The Art of Reconciliation: Do reconciliation-funded arts projects transform conflict?

Lead Research Organisation: University of Liverpool
Department Name: Irish Studies

Abstract

It is claimed that Art for Reconciliation (AfR) produces work that reflects, represents, or responds to multiple forms of political conflict in ways that encourage conflict transformation. This claim is reflected in international political and financial support for the growth in AfR. We question the validity of this claim - not because it is untrue, but because as noted in the AHRC Cultural Value report, "long-term evaluations of arts and cultural initiatives in post-conflict transformation have rarely if ever been attempted".

Without such an 'attempt' we face a series of problems. Firstly, the various outcomes of AfR are not adequately understood. AfR can potentially replicate the divisions of conflict. Or, it can enable processes of healing, witness testimony and inter-community engagement. It can be transformational and stimulate positive relational change between communities in conflict. If we do not research these differing forms and outcomes then AfR will not possess the definitional robustness required to adequately understand how positive reconciliatory outcomes can be realized. Secondly, we do not possess proper evaluative forms which measure how AfR achieves a shift out of and away from conflict. Evaluations are often tied to audience reaction as opposed to more in-depth and grounded techniques that measure positive relational change between communities in conflict. Thirdly, we do not know how funding practice, community response and the management and production of art affect the landscape of AfR. Fourthly, without robust techniques and grounded research the value of AfR cannot be adequately disseminated. Finally, when we locate art as conflict transformation it is generally non-transferrable. Better knowledge production concerning AfR will aid wider dissemination.

In solving these problems we will develop a co-produced research project that grounds its methods in interaction with funders, policy makers, arts managers, artists and communities engaging in AfR. Through a focused study of funded AfR our research project aims to:

1. Determine if AfR initiatives do, or possibly could, affect meaningful conflict transformation;
2. Share evidence regarding art as conflict response beyond the arts community and communicate its value to those who are currently unaware;
3. Develop ways in which transformative AfR can be achieved through better evaluation, auditing and articulation;
4. Create an evaluation mechanism that promotes deeper understanding of what is actually taking place within AfR to all sectors involved in designing and delivering this work;
5. Develop a dissemination strategy to share information about creative arts engagements and interactions which respond to conflict and aim for meaningful reconciliation;
6. Contribute to effective knowledge that highlights the value of art as a facilitator of conflict transformation.

Knowledge transfer is important not only to develop social science and arts/humanities engagement, but to develop and show how art may play a role in broader conflict transformation processes. Current frameworks, typologies and methodologies, both in academia and amongst communities of practice (i.e. funders, policymakers, artists and arts managers, and community support professionals) do not always reflect or adequately evaluate transformative outcomes. Ultimately, we seek to address these aims in ways that can have direct, meaningful and purposeful impact on the work of funders, communities of practice and the public. The project will speak to how communities respond to conflict and work to better explain, understand and appreciate how their lived experiences of harm and injustice, inform that response. The dissemination strategy will be used by groups involved in different types of reconciliation projects to sustain and develop conflict transformation activity.

Planned Impact

This research project will have impact across a range of sectors and communities engaging directly and indirectly with the project, and this engagement will be at local, national and international levels. Outside of academic outputs, impact is linked to a critical learning process with multiple participants and partners who will aid the determination, design, forms and relevance of impact strategies. The project's outcomes will be co-produced through its Research Advisory Committee whose members will be embedded in knowledge exchange and the design of impact strategies throughout.

The audit of funded post-conflict arts projects aims to benefit funding organisations and bodies such as the NI Executive (Ministry of Communities), EU Special Programmes Body, local authorities, Arts Councils, foundations that fund Art for Reconcilation (AfR) (e.g. UNESCO, the Big Lottery Fund, the Clive Richards Charity Ltd, Arts NSW, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Art for Amnesty (Amnesty International), Kellogg Foundation, the William Cadbury Charitable Trust and Fellowship of Reconciliation), and reconciliation work in the devolved Parliament, Assemblies and Westminster. This will be achieved by examining the efficacy of present and future funding strategies.

Assessment of funding and evaluation strategies will aid impact in terms of developing a more effective dialogue between these groups and the production of new and enhanced ways to determine, evaluate and disseminate the potential transformative capacities of AfR. Additionally, communities and professionals who respond to conflict through art (i.e. Youth Action; NICVA; Healing through Remembering; Community Dialogue Arts, Kabosh Theatre Company; The MAC; Community Arts Partnership, Voluntary Arts Network; Culture + Conflict; The Acting Together Project) will also learn more about the processes of designing, auditing, achieving and presenting the value of AfR.

Three Exchange Forums will provide voice, networking and learning opportunities, and foster development of critical learning by asking pertinent questions that are relevant to policy-design, the methods of evaluation and experiential learning. The forums address the following issues:

Forum 1: 'What are our intentions? Interpreting the goals of AfR'
Forum 2: 'What's happening? Understanding AfR in practice'
Forum 3: 'What are we learning and what's next? An international perspective.'

The project's findings and methodological approached, hosted on a dedicated website, will include a typology of AfR outcomes and facilitate shared understanding of how peace-building and reconciliatory goals may be achieved through the arts in light of the differing needs, resources and capacities of individuals and organisations involved in AfR, and lay the groundwork for potential international impact.

Case studies, insights from the Exchange Forums, the AfR database, and regular project updates will be available online via the project website and dedicated Twitter account. To drive traffic to the project website and ensure wider dissemination, the research team will make contributions to a wider network of websites for arts and cultural management practice, policy and research. Content on the website entitled i) What is AfR ? ii) Why do communities use art as a response to conflict? iii) What are the experiences of AfR (co) production? iv) Does AfR achieve reconciliation/conflict transformation? and v) How do we place AfR into wider academic and policy-making responses to conflict? will be co-produced with the research partners to develop impact upon funding strategies to aid more precise evaluation processes, promote art as a means for relational change between communities in conflict, and the mobilization of voice of those harmed by conflict.

