Hello and welcome to our Community Engagement News - Feb 2012
In this edition there's a spotlight on outdoor arts, reflections on the power of networking, an upcoming seminar on connecting with local communities, a great free resource to support you in safeguarding children and young people and some exciting opportunities. I hope you enjoy it! If you know colleagues that would like to receive free community engagement news in future please do forward this and invite them to join us.
Kind Regards,
Helen
Helen Ball: Head of Engagement Services |
Spotlight on outdoor arts |
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With many of you planning large outdoor events this year, we’ve put together all that we’ve learnt about researching your outdoor audiences in one resource, launched last week at an event at Westminster Council House with speakers from Arts Council England, the London 2012 Festival, CREATE Festival and ISAN. The guidelines includes advice on what types of evidence and data to collect; which methods to use and what resources are needed; how to recruit, train and support volunteers and how to report results. You can find full details of the event and download a copy of the full resource here |
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One large outdoor event that we’re really excited to be working as the evaluators on this year is BABEL. BABEL is a large, site-specific theatrical production taking place in May 2012 as part of World Stages London. It is a co-production between WildWorks and Battersea Arts Centre in partnership with Lyric Hammersmith, Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Young Vic and will feature a cast of 500 community and professional actors and musicians. You can follow BABEL on Twitter @BABEL_LDN and on Facebook here to find out more. If you are interested in seeing the production, tickets are available through BAC. Image credit: BABEL by WildWorks and BAC.
Photo by Steve Tanner |
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Reflections on the power of networking |
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I was excited to see Julia Hobsbawm waving the flag for networking this month in the Evening Standard and the Guardian and congratulations to her for being appointed visiting professor of networking at Cass Business School. Her publication Editorial Intelligence also runs a free email service that provides a summary of the day’s UK comment media in print and online, Ei digest, which I’ve found really helpful for broadening my own knowledge. While it’s not a face-to-face method, it’s a great way to connect with all sorts of ideas and viewpoints you might not consider otherwise. |
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Grass roots networking is one of the activities we have promoted strongly within the AL engagement service, partly because we realise you often lack the time to meet everyone you’d like to locally, but more importantly because we really believe that better relationships are built when you have face-to-face communication. Good networking is about building connections, good will and broadening your own mind. The more people I know, the more I realise that there is always more than one way to achieve something. We got lots of lovely feedback from our November 2011 'Arts and Older People' networking event at Rich Mix: "It was a great chance to meet like-minded people, some of whom I am sure we will work with." Jane Glitre, The Spitz Let me know if you are interested in organising or taking part in another networking event this year. |
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In the spirit of good networking, this month I went along to an evening run by Magic Me. Cocktails and Care Homes is an evening event where volunteers join care home residents for a chat and a drink. I went along to one in Tower Hamlets and spent a great evening chatting to Carolyn, an American lady who came over to the UK by boat to fulfil her fascination with British history and has lived most of her life in East London. Find out more about Magic Me.
Image credit: © Zahira Aragüete, Magic Me.
Residents and Volunteers enjoy a chat at the Pat Shaw House monthly Cocktail Party |
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Events and resources |
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My next seminar is coming up this month. It’s for anyone who wants to reach more people through the arts. The half day session will include a round-up of the most exciting engagement work happening in London right now and a rich discussion about what we can learn from it, a case study from my own work with the Olympic Delivery Authority and an opportunity to share ideas and challenges with colleagues. Connecting with Local Communities - 28 February 2012
If you’d like to know more click here. |
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Rachel at Artswork told me recently about some other fantastic free online resources. For anyone wanting to check, update or further their knowledge about child protection and safeguarding head to the Safe Network website. Designed to help voluntary and community groups, these are incredibly user friendly and include lots of templates you can download for your own work. Artswork are also teaming up with The Safe Network for 3 events this year called SAFE ORGANISATIONS: Safer Communities and Safer Arts – you can find info about these free events on the Artswork website. |
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From our friends... |
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The mayor’s office wants you to know that the First Annual Team London Achievement Awards are open until Wednesday this week. Created to celebrate the positive effect volunteering has in our communities, you can nominate individuals, teams of volunteers or volunteering organisations. The awards are based on the following categories:
• Improving Community Safety
• Increasing Youth Opportunities
• Building Stronger Neighbourhoods
• Cleaning & Greening London
To nominate someone, click here
And don’t forget that the Team London stars are celebrated year round. If you’re working with an exceptional volunteer you can nominate them for recognition from Team London and a thank you from the mayor. Click here for the entry form. |
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One of our recent Engagement clients, Emergency Exit Arts (EEA) are currently looking for additional Trustees in order to drive the company forward, Based in Greenwich at the crossroads of 3 Olympic sites, 2012 is set to be EEA’s most exciting year ever. For more information and details of how to apply please visit their website. |
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Job: Vision 2012, Museums & Libraries Manager, Arts Council England
Fixed term contract until 30 September 2012. ACE are recruiting for someone to manage the museum & library 2012 programmes. This role requires an individual with strong project management and stakeholder management skills and experience of developing and implementing evaluation frameworks. You will also have a good understanding of the museum and library sectors, and how they operate within a wider cultural context. Click here for more information. |
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