A radical holistic edge-fusion learning space with a collection of really useful collaborative tools for making social-ecological just change.
A radical holistic edge-fusion learning space with a collection of really useful collaborative tools for making social-ecological just change.
Workshops
HEdge Space
A Holistic Do-it-Together Tool kit.
Radical creative & holistic workshops to support people bring about just change, together
Workshops
Outreach Workshop 1
The People here are the Resource - Co-Researcher Quote
Outreach Workshop 1
Date: November 2021
Location: Gort Resource Centre
Participants: 6: AS, CC, FMW, NJ, KB, JN
Duration: 2 hour Workshop
Method:
Short praxis cycles using creative eco-embodied activities
Facilitator: Giselle
In this process I had multiple roles, lead researcher, facilitator and popular educator. People occupying different roles is common in real community organizing contexts.
Purpose:
1. Public Outreach: To find people who want to become part of a co-researching community or collective action group.
2. To explore group work and learning for action using creative eco- embodied activities
3, Stimulate reflection and dialogue to inform action
4. Identify Generative themes in the group based on their motivations for coming and their social-ecological concerns
5. Generate ideas for future actions
3. tools and natural materials.
Praxis Workshop Structure:
The outreach workshop was organized into seven short activities:
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Participants meet and greet using post-its.
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Individual reflection through creative play using mixed media art materials & natural materials (e.g leaves and sticks)
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People share back insights from activity. to the group
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Facilitator offers the group an information input on AR-PAR,
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The group engages in a collaborative co-researching activity based on the broad question
'How do we make social-ecological change together? -
The group reflects on this activity and what thoughts or feelings it generated for them.
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Individual workshop evaluation and share back. Benefits (usefulness), challenge's of the process. Next steps.
This was a two hour workshop but could be expanded into a 2 day workshop depending on the context.
All four outreach workshops followed the same format, but each offered very unique insights, creative outputs and discussions. Each workshop, and each of the 14 participants brought some knowledge to this knowledge making process, and made this website learning resource what it is. Some people only came to the outreach workshops. 7 participants came back for the core co-researching workshops and participated to varying degrees.
Introduction
This was the first outreach workshop of the project. The outreach workshops originally designed to happen as small scale making workshops in the outdoors, were moved indoors due to delays, including covid. This meant we were now starting in late November and being sure of workable whether conditions was not guaranteed. It is important to note that as these workshops commenced in November 2021, during the Covid 19 pandemic, people had largely not been in the company of others, in-person, for some time. There was both a sense of gladness and strangeness about our togetherness, which people spoke to. As always in popular education, we began by meeting each other, checking in with how each of us were feeling and reflection on our reasons for being here.
1. Meeting each other.
Who are you and why did you
come to the workshop?
Use Post-its. 15 minutes
1. Participant motivations.
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I came to see how this works because I think that Art has the potential to make or point to changes.
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Curiosity, it said art.
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I am interested in Participatory Democracy
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I came because I appreciate this research methodology, and I’m all for creative approaches to social & environmental justice and change
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I’m very concerned about the environment and with a background in art and hoping for community/need for community for the environment.
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I want to use my art to collaborate
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I want to learn something and have an experience
2. Using creative play to connect with social and ecological concerns.
30 minute activity.
Participants were invited to play with the materials provided and reflect on the social and environmental issues of concern to them. Through this activity people could allow the materials, their bodies, and senses to guide their feelings and thoughts. It's a stream of consciousness process where participants channel what comes to them, trusting that their sensory selves are intelligent and know what to do (Use McNiff). This approach can bring insight to what is most prominent for us at this time and allows people to communicate about their concerns using non-verbal forms of expression. In this activity, people could also connect to each other to build relationships.
After the activity people reflected on their creative output and made meaning of it together through collective sharing and discussion. Making meaning of our experience together is an important part of popular education. This collective reflection, and dialogue is how we come to understand where each person is coming from, what is of concern to them. This is part of how we learn in radical education, by learning from each other. This forms the basis of a group discussion and helps inform political action for just change.
The activity was allowed to come to a natural end so as not to interrupt their flow or inquiry process, typically people were finished in 20-30 minutes.
