Description This short film is one of a series of case study films of arts projects that have had a key focus on issues of empathy, compassion and understanding. It focuses on the project 'Moving Forward' by The Cultural Sisters. It is designed as a resource for artists and creative practitioners who wish to more explicitly address issues of empathy, compassion and understanding in their work. The film was made by Junction 15 and is shared on the Staffordshire University Cultural Value project blog. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact For artists and creative practitioners who took part in the project, it was generally the first time that they had explicitly talked about issues of empathy, compassion and understanding, and several felt that this would influence their future approach to work. We will monitor the longer term impacts of sharing the resources. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/resources/case-studies/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: The Memorial to the Child Victims of the War Case Study 
Description This short film is one of a series of case study films focusing on projects that demonstrate a particular focus on issues relating to empathy, compassion and understanding. The film features an interview with Sylvia Klanova, daughter of Marie Uchytilova who designed the Memorial to the Child Victims of the War, which can be found in Lidice. The case studies are designed to be a resource for artists and creative practitioners who are seeking to more explicitly address issues of empathy, compassion and understanding in their work. The films are all made by Junction 15 and can be found on the Staffordshire University Cultural Value project blog. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact This part of the project was a valuable way to discuss the research with contacts in the Czech Republic, thus contributing to widening the impact to international contexts. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/resources/case-studies/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: The Story of Lidice and Stoke-on-Trent 
Description This is a short 3 minute film that shares the story of Lidice and Stoke-on-Trent. The story forms the basis of our project case study. It is told by a number of project participants. The film was made by Junction 15. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact No specific impacts: the film is helping to engage people in the story, and therefore in the research questions. It is therefore a valuable dissemination tool. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/
 
Title Cultural Value Film: Unearthed Case Study 
Description This short film is one of a series of case study films of arts projects that have had a key focus on issues of empathy, compassion and understanding. It focuses on the project 'Unearthed' by Public Artists Sarah Nadin and Nicola Winstanley (Dashyline). It is designed as a resource for artists and creative practitioners who wish to more explicitly address issues of empathy, compassion and understanding in their work. The film was made by Junction 15 and is shared on the Staffordshire University Cultural Value project blog. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact For artists and creative practitioners who took part in the project, it was generally the first time that they had explicitly talked about issues of empathy, compassion and understanding, and several felt that this would influence their future approach to work. We will monitor the longer term impacts of sharing the resources. 
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/resources/case-studies/
 
Title Images of Research Competition 
Description Two entries were submitted to the inaugural Staffordshire University Images of Research Competition in Winter 2014, and were included in an exhibition and book. The competition is designed to showcase research work using just an image and a 150 word summary of the research project. The focus is on the difference that the research makes, and how it has real world impact and produces real benefits. The competition resulted in an exhibition of the images in the Science Centre at Staffordshire University, which was launched at a reception event on 5th December 2014. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact New audiences reached. 
URL http://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/Images_of_Research_Brochure_tcm44-81659.pdf
 
Title The Story of Lidice and Stoke-on-Trent: Cultural Value Project Exhibition 
Description We have created an exhibition of images, text and artefacts relating to our Cultural Value project. The exhibition was created by Kimberley Watson and Jackie Reynolds. It was initially displayed in Staffordshire University's Science Centre in December 2014 as part of the 'What Britain Knew - The Holocaust and Nazi Crimes conference, attended by a group of worldwide experts and supported by the UK Chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (HERA). The exhibition was then moved to Staffordshire University's UniQube Gallery, where it was officially launched with two engagement events in December 2014 (the launch events are included in the engagement activities section). 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2014 
Impact We estimate that at least 500 people in total have viewed the exhibition. 
 
Description Our key research findings in terms of cultural value can be highlighted with reference to four areas:

1) The value of participatory approaches to research
In exploring the value of arts and culture in relation to empathy, compassion and understanding, we involved academics, artists and creative practitioners with a wide range of backgrounds and roles. This offered valuable insights and maintained a focus on application of findings. Participants' responses suggested that they valued the opportunity to talk about their work in ways that they had not done previously. The research design included a participant working group, which was a successful approach for crosschecking emerging findings; exploring key issues in greater depth; and developing new research-informed resources. Working with filmmakers, a photographer and a contemporary artist was also important, creating valuable resources to inform practice and support on-going discussions of cultural value.

