Community in Place: Developing Frameworks of Engagement

This article discusses approaches in artist-led research and practice within communities where there have been issues with cohesion and conflict. In particular where those artists’ practices have sought to engage people in direct discourse with their communities past. The objectives of such approaches being grounded in the assumption that reflecting on the past will inform the present and impact upon future behaviours. Such assumptions inform much of the current cultural policy and debate within the United Kingdom, however this paper will argue the complexities of ‘communities’, which may have perceived commonalities, may require a framework of engagement informed by a service design approach. A case study is presented of such a framework of engagement with post-primary children in Northern Ireland; what informed the design, its implementation and how the effects were measured. In addition the challenges faced surrounding inter-generational perceptions and beliefs highlighted the importance of understanding value systems if this form and process of creativity within communities’ is to truly become a cultural and/or social catalyst for change.