Publications

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Coupe A (2023) Selective memory, funder documentation and peacebuilding: recovering the art of reconciliation in Cultural Trends

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Durrer V (2022) Artists' Mobility Across Borders: A Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Dance on the Island of Ireland Grenzüberschreitende Mobilität von Künstlern: Ein Ansatz mit Mixed- Methods zum Verständnis von Tanz in Irland in Journal of Cultural Management and Cultural Policy / Zeitschrift für Kulturmanagement und Kulturpolitik

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O'Rawe D (2022) Smoke and Mirrors: A Response To 'Troubles and Northern Ireland: Representations in Film of Belfast as a Site of Conflict' by Pat Brereton in Irish Studies in International Affairs

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FitzGerald L (2020) Human Rights and Theatre Practice in Northern Ireland: A Round-Table Discussion in New Theatre Quarterly

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Grant D (2020) 'Objects with Objectives': Applied puppetry from practice into theory in Applied Theatre Research

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Durrer V (2020) Collapsing time: LGBTQ+ rights in Northern Ireland, A Queer Céilí at the Marty Forsythe in Scene

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Gilmore A (2019) Situating the local in global cultural policy in Cultural Trends

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O'Rawe D (2019) The politics of observation: documentary film and radical psychiatry in Journal of Aesthetics & Culture

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Durrer V (2019) Arts councils, policy-making and "the local" in Cultural Trends

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Durrer V (2017) The Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy

 
Title 2nd Exchange Forum 
Description The second artistic/ creative activity involved co-curated exhibition and screenings, Agreement: The People's Process, was delivered at the Golden Thread gallery, Belfast between Saturday 7 December 2019 and January 18 2020. Agreement: The People's Process combined contemporary photography, painting, sculpture, installations, animation and textiles, in an exhibition that examined reconciliation in the context of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and violent conflict in Columbia, Iraq and Argentina. Artists, co-producers, curators and participating organisations included: • Chad Alexander, artist and photographer, Belfast • Ken Bartley, gallery director and exhibition curator, Artisann gallery, East Belfast. Member of AfR Advisory Committee • Dr. Jordana Blejmar, School of Arts, University of Liverpool • Eugene Dolberg (London) and Sajida Um Mohammed (Basra) • Sarah Feinstein, Common Ground Research Network, University of Manchester • Jamie Holman, artist, Bolton, Lancashire • Peter Richards, Director, Golden Thread gallery, Belfast • Frankie Quinn, photographer, Belfast • Patricia Barrera Ramírez, Director, Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica • Edwin Cubillos Rodriguez, artist and photographer • Professor Claire Taylor, University of Liverpool • Hannah Watson, Belfast Exposed Photography • Raymond Watson, artist. http://irishartworld.com/index.htm • Helen Zout, artist and photographer, Argentina • National Centre for Historical Memory, Colombia • Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool The third artistic/ creative activity involved a series of 14 co-produced films made in Belfast and Derry (for screening at future events and on the AfR website) during December 2019. The films were designed as part of an evaluation and feedback process for collecting data during and after co-curated events. They posed 2 key questions: • What does reconciliation mean to you? • What is the distinctive and specific contribution that your artistic practice makes to reconciliation? (or 'your company's artistic practice' or 'the artistic practice of the organisations you fund'/ as appropriate). Each film runs for between 3 and 4 minutes. The films were shot on location in Belfast and Derry over three days (5,6 and 7 December). Interviewees included • Damian Gorman - writer, Derry • Anne Walker and Kathleen Gillespie, Theatre of Witness practitioners, Derry • David Boyd, Beat Carnival, Belfast • Raymond Watson - artist • Elaine Forde, cultural manager, Derry Playhouse • Pauline Hadaway, ArF Resaecr project • Alex Coupe, AfR Research Project • David Grant, AfR Research Project • Ollie Green - Shantallow community arts, Derry • Pauline Ross - Playhouse (Derry) • Peter Richards, Director (Golden Thread) • Peter Young, Videographer • The Playhouse, Derry • The Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast • The Seamus Heaney Centre Belfast As film shorts made in various arts and community locations in Belfast and Derry under the direction of videographer Peter Young, they have become art for reconciliation co-productions and will be screened as such on the AfR website and at future AfR co-curated events, including the Exchange Forum 2 and 3. The AfR research team published information promoting the events on the AfR interactive website The AfR research team designed an evaluation and feedback process, including questionnaires, filmed responses and more detailed Reflections to collect data during and after events. The AfR Administrator collected, compiled and, where appropriate, published data to help support the work of organisations and practitioners involved in the field of AfR 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact Agreement: Peoples Process • Exhibition Launch: 120 people • Artist Talk by Raymond Watson: 20 people • Overall audience total: 1,245 • 6 film responses recorded Exchange Forum co-curated performances • 70 Eventbrite bookings • 42 Attended Exchange Forum conference • 11 Feedback forms completed • 4 film responses recorded Film Shorts • 14 filmed responses to questions of the value of AfR collected, compiled and edited for publication on the AfR website as published data to help support the work of organisations and practitioners involved in the field of AfR. • 3 participating organisations in Belfast and Derry 
 
Title Fostering the economic competitiveness of the United Kingdom. 
Description Our research has identified a significant body of art works and arts practices (theatre, performance, film, fine art, sculpture, etc.) developed in response to the experience of conflict and from a desire to foster peaceful co-existence in Northern Ireland since 1995. Beyond the simple binary of nationalist and unionist, the best of this work has teased out how the conflict was experienced through modalities of gender, class and geography. It has challenged state and community surveillance, and pointed to overlooked everyday experiences. More recently art, especially in community-based reconciliation projects, has provided voice to victims, broken down the barriers between previously antagonistic communities and embodied reconciliatory concepts around interdependence and dialogue. This almost three decades of arts practice, some of this work has gained global recognition, and is held in regional and national collections, including Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Tate, National Museums NI (NMNI), Imperial War Museum (IWM), the Linen Hall Library, Arts Council NI, British Film Institute and Live Art Development Agency as well as small regional arts and community organisations. However, these collections are geographically dispersed across the UK, difficult to access, and, in many cases, at risk of disappearing. At best, where individual art works are held in national and international collections they are often insufficiently documented, understood and promoted as assets that have emerged as the product of sustained artistic engagement with the British-Irish conflict. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact From prominent visual artworks and collections (Colin Davidson's Silent Testimony, 2015; Golden Thread's Collective Histories of Northern Ireland Art), to regional theatre and performance (Kabosh, Theatre of Witness, The Derry Playhouse and Peace Academy) to film and photography (Northern Ireland 30 Years of Photography, Belfast Exposed and The MAC, 2014), music and carnival arts (Beyond Skin, Beat Initiative), these diverse yet distinctive practices employ art as a critical medium through which to challenge standardised representations of the conflict. 
 