2) The value of international perspectives
In recognising that the challenges of understanding and demonstrating cultural value are not limited to the UK, we used a case study of the existing relationship between Stoke-on-Trent in the UK and Lidice in the Czech Republic, and included a research visit to Prague and Lidice. This enabled us to include perspectives of some creative practitioners in the Czech Republic, and also to generate further interest from other Czech practitioners in the research findings and resources.

3) The Power of Stories
Our first key research question asked why we would choose the medium of arts and culture to link distant geographical communities in ways that foster empathy, compassion and understanding. We focused on storytelling approaches within community and participatory arts projects, and exhibitions. Through our research, we identified a narrative that demonstrates the potential cultural value of a project, which is that: art is a catalyst, which enables the telling of a story, which connects people in the immediate area and across the world. The themes of art as a catalyst; connecting people; sharing stories and crossing geographical divides are inter-connecting rather than linear, but we found that these four themes are highly significant in terms of cultural value.

4) Implications for Practice
Our research also asked how we can design and evaluate arts and cultural activities in ways that better recognise and demonstrate their value in terms of empathy, compassion and understanding. We found that 'understanding' (of contexts, people's lives etc) was a particularly significant concept in relation to designing projects working with people. The values of the artists (who tend to be motivated by some kind of social change) are central to this; they use their own empathy and compassion to effectively create the conditions in which further empathy can flourish. In terms of evaluation, participants felt that qualitative approaches were the most effective way of capturing the difference that the work had made, as it allowed for imaginative and metaphorical responses. Stories and creative responses could be used effectively as an integral part of the project activities. We have developed a research informed resource called 'Caring Cards' aimed at practitioners.
Exploitation Route We see the findings being taken forward in various ways. First and foremost, we see the findings being used alongside those from other Cultural Value projects to inform greater awareness from policy makers, practitioners and the wider public about the value of arts and culture to individuals and society.

There is also potential to build upon the connections that have been made between academic researchers from different disciplines, for example by developing interdisciplinary collaborations between arts, health, and/or psychology researchers. We are also aware that the findings are of interest to researchers in ageing from a number of different disciplines, including those with an interest in dementia.

Artists and creative practitioners have already reflected on film upon some of the ways in which the project might impact on their practice. We envisage that they will use the films and the Caring Card resource to further develop their practice throughout the project cycle. This applies to both UK and Czech practitioners. We are planning to use the findings and resources to inform a new project with partners in the Czech Republic, and we anticipate that this will further strengthen understandings about cultural value as well as connections between the two places.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Creative Economy

Education

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/
 
Description We are developing the impact of our project in a number of key ways: 1) We are piloting the 'Caring Card' (online) resource with artists and creative practitioners. In June 2015, we gained additional funding from Staffordshire University's Institute for Applied Creative Thinking (I-ACT) to produce a printed version of the cards. The cards were launched as part of a presentation of our findings at the Arts in Society International Conference in London in July 2015. Delegates from various countries were willing to take part in piloting the cards. This is aiming to impact on practice and particularly to strengthen approaches to evaluating arts and cultural activities in terms of empathy, compassion and understanding. 2) Janet Hetherington has been undertaking research on a number of European projects, and has been able to use these links to disseminate our findings. An example of this is a project called Residency, supported by the EU Leonardo Da Vinci fund. The project was led by Staffordshire University, and involved artists from Poland, Spain and the UK undertaking residencies in countries and contexts different from their own. Our project, including the Caring Cards, was referenced as part of the online toolkit that was produced by the Residency project. 3) Jackie Reynolds, as a Social Gerontologist, disseminated the findings at the British Society of Gerontology conference in July 2015. She focused on the significance of the findings in terms of arts work with older people. 4) We created an exhibition of the project, which was launched at Staffordshire University in December 2014. This included showing the main project films at Stoke-on-Trent Film Theatre. Two events were held, one for staff and one aimed at research participants as well as the wider public, with the aim of achieving impact beyond academia. 5) We published one article in Arts Professional and another in Discover Society, with the aim of reaching a wide readership and achieving impact beyond academia. Discover Society has a strong social media presence, and the article (which summarised some of the key findings) was repeatedly shared over the course of a month. 6) The Research Visit film generated interest in the Czech Republic, and was submitted it into a film competition (see http://musaionfilm.wix.com/musaionfilm). This involved translating the film into Czech. 7) We entered a competition at Staffordshire University called 'Images of Research', which seeks to engage wider audiences in research findings through an exhibition of images and short summaries of research projects. 8) We submitted two new research proposals for funding. Both involved working with partners in the Czech Republic, built directly on the findings of our Cultural Value project, and used the resources that we have produced. To date, our efforts to gain further funding have been unsuccessful, but we continue to seek opportunities to further build upon the research.
First Year Of Impact 2014
Sector Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

