Community Engagement

Under community planning legislation, public services have an obligation to involve service users in their planning and delivery.

This might mean:

Consulting local people about issues that concern them
Gathering ideas and information to inform a decision making process
Building the skills and capacity of residents to enable them to be active citizens
Publicising what an organisation has done or is planning to do
Developing networks of individuals or organisations

Creative methods can be a great asset in this task because:

They're fun and people are more likely to get involved with, or pay attention to things that are fun
Interesting and attractive 'products' are often the result
Many of the practical skills learnt through arts activities are transferable to other situations – planning and preparation, design skills, looking, listening and analysing, communicating, following a project through from start to finish
The act of making something can itself be a metaphor for 'acting on the world' - it can change you from being a passive consumer to an active creator

The National Standards for Community Engagement provides a framework for good practice and I have used them in a number of partnership projects.

Some examples

A questionnaire could also be a quilt - 'Dream Something Better', Craigshill
A leaflet could also be an installation - Community Safety project, Boghall
A report could also be a puppet show - CTDU Student Association
A action plan could also be a collage - 'Towards 2020 Tree of Hope', West Lothian Community Planning Partnership
A capacity building group could also be a photography workshop - 'Transparent' Broxburn Family and Community Development Centre