"Before the Flood": Interweaving situated performance and flood narratives for resilience building in hard-to-reach urban flood risk communities.

1. Further evaluation of community-based learning (CBL): Following targeted, community-based performance events in both case study areas (September, 2012), we are currently evaluating these activities by gauging responses and perceptions of relevant stakeholders/local residents. Brief, post-project surveys are being conducted at street level, as well as some longer interviews. However, in order to explore in greater depth the nature of community-based learning that comes from engagement with these arts interventions, we would like to experiment with further, in-depth reflection in the form of focus group discussions conducted at more of a longitudinal remove from the September events (in order to gauge what impact, if any, the project has made over a sustained time period). The proposal here is for research assistant support to co-ordinate/help analyse data from focus group discussions, during which participants will be asked to reflect critically on their memories of the project's activities and the themes/issues arising. These evaluations will help inform strategies for the developing the legacy and potential replicability of the current project.
2. Further development of creative outcomes; exploration of pathways to impact: The public presentations (September 2012), in both Eastville and Shipley, led to various requests for further follow-up. Feedback in Eastville has highlighted the value of local water narratives as a stimulus for engagement and community learning, with members of the public requesting copies of the narrative-based audio tracks used to accompany our site-specific dance promenade. We propose to extend this dimension of the project by working with communities in the production of short, digital video files, containing audio narratives and complementary visuals, which can be collected on DVD and viewed online (thereby ensuring the accessibility and sustainability of this narrative resource). We plan to screen these pieces publicly in May 2013, at Glenfrome Primary School (host to several project activities), as part of an event provisionally titled "More Films from the River Bank." (Several local groups were unable to make the first showing of local, river-themed films in September 2012, and there have been requests for a re-run). The digital stories will also be lodged at 'Bristol Stories' - a creative online digital storytelling project (run in partnership between Watershed and Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives Service). In Shipley, there have been numerous requests for us to remount the scripted promenade performances staged over one weekend in September, in order to reach further audience members. (We presented five cycles of our three interlocking 'routes' connecting different areas in the vicinity of the local waterways: see feedback collated at http://multi-story-shipley.co.uk/?p=310 .) Having established a presence and identity in the area, there is a real opportunity to use a remount of the performances to further the public dialogue around them, and further develop the project's potential impact. Bradford Council has asked us to present the performances again in conjunction with their own community initiatives. We would also look to further the involvement of the Environment Agency (with major flood situations to respond to in Yorkshire during the summer, their capacity to participate directly in the run-up to September was limited). Building on a developing relationship with Titus Salt High School (serves the local area), we plan to hold various events/discussions at the school in conjunction with the remounted performances, to maximise local understanding and awareness of the environment/heritage issues arising. We also plan to target some performances specifically at secondary-school students, in order to gauge their effectiveness with that particular age group.
3. Further development of primary school initiative. A key part of our engagement in Eastville has involved the developing relationship with Glenfrome Primary School, where curriculum development work around local river/flood awareness is ongoing. Engaging children, and through them their families, in the process of story-gathering, local knowledge-sharing, and creative response, is seen by stakeholders as a particularly impactful and transferable methodology. We are working with the school to develop a teacher's pack and web resources, usable in other contexts, which will encourage pupils to learn about, and respond creatively to, rivers in their immediate vicinity (their histories, natural features, and the risks they represent). We are looking to develop these outcomes in both case study areas. In Bristol, through the engagement of the City Council, the work at Glenfrome will be cascaded to other primary schools along the River Frome, and in other flood risk settings (such as the Brislington Brook rapid response catchment) that have memories of the 1968 floods in Bristol. In Bradford, we plan to pilot the teacher's pack through use in several area schools, working towards a sited public performance in May at the "Mirror Pool" - a major new water feature in the heart of the city centre. This initiative is in response to a specific invitation from Bradford Council (arising from the Shipley project) to create a flood-themed performance for the opening ceremony of the EU-wide Flood Resilient Cities conference (Interreg IVB). Our proposal to develop both a performance and exhibition for the city centre site, by encouraging Bradford area primary school children to investigate Bradford Beck and its tributaries, has been well received. Already several schools have confirmed their involvement. Bradford Council is supporting the costs of the Mirror Pool performance as well as providing schools contacts, but additional resources are needed to properly develop/evaluate this 'roll-out' of the primary school work to a wider constituency (e.g. research assistant support, materials costs, etc.).
Note: In both case study areas, these further developments will provide us with opportunities to explore synergies with DEFRA-funded pilot catchment projects. In Bradford, we are looking at using the Mirror Pool initiative to raise public awareness of the Aire Rivers Trust's Catchment Plan for Bradford Beck (developed with DEFRA funding during 2012-13). In Bristol, our work on water narratives will feed directly into the 'Bristol Avon River Story' - the public-facing part of the DEFRA-funded pilot project for the Bristol Avon catchment, which includes the Frome (Bath & NE Somerset Council/Avon Frome Partnership).