Description • Achievement 1: significant new knowledge

The research has established the complex and dynamic nature of the AfR funding landscape in Northern Ireland, evolving over time and involving a wide range of actors of various kinds and interests (e.g. government bodies from local to international level, private charitable funds, specific time-limited funds, and so on).
Our findings suggest that widely held assumptions of the positive social and economic benefits of participation in the arts have converged with regional policy objectives for mitigating or transforming conflict. Whilst direct spending on AfR projects designed to support peacebuilding and reconciliation remains relatively small, the presumption that the arts and cultural participation can deliver normalising or transformative benefits is implicit across a diverse range of funding regimes and embedded in the common sense of political and institutional systems of thought.
These findings correspond with broader UK experience, where the arts and cultural participation are applied across different policy fields beyond the immediate sphere of arts and cultural production, as instruments for shaping attitudes and effecting social and economic change (Mommaas 2004).
Difficulties in separating potential AfR activities from other socially and economically directed activities have given rise to inconsistencies and conceptual weaknesses in data collection and project development.
Our research has also established that short term, competitive and piecemeal funding of AfR practices has led to a situation where arts producers (artists and organisations) possess insufficient resources - time and money - with which to systematically document projects and organize and preserve collections and research the needs of user groups (practitioners, victims groups, educators, researchers) beyond the life of an exhibition or performance. In doing so, it demonstrates a pressing need to challenge the amnesiac effects of outcomes based evaluation (particularly quantitative forms of measurement). It has learnt that its findings co-exist with a widely expressed desire, among arts practitioners, arts organisations and funders, to recover those aspects of AfR practice, past and present that such methods of documentation have tended to forget.

• Achievement 2: new or improved research methods or skills developed (431 words)

The Exchange Forums were deigned to provide voice, networking and learning opportunities, and foster development of critical learning by asking pertinent questions that are relevant to policy-design, the methods of evaluation and experiential knowledge of this field of study. We have delivered two Exchange Mechanisms in 2019 and 2020, with a third scheduled for July 2021.

As a research tool, however, the Exchange Forums have also opened up space for a dialogue between academic researchers and Art for Reconciliation (AfR) funders, policymakers, artists and art managers, community support professionals, and audiences / (non-artist) participants and communities in and beyond Northern Ireland. As a research model, the Exchange Forums have helped the research team to extend impact across different sectors of art, arts management, practice and policy and individual members of arts and peacebuilding communities; embed impact within critical learning processes, involving multiple participants and partners who have aided the purpose, design and relevance of the project. In this way, they provide a structure that could support critical learning and dissemination beyond the life of this project.

The Research Advisory Committee (RAC) was set up as a mechanism through which non-academic research partners could discuss and participate in interpreting the emergent research findings and aid research dissemination and knowledge transfer between participants and researchers. The Principal Investigator and members of the AfR academic research team have presented information on the project, given regular updates and discussed findings at a total of 7 RAC meetings since March 2018 (See Collaborations and Partnerships 2019 and 2020). The Research Team has collected, compiled and disseminated detailed minutes of RAC meetings as internal reports.

The RAC has developed beyond its role supporting the academic research to act as a learning union between the academic research team and AfR funders, policymakers, artists and art managers, community support professionals, and audiences / (non-artist) participants and communities. In this way, the RAC provides a co-production model that has greatly enhanced the research process.

Membership of the RAC and its various working groups has involved multiple participants in critical learning processes, which have helped the academic team advance the purpose, design, relevance and legacy of this project. For example, the RAC has not only responded to and helped develop research findings that show recurring weaknesses in evaluation methods, but has been actively involved in developing a collections and evaluation policy and collaborating on a major follow-on project (see 4 below). The RAC has also been actively involved in designing and producing content for the Exchange Forums and is currently participating in policy formation through its responses to policy discussion papers.

• Achievement 3: Important new research questions opened up (Significant negative results and/or research paths closed off) (331 words)

The research established the opaque and patchy nature of data on funded AfR projects held in official databases (since 1995), where, for example, funders can only supply headline data; there is limited availability of evaluations; and some organisations no longer exist. These findings re-enforced earlier research projects, which have identified inconsistencies and gaps in official databases and conceptual difficulties in separating potential AfR activities from other socially and economically directed activities. This research confirms that this complex policy field lacks:
• Clarity around the definition, scope and aims of AfR
• Clear and shared understandings around the particular contribution of the arts to reconciliation
• An effective policy framework for documenting and evaluating projects that would help achieve the above.
Again, these findings re-enforce earlier research findings (e.g. Incore/UU 2011, Buchanan 2011, Crossick and Kasynska 2016, Corymeela 2019), which identify the poor quality (gaps and inconsistencies) in historical evaluation and data collection. Our findings similarly identified weaknesses in development and evaluation strategies, arising from 'ad hoc approaches to conflict transformation processes' more generally and 'the lack of a comprehensive conflict transformation policy framework to strategically guide the process' (Buchanan, 2011).
However, our research went further, by drawing a link between the poor quality of historical data and recurring weaknesses in development, and evaluation strategies, evidenced in the absence of an effective collections policy for AfR practices. We were able to identify these gaps in historical data as a key problematic through the application of analytical tools that understand arts development and policymaking as contextual, recursive and embedded management practices (Pettigrew 1979, 1990 1998). In this way, we have been able to draw a causal link between weaknesses in evaluation and collection methods and repeated failures to build consensus between arts practitioners, arts organisations and arts funders around the economic, social and aesthetic value of AfR practices.

We have identified the positive impact that an effective Evaluation and Collections Policy Framework would make on the future development of funded projects, funded organisations and AfR practices.

• Achievement 4: new research networks/collaborations/ partnerships, or combinations of these (202 words)
Recovering Arts for Reconciliation practices is a collaborative project that has emerged from the AfR research project, as an outcome of its research findings and co-production methods. The project is aimed at recovering AfR practices as part of a long term strategy for addressing the problem of 'forgetting' and losing arts projects and practices developed through sustained and long-term engagement with conflict and its aftermath in Northern Ireland.
Through the work of the RAC and its two working groups (Recovering AfR working group and Virtual Collection of the Art of Conflict and Peace working group), our partnership of arts and community organisations, artists and funders are committed to developing and resourcing an archive of arts practices specifically aimed at recording the distinctive and specific contribution that the arts have made to transformative outcomes associated with peacebuilding.
Working in partnership with the Imperial War Museum, Tate Liverpool, the Warrington Peace Centre and Wolverhampton Art Gallery, the Recovering AfR Working group developed an outline bid to the AHRC funded Towards a National Collection fund. This bid was not shortlisted, however the working group is currently devising a bid to Leverhulme to build research capacity and deliver a Collections and Evaluation policy at regional level.
Exploitation Route This research project is already impacting across different sectors of art, arts management, practice and policy. This impact relates to the following research outcomes that are being taken forward through academic and non-academic routes:

Our database of funded AfR practice, research findings and policy papers provide arts and community support projects, communities in conflict, and professionals and funders involved in publicly funded AfR projects with evidence on best and better frameworks for the understanding and delivery of conflict transformation outcomes.

