Co-producing with Communities
How can we improve the research we undertake with local communities?
In this project, Dr James Hodkinson (School of Modern Languages and Cultures) and colleagues worked with artists and arts organisations, community groups, third sector organisations, the education sector and heritage industries to improve their access to materials and involve them in the processes and outcomes of research.
The team moved beyond collaboration/ co-production towards co-designed projects, research questions and methods.
Supporting local communities
Several members of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures worked with marginalised groups to help co-develop research themes and questions in different areas.
Professor Kate Astbury
Professor Astbury helped black communities and students to access research materials, shape research questions, create their own archives and resources and art works, ensuring them were co-produced and co-designed.
Professor Alison Ribeiro de Menezes
Artists responded to Professor Ribeiro de Menezes’ pre-existing research by producing an original work of physical theatre, but then also co-developed new research themes and questions out the theatrical process, the performances and the critical reception of the work by diverse audiences, both in the UK and in Latin America.
Professor Fabienne Viala
Professor Viala (pictured below, right) worked with artists to co-create new original film works. The artworks formed key research outputs, which in turn gave rise to new published research and co-created new materials for museum education.
Dr James Hodkinson
Dr James Hodkinson pioneered immersive art-making approaches to research culture. His team invited community members into pre-performance making sessions or ‘mini academies.’ These experiences were used unlock testimony from the wider community and to create new research questions and archives for future projects. The events allowed Warwick researchers, from UG students, to PGR and to Professor to attend and embed in the process, and thus enabled critical thinking and training experiences in immersive methods.
Ongoing activity
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Please download this beginners' guide to working collaboratively on research with artists and communities.
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Please read the Together/Apart’ Programme (Autumn 2022) as an ongoing example of continued enhancement and innovation.
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Ethics procedures - James Hodkinson and Alison Ribeiro de Menezes are both engaging with the University to help fine tune ethics procedures that accommodate new ways of conducting research and public engagement.
Principal Investigator: Dr James Hodkinson, School of Modern Languages and Cultures