Community Engagement
Issue 73 / Autumn 2019
Creative collaboration
Reading through this issue of JAM you get a real sense of how important collaboration and participation is within community
engagement. Or what Melissa Matthews from Suffolk Libraries calls: “creative democracy”.
It’s only by challenging the status quo and valuing grassroots creativity that an effective bottom-up and collaborative approach can be achieved, argues Imrana Mahmood.
Kenn Taylor discusses how community engagement should impact right across what a cultural organisation does to help influence change.
An arts organisation’s approach to working with communities is just as important as the work you do with those communities, considers Devinda De Silva from National Theatre Wales.
Hannah Talbot explains how the Jewish Museum London’s exhibition My Home and Me was a collaborative project with the British Red Cross Young Refugee Service and six young refugees.
A project driven by participants, Karys Orman writes about Orchestra Live’s ‘with’ not ‘for’ approach and the impact of its award-wining community engagement project Classically Yours.
In 2018 Arts Council England welcomed six library services as NPOs (National Portfolio Status). Melissa Matthews considers what NPO status has meant to Suffolk Libraries and what she’s learnt over the past year.
In Untold Stories, Charlotte Angharad spoke to JAM about MBD’s Empire Soldiers project, which was created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I and tells the stories of soldiers from the Caribbean and South Asia who fought for Britain.
In this issue’s spotlight Ciara Harris, AMA’s Membership and Marketing Officer, shares her 25th year with the AMA. And Bea Udeh, AMA’s Programme Producer, spoke to Verity Shallaker about the AMA’s upcoming event — Inclusivity & Audiences Day.
Any thoughts, comments or suggestions for JAM? Please email the Editor, Jacqueline Haxton at jacqueline@a-m-a.co.uk.
JAM cover image courtesy of National Theatre Wales (NTW) © Ben Manning.