The Research Advisory committee model has enhanced and broadened our dissemination and networking strategies, with research partners and collaborators bringing their own extensive networks to this research project. We have involved and consulted with those organisations and their networks through the RAC and working groups and through participation in co-curated Exchange Forums, in which we share our progress and findings with academics, archivists, practitioners and communities affected by violence.

We are currently designing a final international Exchange Forum for July 2021. This third and final Exchange Forum, 'what are we learning and what's next?' will provide an international perspective on our research and a platform to promote the AfR website to an international audience.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy
URL https://www.artforreconciliation.org/
 
Description This research project is already impacting across different sectors of art, arts management, practice and policy. This impact relates to the following research outcomes that are being taken forward through academic and non-academic routes: Our database of funded AfR practice, research findings and policy papers provide arts and community support projects, communities in conflict, and professionals and funders involved in publicly funded AfR projects with evidence on best and better frameworks for the understanding and delivery of conflict transformation outcomes. The Research Advisory committee model has enhanced and broadened our dissemination and networking strategies, with research partners and collaborators bringing their own extensive networks to this research project. We have involved and consulted with those organisations and their networks through the RAC and working groups and through participation in co-curated Exchange Forums, in which we share our progress and findings with academics, archivists, practitioners and communities affected by violence. We are currently designing a final international Exchange Forum for July 2021. This third and final Exchange Forum, 'what are we learning and what's next?' will provide an international perspective on our research and a platform to promote the AfR website to an international audience.
First Year Of Impact 2020
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services
 
Description Building Impact
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
URL http://www.artforreconciliation.org
 
Description Agreement: People's Process and Exchange Forum
Amount £6,500 (GBP)
Organisation Belfast City Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2019 
End 01/2020
 
Title Case Study 
Description question: what are the distinctive strategies and practices of Arts for Reconciliation (AfR)? The case studies are designed to reveal how conflict transformation strategies have been conceived and practised and the understanding of them by practitioners, audiences and community participants. The Case Study method is based on the AHRC Cultural Value Project report's recognition of the potential of arts-based and hermeneutic research methodologies to "enable access to forms of knowledge and awareness that are difficult [] to articulate in words". Members of the academic research team are undertaking six case studies of AfR projects: four retrospective studies, and two prospective, durational projects. The case studies were selected in consultation with the Research Advisory Committee, on the basis that they are reflective of the findings identified in the first phase of the research, for example being varied by art form, partnership structure, design and method. In moving beyond Phase 1 and its concern with funding and outcome, the case studies examine the way creative and expressive processes are/ have been used not only as a response mechanism to conflict but as vehicles for conflict amelioration and relational change. This more grounded case study approach is aimed at teasing out how art is deployed as a distinctive medium to respond to the emotions, symptoms and experience of harm, transgression and conflict experience, using a range of methods. The Case Study research method combines the following research tools: performance ethnography, participant observation, focus groups, videographic methods and interviews. This combination of research methods is aimed at bringing to light the experiential impressions of individuals involved in AfR and what is occurring 'on the ground' during, and as a result of, the practice itself. The case studies are not all completed, information on the case studies and about the participating organisations and individuals is published on the AfR website. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Facilitating co-production and greater engagement with research processes, e.g. • The Research Team consulted with the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) membership on the design of the Case Study Research Framework, shared Case Study Selection Criteria with members and invited members to point out gaps and propose amendments to the Selection Criteria • RAC members assisted in the Case Study selection process by pointing out gaps and proposing amendments to the Selection Criteria; and also identified relevant projects, events and activities that would be happening during 2019/20 and that might make suitable case studies. • RAC members have responded to the case study research framework through feedback and discussion. 
URL http://www.artforreconciliation.org/case-studies
 
Title Arts for Reconciliation (AfR) Funding base: A Database of AfR funders from 1995 to the present, including Primary Funders Arts and Primary Funders Peace. 
Description As per the research proposal, Phase 1 of the project sought to gather 'data across all administrative scales of publicly funded projects from 1995'. In the process of identifying and prioritising funders and sources of funding data below, we shifted the specific focus on publicly funded projects and sought information on any and all types of funding which was available. Though this was not done intentionally, the limitations present in data on public funds would have posed even greater challenges to what we can learn from the data than what we eventually encountered anyway (more on this below). In the first meeting of the Research Advisory Committee (21 March 2018), we asked those in attendance what funders they were aware of which might have financially supported AfR activity. This exercise produced over 70 currently operating and historic sources of funds. This co-produced list guided an initial scoping of each funder for information about the funding bodies which in term provided a greater sense of the structure of the overall funding environment. As data gathering proceeded, the list was refined to reflect the evolution of funding bodies (i.e. the reform of 26 Local Councils into 11 District Councils), clarify sources of funds (i.e. City of Culture is a funding stream which was administered by multiple funding bodies) and remove funders whose involvement with AfR has been negligible. Headline information about what data we have been able to gather for each funder identified with the help of the RAC is held within an Excel spreadsheet entitled 'AfR Funders' in AfRAHRC/Phase 1 Data Gathering/AfR Funders folder. The information is categorised into: • Characteristics of funders: type, level, whether they explicitly fund arts and/or peace, where their funds originate, who delivers/administers the funds, years funding • Overview of what data we were able to access for each funder: funding recipients, funding streams, award amounts, project titles, project descriptions, geography, applications, objectives, evaluations, years the data relates to, total number of awards, total number of awards identified as AfR, total sum of awards, total sum of awards identified as AfR, data sources • Some notes on data gathering process for each: website data, interview, miscellaneous It lists 44 current funders (including all types/levels, so some are 'originators' of funding and therefore information about what/who they have funded is listed under their respective intermediary organisations). Councils listed here include any data we found from their previous forms before they were consolidated in 2015. It lists 30 historic funders (including previous councils), though naturally the data pertaining to these funders is much less accessible/reliable. This database was published, presented and formed the basis of discussions at RAC meetings in November 208 and March 2019, and at the 1st Exchange Forum in June 2019. It will be published on the AfR website during Phase 3 of the research project. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The Research Team presented the Database to the Research Advisory Committee on 18 November 2018, as part of an overview of the first phase of data gathering and initial findings The presentation set out how different funders involved in the AfR field were categorised on the basis of different types of funding bodies (e.g. arms-length, charitable, local authority, etc.); different levels of funding activity (e.g. as originators, intermediaries, etc.); different locations and remits (e.g. national, international, local); and different intentions behind their work (e.g arts, reconciliation, etc.). Analysis of the data also showed the nature of the work and relationships between key funders in diagram form. Analysis and discussion of the Database of AfR funders identified key questions for future research, which chimed with key areas of interest and concern for artists, arts organisations and funders working in the field of arts for reconciliation, e.g.: • The data remains somewhat opaque, e.g. in many cases, funders can only supply headline data; there is limited availability of evaluations; and some organisations no longer exist • Data frequently comes with caveats, due to size and complexity of the field, e.g. some inconsistencies in official databases and difficulties in separating potential AfR activities from core activities • More can be said about data collected from projects running during the past 10 years, because more precise records are available and projects appear more purposeful Awards to Victims and Survivors organisations were largely determined by different funding priorities to AfR projects, i.e. organisations supporting people who had suffered personal harm or injury in the conflict were less likely to prioritise reconciliation objectives • Larger concentration of funding were awarded in Belfast and Derry • Theatre, music and visual arts were most frequently funded art forms • Little has been learned about evaluations to date, beyond their variable importance to funders and mixed feelings about the relative value of outcome based and attitudinal measurements These findings influenced the direction of Phase Two of the research and will influence Future Steps, Outputs & Knowledge. 
 