 
Description Institute for Applied Creative Thinking (I-ACT)
Amount £300 (GBP)
Organisation Staffordshire University 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2015 
End 06/2015
 
Description ARC Exchange Event (Lunchtime seminar) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact This was an event at Staffordshire University to share the emerging findings from our AHRC Cultural Value project, focusing on the value of arts and culture in terms of empathy, compassion and understanding. The event included a presentation by Janet Hetherington, Ann O'Sullivan and Jackie Reynolds, followed by a question and answer session.

No specific impacts
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Article in Arts Professional 
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 Arts Professional is an online publication aimed at those with a professional interest in the arts sector.
John Holmes wrote an article called 'The superpower of storytelling', which summarised some of the key findings of our porject, and was published on 19th January 2015. It was widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.
The purpose of the article was to disseminate the research to a wider audience and to help strengthen the links between research and practice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/280/article/superpower-storytelling
 
Description Article in Discover Society 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Discover Society is an online publication, aimed at both academic audiences and a wider readership. 'Connecting through Creativity: The Power of Stories' by Ann O'Sullivan and Jackie Reynolds was published in Issue 21 of Discover Society on 3rd June 2015. It was heavily shared on social media throughout June 2015, including 52 'Facebook shares'.
The article summarised some of the key research findings in an accessible way, and was designed to reach a very wide and diverse audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://discoversociety.org/2015/06/03/connecting-through-creativity-the-power-of-stories/
 
Description Cultural Value (Story of Lidice and Stoke-on-Trent) Exhibition Launch Events 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact The Cultural Value Exhibition was displayed in the UniQube Gallery at Staffordshire University from December 2014-January 2015. On 17th December 2014, two launch events were held for the exhibition. The first was aimed at university colleagues and followed on from the pre-Christmas Faculty Forum. As well as viewing the exhibition, the project films were shown in the Stoke-on-Trent Film Theatre, which is adjacent to the gallery. In the evening, a launch event was then run for members of the public and project participants. This was done in association with the Staffordshire Film Archive. Refreshments were served and there was a public screening of the films.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Cultural Value Project Working Group 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Participants in your research and patient groups
Results and Impact A working group of academics and creative practitioners met together on three occasions in April and May 2014 to talk about the emerging findings from the research and to work out new strategies for the design and evaluation of arts activities in order to better capture their value in relation to empathy, compassion and understanding.
A range of presentations, discussions and activities took place at the working group meetings. These were all designed to actively involve the group in addressing the research objectives. Activities included:
• Presentations on emerging findings.
• Discussions about emerging findings, focusing on exploring the key themes in greater depth.
• Review of existing resources and practice for the design and evaluation of participatory arts activities and discussions of what 'works'.
• Discussion of individual case studies.
• Developing new resources for the design and evaluation of participatory arts projects, based around the 'plan, do and review' project cycle.


The working group discussions had a direct impact on the development of our Cultural value project and the resources that were created. For example, two of our key outputs: the series of project films and the Caring Cards, were developed in direct response to working group discussions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Exhibition at What Britain Knew Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Participation in this event involved presenting an exhibition of our AHRC Cultural Value project that investigated the value of arts and culture in terms of empathy, compassion and understanding. This is due to the fact that the research is based on the case study of the relationship between Stoke-on-Trent and Lidice in the Czech Republic, which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942. The exhibition included photographs, a photo book, and the project films running on a loop on a wall mounted TV screen. The exhibition generated interest amongst the delegates, who browsed the exhibits and discussed the project with the PI, Dr Jackie Reynolds.

No immediate impacts were observed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Research Visit to Czech Republic 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Participants in your research and patient groups
Results and Impact The visit to the Czech Republic shaped the thinking of the research team, and enabled us to make links with creative practitioners and others in the Czech Republic. Several short films resulted directly from the visit. We were able to cross-check our findings, relate to international perspectives, and develop plans for on-going research to build on the outcomes of the Cultural Value project.

A film was made of the research visit, capturing the key activities and processes. Footage from the visit was also used in other project films, including a case study of Marie Uchytilova, who created the Memorial to the Children of Lidice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/culturalvalue/