I have spent the last week mind-mapping my ideas like mad, and trying to think of as many plausible ideas as possible, and ones that would not be too ambitious for a mini-project like this. I finally settled on the idea below, which still may need tweaking and adapting as I journey through the research for this project.
Project Brief
Community
Matters
‘Without a sense of caring,
there can be no sense of community.’ Anthony D’Angelo
Community
is a word we hear so often, and it’s one of those words which can have a very
different meaning for every person you ask about it. What
is community? What defines a community? Who belongs to community? How are
different communities linked? Well by dictionary definition Community is:
- A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government and often have a common cultural and historical heritage
- A locality inhabited by such a group
- Public in general, the society
- A group of people having cultural, religious, ethnic or other characteristics in common.
Now if you
asked most people what does community mean to them, I doubt that the response
would be anything like that above definitions, nowadays you might get people
saying the estate where they live is their community, or facebook is their
community. So I ask myself what does community mean to me?
- People socially linked by their location- wider community
- A group of people sharing a common interest, members of the same group, support system
- People who share similar social groups, experiences, or values
I would say
that firstly you are put into a community setting by default, when you are born
into a certain location. Those around you make up your local community. But
this is not to say that they are community to you. So people who are socially
linked by location make up what I would call a wider community, but within this
there can be lots of other communities. For example, the people you went to
school with, the people you chose to have as your friends, the people you work
with, all these can be chosen communities, to a person their closest friends
can be their community, their support system, their family. So for me there can
be different communities, in which people belong, as long as the people share a
common respect and understanding for one another.
Background:
As background
for this project brief the first point of call was to look at previous
community arts projects in the local area, and take knowledge from what I have
learnt during my time in the community sector.
·
What does community mean to you?
·
Whilst
undertaking my research into what is community, and researching into community
theatre, I have found many more organisations which may be useful throughout
this project, these are:
· www.noda.org.uk (Accessed 2/2/2012)
·
www.appliedtheatreproductions.org.uk (Accessed 3/2/2012)
·
www.lettinginthelight.org.uk (Accessed 3/2/2012)
·
www.creativestoke.org.uk (Accessed from 31/1/2012, Last
accessed 9/2/2012)
·
www.centrestageleek.org.uk (Accessed 3/2/2012)
·
www.vast.org.uk (Accessed 6/2/2012)
·
www.artshub.co.uk (Accessed 6/2/2012)
·
www.britishtheatreguide.info (Accessed (4/2/2012)
·
www.dramagroups.com (Accessed 3/2/2012)
·
www.awardsforall.org.uk (Accessed 3/2/2012)
·
www.artscouncil.org.uk (Accessed 8/2/2012)
These organisations
will help with researching the project, learning about what has been done in
the local area, giving advice on how to become involved in community arts
projects. One main resource in the research of this project will be the New Vic
Theatre. They have a number of very respectable community arts projects going
on in the local community and getting in touch with them will aid me to plan my
project. They have New Vic Borderlines which is a company which works with
disadvantaged communities in the area, and uses theatre as a way of
understanding themselves, their communities and to promote a more positive
outlook on life. They also run a drama club for children aged 4-10 to promote
fun and team work through creative means and a youth group for 10-18 year olds who want to learn new skills and be part of community theatre. In addition to
this they also run the Local Links project aiming to promote drama across the
curriculum by making links with local schools, and the adult theatre project
Revolve which aims to give adults insight into the world of theatre, not just
performing but the industry and management side as well.
‘Community
Theatre might be defined as a ‘theatrical producing organization serving a
limited area operating under an amateur licensing agreement’[1]
‘Community
performance to be work that facilitates creative expression of a diverse of
people, for aims of self expression and political change. Community
performances are communally created. Community performance rests in process
rather than product: in the act of working together, allowing different voices,
bodies and experiences to emerge.’[2]
My Proposition:
During the
course of this project I aim to facilitate a series of workshops or focus
groups with members of local communities, whether this is schools, youth
groups, theatre company members. The theme of the project is Community, and I
aim to use these workshops to find out what community means to specific
individuals, what matters to them within a community setting, what people want
to say about their communities, and the advantages and disadvantages of the
communities they live it.
The workshops
will consist of creative exercises and games to get people thinking about
community, about the environment they live in, and about the things that are
important to them.
The final
outcome of the project will be an exhibition showcasing what I have found and
the journey I have been on. I hope that there may be some kind of performance
worked out through the workshops, but this will depend on the groups I work
with and how willing they are to produce a performance.
I would like
the audience and participators to engage in the project, and gain knowledge not
only about community, but about themselves individually and within the
community. I would like to provide an entertaining and insightful experience.
Aims and
Objectives:
- · To facilitate 4 to 6 weeks of workshops/ focus groups with varied groups in the community
- · To find out what community means to various individuals, to find out what is important in community, when establishing one, when being part of one, the pros and cons of communities
- · To use creative means to get people thinking about the importance and diversity of communities
- · To produce thought provoking, entertaining work in which people get an insight into what values and ideas are invested in a community.
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