Description Exchange Fora 
Organisation ArtisAnn Gallery
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Exchange Forum 1: The first of three public Exchange Forums examining how theatre, visual art, dance, music reflect, represent, or respond to experiences of political conflict and deliver reconciliatory outcomes. Held on 8 June at the Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast, Exchange Forum 1 provided space for deliberation and dialogue between academic researchers, artists, arts managers, funders, policy makers, conflict transformation practitioners and interested members of the public at large. Activities involved a mixture of paper presentations, response workshops, arts exhibitions, performance and engagement. The purpose was not only to disseminate emerging findings, but to facilitate co-production of research and further the potential of critical learning concerning the purpose, value, impact and evaluation of Arts for Reconciliation policy and practice. Provide details of the collaborators and/or partners Individuals Chad Alexander, artist and photographer, Belfast Eamonn Baker, Holywell Trust, community development and peacebuilding, Derry. Member of AfR Advisory Committee Ken Bartley, gallery director and exhibition curator, Artisann gallery, East Belfast. Member of AfR Advisory Committee Paula Carson, actor Maggie Cronin, actor, PGR student Queen's University Belfast James Doran, actor Sarah Feinstein, Lecturer Museum Studies, University of Manchester. Ali Fitzgibbon, independent arts consultant and researcher. Member of AfR Advisory Committee. Jennifer Goddard, Lecturer in Drama, Ulster University Simon Hagan, web designer Vincent Higgins, actor Paula McFetridge, Director Kabosh theatre company. Member of AfR Advisory Committee. Hugh Odling-Smee, Film Hub Project Manager, QUB, Belfast. Member of AfR Advisory Committee. Simon Sweeny, actor Raymond Watson, artist. http://irishartworld.com/index.htm Peter Young, Videographer Organisations Beyond Skin, music, creative development and peacebuilding, Belfast Brian Friel THeatre Derry Playhouse and Theatre and Peacebuilding Academy Holywell Trust, Derry Kabosh Theatre Company, Belfast Queen's University Belfast Studio 2/ Greater Shantallow Community , Derry Members of the AfR research team based at the University of Liverpool, Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast initiated, directed and hosted the first Exchange Forum, aimed at opening up critical space for our research community of academics, arts producers, artists, funders, policy makers and audiences, to respond to our research, ask pertinent questions, share insights and to facilitate co-production. The AfR research team developed a project plan through consultation with members of the AfR Research Advisory Committee (RAC) at a series of meetings convened in November 2018 and March 2019. It was agreed that the Exchange Forum would be held in June 2019 to allow the wider community to learn more about the intentions of our research and engage with findings from the first phase of research, through presentations, roundtables and workshops facilitated by the academic research team and research partners. The Principal Investigator and members of the AfR academic research team presented information on the project, focusing on the way the project located and researched funding data and how they have conceptualised AfR. Drs Victoria Durrer and Sarah Jankowitz, supported by members of the AfR academic research team facilitated a roundtable discussion and four workshops, in which attendees were able to bring their voices, knowledge and experience to conversations and debates that concern AfR and to feed into plans for the next phase of the AfR research David Grant, supported by members of the AfR Research team and the Research Advisory Committee curated a showcase of performances and screenings The AfR Administrator facilitated a presentation on the development of the AfR interactive website and invited attendees to engage with the work as it progressed and launched the AfR twitter account: @artforreconcil1 The AfR research team designed an evaluation and feedback process, including questionnaires, filmed responses and more detailed Reflections to collect data at and after the event The AfR Administrator collected, compiled and, where appropriate, published data to help support the work of organisations and practitioners involved in the field of AfR Research Advisory Committee (RAC). The RAC consists of artists, arts managers, funders, policymakers, and community support professionals together with non-artist participants such as conflict transformation NGOs, victims groups, communities engaged in AfR and audience participants, as well as academics engaged in the study of AfR. Its role is to provide a robust, critically engaged response to research findings, facilitate co-production of research and to ensure that the research serves the needs of participating groups and organisations. Members meet twice a year. Provide details of the collaborators and/or partners Graeme Stevenson, Arts Council NI Hugh Odling Smee, Jacqueline Irwin John Kerr David Boyd, the Beat Initiative Paula Devine Paula McFetridge, Director, Kabosh Theatre Pauline Ross, Director, The Playhouse Derry Roger McCallum, arts consultant and practitioner, Derry Kate Turner, Director, Healing Through Remembering, Belfast Ali Fitzgibbon, independent arts consultant and researcher, former director Young at Art, Belfast Hilary Copeland, The John Hewitt Society Eamonn Baker, Holywell Trust, Derry Naomi Doak, Belfast City Council Ellen Schultz Eamonn Quinn Conor Mitchell, The Belfast Ensamble Kevin Conmy, The Department of Foreign Affairs (Irish government funder) Gilly Campbell, Arts Council NI Patrick O'Reilly, Tinderbox Una NicEion, Prome Cut Paul Gallagher, WAVE Niall Rea, Theatre of Pluck Ruth McCarthy, Outburst Peter Richards, Director, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast Anna Liesching, Ulster Museum Kim Mawhinney, Ulster Museum David Tosh, Ulster Museum Hannah Crowdy, Ulster Museum Jonathan Stewart, British Council Liz McBain, British Council Collette Norwood, British Council Ken Bartley, ArtisAnn gallery
Collaborator Contribution Members of the AfR Research Advisory Committee contributed to the design of the Exchange Forum at two RAC meetings in November 2018 and March 2019. Belfast artist and photographer Chad Alexander provided an image from his series 'Entries' as the visual for the Exchange Forum invitation and programme Eamonn Baker, Maggie Cronin, Sarah Feinstein, Ali Fitzgibbon, Jennifer Goddard, Paula McFetridge and Hugh Odling-Smee worked with Tori Durrer (co-Investigator AfR research team) to design and deliver Co-producing Research: A roundtable discussion. They also acted as Co-Facilitators on the delivery of the workshops. Simon Hagan (Belfast based website designer http://pixeldub.net/) worked with AfR Administrator to deliver a presentation on the progress of the AfR website Paula Carson, James Doran, Vincent Higgins and Simon Sweeney performing extracts from Green and Blue by Laurence McKeown and A Queer Ceili at the Marty Forsythe by Dominic Montague. Produced by Kabosh Theatre, directed by Paula McFetridge. Raymond Watson presented his practice as an artist with direct experience of political conflict, influenced by culture, conflict and human rights issues, including the recent political conflict in the north of Ireland and around the globe. He focused on Unlocked, a sound installation originally created for the Liverpool University Irish Studies Institute commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The Playhouse Theatre and Peacebuilding Academy, Derry provided two films for screening: Turf, a dance theatre production exploring NI's troubled past through a fusion of music by Keith Acheson and original poetry by Maria McManus performed by a professional and community cast; and Forgive Me Not - a short film directed by Conan McIvor and written by Michael J Daly, exploring reconciliation and victimhood in post conflict Northern Ireland Shantallow Community Arts and Studio 2 provided extracts from Don't Shoot my Wanes, Shoot me, for screening Members of the Research Team have facilitated 4 RAC meetings since March 2018, inviting members to • Assist in data gathering and analysis • Provide access to material relating to grant application and decision-making processes • Discuss and participate in interpreting the emergent research findings. • Assist in the identification, design and analysis of AfR case studies. • Aid research dissemination and knowledge transfer between participants and researchers • Contribute ideas to the design, co-produce and participate in Exchange Forum 1 • Share research findings held on the project's website via their own networks both on- and off-line. The Principal Investigator and members of the AfR academic research team have presented information on the project and given regular updates at 4 meetings since March 2018. The Research Team shared Case Study Selection Criteria with RAC members and invited members to point out gaps and propose amendments to the Selection Criteria. The Research Team and Administrator collected, compiled and disseminated detailed minutes of RAC meetings in a Report, designed to support the work of the AfR research project and the work of organisations and practitioners participating as RAC members. The Research Team invited RAC members to join a discussion around the potential for building an art for reconciliation archive. Questions to be explored: • How do artists, managers and producers perceive these issues? • What can we do to build on existing collections and publications • What form might an archive take? • What do we want to recover, revive and revisit? RAC members supported the AfR academic research team by helping to facilitate a roundtable discussion and four workshops at the first Exchange Forum on 8 June 2019. RAC members responded to findings emerging from the early gathering and analysis of data on funding, including the formulation of initial categories and typologies of AfR. RAC members assisted in the Case Study selection process by pointing out gaps and proposing amendments to the Selection Criteria; and also identified relevant projects, events and activities that would be happening during 2019/20 and that might make suitable case studies. RAC members responded to the case study research framework through feedback and discussion. RAC members contributed proposals for speakers, participants, themes for Exchange Forums; alongside ideas for facilitating interaction and information on events, exhibitions, performances running at same time. Peter Richards, Golden Thread gallery and Kim Mawhinney, Ulster Museum agreed to host a series of meetings to discuss the potential for building an art for reconciliation archive, beginning with a planning and goal setting meeting at the Golden Thread gallery on 24 February 2020 and a roundtable discussion to be held at the Ulster Museum at the end of March 2020. 4 RAC meetings held (21 March 2018; 15 November 2018; 13 March 2019 and 5 December 2019) 4 RAC Reports circulated to the membership Attendance at meetings: 21 March 2018: 15 attending 15 November 2018: 14 attending 13 March 2019: 9 attending 5 December 2019: 20 attending
Impact Outputs: 70 Eventbrite bookings 42 Attended 25 participated in Response Workshops 11 Feedback forms completed 4 film responses recorded @artforreconcil gained 71 followers
Start Year 2018
 
