Common Ground Symposium 2022
On Friday 25th November 2022, we hosted the Common Ground Symposium at The Halls, Norwich. Designed by young people, the event celebrated the culmination of our 3-year funded heritage youth engagement project, asking How can creativity lead us to alternative ways of seeing and enable youth engagement with heritage?
Photography © Daniel Randall for Norfolk & Norwich Festival
What was the Common Ground Symposium?
The Symposium shared and reflected on the learning and outcomes of Common Ground. It invited participants to explore how we can make heritage non-traditional, playful and accessible to young people through creative processes.
Ideas around these themes were shared through thought provoking workshops, talks, panel discussion and a project showcase. It was an opportunity for professionals in Heritage, the Arts, learning, engagement and audience development, creative practitioners, and young people to develop their ideas and practice around youth voice and engagement, creativity, storytelling and alternative ways of seeing heritage.
Info from all events (talks, plenary, and workshops) really contributed to a well-rounded consolidation of thinking about youth engagement and the arts.
Delegate feedback
Framing the Heritage of the Future
We started the day with exciting introductions from our Chair, BBC Radio Norfolk DJ Amy Nomvula and Norfolk & Norwich Festival Artistic Director and Chief Executive Daniel Brine, as well as some background to the project. Watch here.
Then onto an inspiring talk from Head of Learning and Interpretation at English Heritage, Dr Dominique Bouchard and talented young photographer Kemka Ajoku, who shared their work in heritage youth engagement project.
Their talk Framing the Heritage of the Future explored one of biggest questions we ask ourselves in heritage – how can we do things differently? Using the case study of the ‘England’s New Lenses’ project, Dominique Bouchard and Kemka Ajoku shared their experiences of doing familiar things in unfamiliar ways. Watch here.
[The keynote speech] has made me determined to get youth engagement off the ground in my organisation.
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Breakout Activities
Breakout activities, led by sector leaders from across arts, culture and engagement, helped participants to develop ideas and practice around youth voice and engagement, creativity, storytelling and alternative ways of seeing heritage. Participants took part in:
Phantom Forms: Create Your Own Playable Artwork by Collusion – Insight and access to playful creative technologies and approaches to start incorporating them into arts projects.
Something BAD Has to Happen: Connecting Heritage and Young People through Engaging Storytelling by Chip Colquhoun – Why and how stories drive humanity and ways to use them for the benefit of your organisation and audiences.
Creativity and Fundraising: Transforming Your Approach and Gaining Success by Fern Potter of Arts, Fundraising and Philanthropy – How to incorporate consultation/partnerships with communities in planning projects and how this can help when making approaches for fundraising.
Listening, Choice and Sharing Power with Younger People by Lawrence Becko – Useful tools, inspiration and insights for working collaboratively with younger people. Looking at why youth voice is important, how to include it in your daily work and ways to evaluate progress.
Exploring Unconventional Youth Leadership by Community Artists Jack Wilkin and Lil Woods – Alternative ways of youth leadership, its benefits and challenges, and how to give young people meaningful power.
Making Play with Heritage
After lunch came out plenary session with arts organisation Coney – Making Play with Heritage. This whole-group session asked ‘Can play change the way we look at heritage sites?’ and set a game-making challenge for participants. Led by a selection of Coney’s creative team, delegates worked in tables to devise playful ways for young audiences to engage with heritage sites, with inspiration from presentations on three recent projects developed by Coney (including Playtest with Common Ground which you can watch here).
The day provided confirmation of the importance of collaboration, support and collective promotion of opportunities in the community.
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Panel Discussion
Our panel discussion in the afternoon asked the question ‘In what ways can creativity diversify youth access to heritage?‘. Bringing together a mix of young people and heritage professionals, the panel discussed ideas around how to engage young people with creativity and heritage, the benefits and challenges to young people and the value to organisations. It was an inspiring and illuminating session which highlighted the importance of listening to the needs of and providing support to young people. Watch it here!
[I learnt] how important it is to have young people at the forefront of decision making when it comes to provision for young people.
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A History You Know, A History We Remixed
To finish the day, we had an inspiring closing keynote from artist, writer, facilitator and producer Sipho Eric Ndlovu. A History You Know, A History We Remixed shared Sipho’s experiences of being involved in arts, culture and heritage as a young person, an artist, and as a youth engagement consultant. Sipho shared the difficulties he’s faced and the ways he’s overcome them to become a confident and inspiring public speaker – finishing with a specially written original poem. Watch Sipho’s performance here.
I came away from the day feeling inspired and motivated to change my approach to youth work. I noted resources that would positively influence my future shared decisions in youth work.
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Young People
Young people were involved with every element of the Symposium. From the Common Ground Leaders Symposium Programming Group who helped to design the programme, choose the speakers and create content for the event, to the young creatives
We shared our work through a fantastic creative project showcase designed and created by members of the Common Ground Leaders group of 18-25 year olds.
The Showcase shared a selection of our projects with young people over the past 3 years through the themes of ‘Play’, ‘Non-traditional’ and ‘Access’ – chosen by the Common Ground Leaders Symposium Programming Group, with support from artist JMC Anderson.
Designed by young graphic designer Chloe Williams and written by environmentalist Jordan Hunnisett and curator Aston Howe, the panels explored our projects and gave background into how and why we work with heritage organisations and young people. Interactive objects and illustrations by illustrator Oscar Woodiwiss creatively shared the facts, figures & statistics collected along the way!
Young creatives were commissioned to contribute to the Symposium, making it a celebration of talent and creativity. Oscar Woodiwiss used his brilliant illustration skills to create the fabulous set dressings on the stage and around The Halls, and talented young animator Lauryn Lamb created a bold, eye-catching animation for our stage screen.
Talented young graphic designer Aimee Hayward designed the programme guide for the day, as well as three inspiring publications exploring the Symposium’s themes – illustrated by young artists Maya Chessman, Tricia Mercer-David and Ceara Coleman. Read the Symposium journals here.
I learnt more on how I work and working to clients needs. Also just learning about the case studies and work done through Common Ground was a natural product of the commission and really great!
Young artist feedback
