Conducting Participatory Arts Projects : a practical toolkit

Abstract

This toolkit is intended to help artists and arts researchers to plan, organise, document and evaluate participatory arts projects in different contexts. Its publication evolved in the context of a Europe-wide research project funded by the EU Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020. This research project – Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS) – is an arts-based three-year project (2020-2023) that aims to bring people based in different European contexts together with artists to work collaboratively on creative and experimental research. Through participatory approaches conducted in new artistic productions and research projects, AMASS explores and analyses the role of the arts in engaging with societal challenges and evaluating the societal impact of the arts. It also addresses the marginalisation of certain groups in society by analysing power imbalances and exploring artistic, pedagogical and other ways of promoting inclusive strategies and sharing the benefits of innovation and service solutions. The many strategies adopted by different AMASS partners call for the involvement of various stakeholders like NGOs, artists, regional arts advocates, community members and others in decision-making tactics and forum group discussions revolving around social needs and constraints. Strongly embedded in the value of alternative knowledge systems and the belief that the arts can initiate significant transformations in policy and perceptions, AMASS is intended as a catalyst for change in various contexts, and multi-disciplinary results emerging from an evaluation of its testbed will contribute towards policy recommendations at local, regional and international levels. This toolkit shares many of the challenges and enthusiasm for the arts that characterise AMASS and its activities.