Description Exchange Fora 
Organisation Golden Thread Gallery
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Exchange Forum 1: The first of three public Exchange Forums examining how theatre, visual art, dance, music reflect, represent, or respond to experiences of political conflict and deliver reconciliatory outcomes. Held on 8 June at the Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast, Exchange Forum 1 provided space for deliberation and dialogue between academic researchers, artists, arts managers, funders, policy makers, conflict transformation practitioners and interested members of the public at large. Activities involved a mixture of paper presentations, response workshops, arts exhibitions, performance and engagement. The purpose was not only to disseminate emerging findings, but to facilitate co-production of research and further the potential of critical learning concerning the purpose, value, impact and evaluation of Arts for Reconciliation policy and practice. Provide details of the collaborators and/or partners Individuals Chad Alexander, artist and photographer, Belfast Eamonn Baker, Holywell Trust, community development and peacebuilding, Derry. Member of AfR Advisory Committee Ken Bartley, gallery director and exhibition curator, Artisann gallery, East Belfast. Member of AfR Advisory Committee Paula Carson, actor Maggie Cronin, actor, PGR student Queen's University Belfast James Doran, actor Sarah Feinstein, Lecturer Museum Studies, University of Manchester. Ali Fitzgibbon, independent arts consultant and researcher. Member of AfR Advisory Committee. Jennifer Goddard, Lecturer in Drama, Ulster University Simon Hagan, web designer Vincent Higgins, actor Paula McFetridge, Director Kabosh theatre company. Member of AfR Advisory Committee. Hugh Odling-Smee, Film Hub Project Manager, QUB, Belfast. Member of AfR Advisory Committee. Simon Sweeny, actor Raymond Watson, artist. http://irishartworld.com/index.htm Peter Young, Videographer Organisations Beyond Skin, music, creative development and peacebuilding, Belfast Brian Friel THeatre Derry Playhouse and Theatre and Peacebuilding Academy Holywell Trust, Derry Kabosh Theatre Company, Belfast Queen's University Belfast Studio 2/ Greater Shantallow Community , Derry Members of the AfR research team based at the University of Liverpool, Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast initiated, directed and hosted the first Exchange Forum, aimed at opening up critical space for our research community of academics, arts producers, artists, funders, policy makers and audiences, to respond to our research, ask pertinent questions, share insights and to facilitate co-production. The AfR research team developed a project plan through consultation with members of the AfR Research Advisory Committee (RAC) at a series of meetings convened in November 2018 and March 2019. It was agreed that the Exchange Forum would be held in June 2019 to allow the wider community to learn more about the intentions of our research and engage with findings from the first phase of research, through presentations, roundtables and workshops facilitated by the academic research team and research partners. The Principal Investigator and members of the AfR academic research team presented information on the project, focusing on the way the project located and researched funding data and how they have conceptualised AfR. Drs Victoria Durrer and Sarah Jankowitz, supported by members of the AfR academic research team facilitated a roundtable discussion and four workshops, in which attendees were able to bring their voices, knowledge and experience to conversations and debates that concern AfR and to feed into plans for the next phase of the AfR research David Grant, supported by members of the AfR Research team and the Research Advisory Committee curated a showcase of performances and screenings The AfR Administrator facilitated a presentation on the development of the AfR interactive website and invited attendees to engage with the work as it progressed and launched the AfR twitter account: @artforreconcil1 The AfR research team designed an evaluation and feedback process, including questionnaires, filmed responses and more detailed Reflections to collect data at and after the event The AfR Administrator collected, compiled and, where appropriate, published data to help support the work of organisations and practitioners involved in the field of AfR Research Advisory Committee (RAC). The RAC consists of artists, arts managers, funders, policymakers, and community support professionals together with non-artist participants such as conflict transformation NGOs, victims groups, communities engaged in AfR and audience participants, as well as academics engaged in the study of AfR. Its role is to provide a robust, critically engaged response to research findings, facilitate co-production of research and to ensure that the research serves the needs of participating groups and organisations. Members meet twice a year. Provide details of the collaborators and/or partners Graeme Stevenson, Arts Council NI Hugh Odling Smee, Jacqueline Irwin John Kerr David Boyd, the Beat Initiative Paula Devine Paula McFetridge, Director, Kabosh Theatre Pauline Ross, Director, The Playhouse Derry Roger McCallum, arts consultant and practitioner, Derry Kate Turner, Director, Healing Through Remembering, Belfast Ali Fitzgibbon, independent arts consultant and researcher, former director Young at Art, Belfast Hilary Copeland, The John Hewitt Society Eamonn Baker, Holywell Trust, Derry Naomi Doak, Belfast City Council Ellen Schultz Eamonn Quinn Conor Mitchell, The Belfast Ensamble Kevin Conmy, The Department of Foreign Affairs (Irish government funder) Gilly Campbell, Arts Council NI Patrick O'Reilly, Tinderbox Una NicEion, Prome Cut Paul Gallagher, WAVE Niall Rea, Theatre of Pluck Ruth McCarthy, Outburst Peter Richards, Director, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast Anna Liesching, Ulster Museum Kim Mawhinney, Ulster Museum David Tosh, Ulster Museum Hannah Crowdy, Ulster Museum Jonathan Stewart, British Council Liz McBain, British Council Collette Norwood, British Council Ken Bartley, ArtisAnn gallery
Collaborator Contribution Members of the AfR Research Advisory Committee contributed to the design of the Exchange Forum at two RAC meetings in November 2018 and March 2019. Belfast artist and photographer Chad Alexander provided an image from his series 'Entries' as the visual for the Exchange Forum invitation and programme Eamonn Baker, Maggie Cronin, Sarah Feinstein, Ali Fitzgibbon, Jennifer Goddard, Paula McFetridge and Hugh Odling-Smee worked with Tori Durrer (co-Investigator AfR research team) to design and deliver Co-producing Research: A roundtable discussion. They also acted as Co-Facilitators on the delivery of the workshops. Simon Hagan (Belfast based website designer http://pixeldub.net/) worked with AfR Administrator to deliver a presentation on the progress of the AfR website Paula Carson, James Doran, Vincent Higgins and Simon Sweeney performing extracts from Green and Blue by Laurence McKeown and A Queer Ceili at the Marty Forsythe by Dominic Montague. Produced by Kabosh Theatre, directed by Paula McFetridge. Raymond Watson presented his practice as an artist with direct experience of political conflict, influenced by culture, conflict and human rights issues, including the recent political conflict in the north of Ireland and around the globe. He focused on Unlocked, a sound installation originally created for the Liverpool University Irish Studies Institute commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The Playhouse Theatre and Peacebuilding Academy, Derry provided two films for screening: Turf, a dance theatre production exploring NI's troubled past through a fusion of music by Keith Acheson and original poetry by Maria McManus performed by a professional and community cast; and Forgive Me Not - a short film directed by Conan McIvor and written by Michael J Daly, exploring reconciliation and victimhood in post conflict Northern Ireland Shantallow Community Arts and Studio 2 provided extracts from Don't Shoot my Wanes, Shoot me, for screening Members of the Research Team have facilitated 4 RAC meetings since March 2018, inviting members to • Assist in data gathering and analysis • Provide access to material relating to grant application and decision-making processes • Discuss and participate in interpreting the emergent research findings. • Assist in the identification, design and analysis of AfR case studies. • Aid research dissemination and knowledge transfer between participants and researchers • Contribute ideas to the design, co-produce and participate in Exchange Forum 1 • Share research findings held on the project's website via their own networks both on- and off-line. The Principal Investigator and members of the AfR academic research team have presented information on the project and given regular updates at 4 meetings since March 2018. The Research Team shared Case Study Selection Criteria with RAC members and invited members to point out gaps and propose amendments to the Selection Criteria. The Research Team and Administrator collected, compiled and disseminated detailed minutes of RAC meetings in a Report, designed to support the work of the AfR research project and the work of organisations and practitioners participating as RAC members. The Research Team invited RAC members to join a discussion around the potential for building an art for reconciliation archive. Questions to be explored: • How do artists, managers and producers perceive these issues? • What can we do to build on existing collections and publications • What form might an archive take? • What do we want to recover, revive and revisit? RAC members supported the AfR academic research team by helping to facilitate a roundtable discussion and four workshops at the first Exchange Forum on 8 June 2019. RAC members responded to findings emerging from the early gathering and analysis of data on funding, including the formulation of initial categories and typologies of AfR. RAC members assisted in the Case Study selection process by pointing out gaps and proposing amendments to the Selection Criteria; and also identified relevant projects, events and activities that would be happening during 2019/20 and that might make suitable case studies. RAC members responded to the case study research framework through feedback and discussion. RAC members contributed proposals for speakers, participants, themes for Exchange Forums; alongside ideas for facilitating interaction and information on events, exhibitions, performances running at same time. Peter Richards, Golden Thread gallery and Kim Mawhinney, Ulster Museum agreed to host a series of meetings to discuss the potential for building an art for reconciliation archive, beginning with a planning and goal setting meeting at the Golden Thread gallery on 24 February 2020 and a roundtable discussion to be held at the Ulster Museum at the end of March 2020. 4 RAC meetings held (21 March 2018; 15 November 2018; 13 March 2019 and 5 December 2019) 4 RAC Reports circulated to the membership Attendance at meetings: 21 March 2018: 15 attending 15 November 2018: 14 attending 13 March 2019: 9 attending 5 December 2019: 20 attending
Impact Outputs: 70 Eventbrite bookings 42 Attended 25 participated in Response Workshops 11 Feedback forms completed 4 film responses recorded @artforreconcil gained 71 followers
Start Year 2018
 