If we finished sooner, we would just have more time for tea break, and often where much of our learning happens. This is called incidental learning. After the activity, participants were invited to walkabout the room to see everyone’s creations, and share any thoughts or feelings about the activity, if they so wished.
You can hear more about incidental learning, and popular education in activism, by listening to community organiser Aziz Chowdry in this link.
3. Participant feedback play activity.
Activity Feedback
A great tool for getting out of your head and letting questions/ideas build up
Activity Feedback
Play is good, Freedom to express. Got me away from thinking in lines
4. Learning Input Activity about Participatory Action Research and Arts Based Research.
Participatory Action Research and transdisciplinary research usually require some learning about the process approach. In the outreach workshops this was done in two ways.
1. the process was modelled using an experiential approach, i.e learning about the process by doing the process through the outreach workshop activities.
2. A short learning input about Participatory Action Research and Arts Based Research was given. In this activity participants were invited to read out loud some key descriptions of both of these research methodologies in a circle. Links to the resources that these descriptions were taken from are available as pdfs in the links below.
The learning input activity happened in the middle of the workshop rather than at the beginning. This was done to allow people to explore their own knowledge first. Printed pdfs of the resources were offered to participants after the workshops and a digital copy was also emailed to everyone.
This input led us into the next activity in which participants were invited to co-research together using the materials in combination with a problem posing question; How do we make social-ecological just change together?
5. How do we make social-ecological change together?
Creative collaborative co-researching activity
Participants were given 30 minutes to explore the question 'How do we make social-ecological just change together'? as a group, and using the tools that we had been exploring. In the images below of the creative outputs from the activity, some participant suggestions as to how we make change together and what we need to do that are visible.
6. Reflection on the creative collaborative activity
Feedback sheets were given to people to reflect on the activities as a whole and then share some of their reflections. In later outreach workshops, more time was given after the activity for group discussion before handing out feedback sheets for a reflection on the workshop as a whole. Below are some participant perspectives on the workshop experience.
Key participant motivations & interests, and generative themes in this workshop
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Curiosity
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The potential of art to make social-environmental justice change,
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Art and nature as collaborative tools
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Nature connection
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Participatory Democracy,
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Working with migrant community
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Interest in Freirean Graphics Method
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Collaborate action
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Learning and new experiences
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Need for community
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Group work opportunity and challenges
Participants journey through the project arising from this outreach workshop 1.
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Four people from this workshop became co-researchers.
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Two came to one core workshop, and then withdrew.
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One came to three core workshops and was involved in designing a creative action, though this was cancelled. They then withdrew.
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One came to four core workshops and co-designed the Red Rebel action. They also proposed and co-designed the workshop Samhain: Ritual Action for Change.
7. Workshop feedback Responses: Usefulness? Challenges?
Benefits and Usefulness
WHAT PEOPLE SAID
Participant Feedback
Yes, I want more hands-on art in my life
Participant Feedback
Good to participate in group collaboration for action, to work with others, for ideas to come together.
Participant Feedback
I wanted to use the ideas to build on my work with the local migrant community (language learning), particularly the use of Freirean graphics to explore experience.
This way is more enriching!
Participant Feedback
I really appreciate the creative hands-on approach.
Challenges, considerations and suggestions
WHAT PEOPLE SAID
Participant Feedback
Would take time for group to coalesce and see where it would go.
Participant Feedback
A Clear mission is helpful
Participant Feedback
Being strangers without a mission we were cautious about speaking out at first, but all participated
Participant Feedback
Good to participate in group collaboration for action,to work with others, for ideas to come together.
Resources used in this workshop
Participatory Action Research Toolkit Handout. Palin et al. Free download
Participatory-Action-Research-Toolkit.pdf (dur.ac.uk)
Handbook of Arts Based Research. Patricia Leavy. Free download of introduction. Plain English text.
(78) Handbook of Arts-Based Research | Patricia Leavy - Academia.edu
Aziz Choudry talks about community organising, activism, social movements and learning.
Stream episode FreshEd #14 - Activism and Social Movements (Aziz Choudry) by The FreshEd Podcast podcast | Listen online for free on SoundCloud
Group Work Information
Facilitating learning and change in groups and group sessions – infed.org:
Shaun McNiff
Art Can Heal Your Life: Techniques for Self-Healing Through the Creative Process Audible Audiobook – Original recording
Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go