PLAYTEST: COMMON GROUND
When: May – August 2022
Where: Peckover House, Wisbech; Flag Fen, Peterborough; Carlton Marshes, Lowestoft; King’s Lynn
With:
National Trust – Heritage conservation charity
Flag Fen – Bronze Age site & archaeology park
Suffolk Wildlife Trust – Nature conservation charity
Norfolk Wildlife Trust – Nature conservation charity
Coney – Theatre & game makers & facilitators
With:
4x Young Community Artists:
Jack Wilkin – Youth worker & performance artist
Lil Woods – Actor & facilitator
Maddie Exton – Conceptual artist & writer
William Karenga – Digital artist
Participants: 30 young people aged 12 – 18
Playtest: Common Ground was a series of creative workshops facilitated by lead artist Coney and four Community artists over four weeks in the summer of 2022. Playtest explored how young people between 12 and 18 experience and connect with place and heritage.
Working in partnership with the National Trust at Peckover House and Gardens, Peterborough Limited at Flag Fen Archaeology Park, Suffolk Wildlife Trust at Carlton Marshes and Norfolk Wildlife Trust in King’s Lynn and at Roydon Common, we hosted 30 young people who created new ways to experience their local heritage sites, led by their interests.
Working with heritage partners across the East of England, we developed a project that aims to capture young people’s voices and collaboration. We proposed an approach led by a single artistic lead to engage local young people in creation which generates different views and perspectives around heritage.
We commissioned Coney as our Lead Artist – a BAFTA award-winning collective specializing in interactive storytelling and innovative participation design. Coney create interactive theatre, games and adventures, using creative participation to inspire and empower audiences.
We also commissioned 4 young community artists to support Coney in creating a youth-led arts project. They bridged the gap between young people and the artists, imputing into design and delivery whilst receiving professional learning and development opportunities.
The project began with a taster day at each of the sites. This was a 1-day version of the longer week of Playtest in the summer, intended to introduce local young people to the project by giving them a taste of Coney’s game-making methods and the site. It gave us an idea of how young people already connect or not with the heritage sites.
We maintained engagement with taster day participants as well as engaging new audiences leading up to the Playtest workshops. Coney developed an original online/phone game, introducing the team and setting challenges related to the sites. We returned to the sites later in the summer, spending 5 days with a different group of local young people at each of the 4 heritage locations.
The young people experimented with new ways to experience their local heritage sites, inspired by their interests. Guided by Coney’s theatre and game making techniques, participants used physical games, digital platforms and creative storytelling to create an interactive adventure at each site. The young people collaborated to set rules for the sessions, ensuring a safe and welcoming space for everyone.
Coney led each session through physical, interactive games, teaching the young people about the mechanics of game-making and encouraging them to re-working classic games to create new games of their own.
Playtest participants conducted self-led exploration of the locations, discovering and sharing what they found interesting and important through mini-games with the group. They were given the power to chose which spaces to use and which stories to tell, collaborating to make creative decisions.
Through guided tours and self-led research, they explored history, places, stories and objects. These locations and objects became the basis for playful alternative tours of the sites led by the young people.
Combining their tours with their original mini-games created throughout the week, the groups co-created interactive adventure games which told a story about and guided guests around their site.
These were ‘playtested’ at the end of each workshop by invited audiences of all ages. Young people shared their skills, knowledge and ideas with family, friends, staff and volunteers, empowering them to take ownership of the space and tell the stories they find important.
Through the project, we engaged 30 young people from across the East of England. The groups varied, but generally were diverse in age, gender and background, including young people from amongst the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK. The project engaged those facing challenging circumstances including disability, social challenges and poor mental health.
Playtest gave young people skills in collaboration, gaming, theatre and built their confidence, as well as connecting to and taking ownership of their local heritage sites. Stepping out of their comfort zone and building new friendships was an important result for many participants.
The freedom to explore sites without tours was popular among participants and gave them a sense of empowerment, as well as respect from the adults. Since participating in the project, over half of participants said they were definitely more likely to take an interest and seek out opportunities or employment within heritage.
This project gave the heritage partners valuable insight into how young people view and use their local heritage sites, as well as opening up new opportunities for them to use creative engagement. It allowed us, Coney and the community artists to understand how to work with varying size groups of young people to maintain engagement and encourage co-creation.
Image credits: Will Fielding