Description Artistic & Creative Record 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Art for Reconciliation co-curated performances, exhibitions and screenings. A series of co-curated performances, exhibitions and screenings that connect art for reconciliation practice to academic research processes and to wider audiences beyond the academy.
• Select type of artistic or creative product from the list
Co-curationpublic performanceexhibition..
The first artistic/ creative event involved a co-curated programme of performances and screenings delivered on 8 June at the Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast, as part of the Exchange Forum 1 day of deliberation and dialogue between academic researchers, artists, arts managers, funders, policy makers, conflict transformation practitioners and interested members of the public at large. David Grant, supported by members of the AfR Research team and the Research Advisory Committee curated a showcase of performances and screenings. The purpose was not only to engage and entertain audiences but to further the potential of critical learning concerning the purpose, value, impact and evaluation of Arts for Reconciliation practice. Artists, co-curators, contributing organisations included:Artists, curators and arts producers
• David Grant, Co-Investigator, AfR Research project, QUB.
• Simon Hagan, web designer
• Vincent Higgins, actor
• Paula McFetridge, Director Kabosh theatre company. Member of AfR Advisory Committee
• Beyond Skin, music, creative development and peacebuilding, Belfast
• Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast
• Kabosh Theatre Company, Belfast
• Queen's University Belfast
• Studio 2/ Greater Shantallow Community Derry
The second artistic/ creative activity involved co-curated exhibition and screenings, Agreement: The People's Process, was delivered at the Golden Thread gallery, Belfast between Saturday 7 December 2019 and January 18 2020. Agreement: The People's Process combined contemporary photography, painting, sculpture, installations, animation and textiles, in an exhibition that examined reconciliation in the context of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and violent conflict in Columbia, Iraq and Argentina. Artists, co-producers, curators and participating organisations included:
• Chad Alexander, artist and photographer, Belfast
• Ken Bartley, gallery director and exhibition curator, Artisann gallery, East Belfast. Member of AfR Advisory Committee
• Dr. Jordana Blejmar, School of Arts, University of Liverpool
• Eugene Dolberg (London) and Sajida Um Mohammed (Basra)
• Sarah Feinstein, Common Ground Research Network, University of Manchester
• Jamie Holman, artist, Bolton, Lancashire
• Peter Richards, Director, Golden Thread gallery, Belfast
• Frankie Quinn, photographer, Belfast
• Patricia Barrera Ramírez, Director, Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica
• Edwin Cubillos Rodriguez, artist and photographer
• Professor Claire Taylor, University of Liverpool
• Hannah Watson, Belfast Exposed Photography
• Raymond Watson, artist. http://irishartworld.com/index.htm
• Helen Zout, artist and photographer, Argentina
• National Centre for Historical Memory, Colombia
• Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool

The third artistic/ creative activity involved a series of 14 co-produced films made in Belfast and Derry (for screening at future events and on the AfR website) during December 2019. The films were designed as part of an evaluation and feedback process for collecting data during and after co-curated events. They posed 2 key questions:

• What does reconciliation mean to you?
• What is the distinctive and specific contribution that your artistic practice makes to reconciliation? (or 'your company's artistic practice' or 'the artistic practice of the organisations you fund'/ as appropriate).

Each film runs for between 3 and 4 minutes. The films were shot on location in Belfast and Derry over three days (5,6 and 7 December). Interviewees included

• Damian Gorman - writer, Derry
• Anne Walker and Kathleen Gillespie, Theatre of Witness practitioners, Derry
• David Boyd, Beat Carnival, Belfast
• Raymond Watson - artist
• Elaine Forde, cultural manager, Derry Playhouse
• Pauline Hadaway, ArF Resaecr project
• Alex Coupe, AfR Research Project
• David Grant, AfR Research Project
• Ollie Green - Shantallow community arts, Derry
• Pauline Ross - Playhouse (Derry)
• Peter Richards, Director (Golden Thread)
• Peter Young, Videographer
• The Playhouse, Derry
• The Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
• The Seamus Heaney Centre Belfast

As film shorts made in various arts and community locations in Belfast and Derry under the direction of videographer Peter Young, they have become art for reconciliation co-productions and will be screened as such on the AfR website and at future AfR co-curated events, including the Exchange Forum 2 and 3.

The AfR research team published information promoting the events on the AfR interactive website

The AfR research team designed an evaluation and feedback process, including questionnaires, filmed responses and more detailed Reflections to collect data during and after events.

The AfR Administrator collected, compiled and, where appropriate, published data to help support the work of organisations and practitioners involved in the field of AfR

Agreement: The People's Process was nominated as Sunday Times exhibition 'Pick of the Week' 4 January 2020.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://www.artforreconciliation.org/projects/project-1
 
Description Meeting with Senior Civil Servants Department for Communities 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Meeting with research team and senior civil servants in Depart for Communities. Discussion of research findings and relevance to future policy. Encouraged to return to talk about issues of evaluation and impediments to art for reconciliation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021