Seminar on the 14 May 2024

Exploring local cultural forms, engaging stakeholders, and informing policy and curriculum through arts-based research methods.

In this seminar, Professor Ananda Breed discusses using arts-based research methods at scale.

In this talk, Professor Ananda Breed will provide case study examples regarding the use of arts-based methods for a four-year Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project entitled Mobile Arts for Peace: Informing the National Curriculum and Youth Policy for Peacebuilding in Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Indonesia, and Nepal. In Rwanda, drumming was used to challenge gender inequality. In Kyrgyzstan, performance was used to create a platform for dialogue between young people and decision makers. In Nepal, Mithala Arts and Deuda were used to integrate marginalised cultural forms and communities into local and national curriculum. In Indonesia, bamboo Angklung  and Lenong folk theatre were used to represent youth issues and to create a platform for youth representation at the national level. Breed will provide an overview of the varied opportunities and challenges of using arts-based research methods across the project that engaged over 194 partner organisations, 828 engagement activities, and 279 artistic outputs, serving over 28,000 beneficiaries between 2020-24.

Download Ananda’s presentation in PDF.
Download Ananda’s slides in PPTX.
More information on Ananda’s MAP project.
More information about the MAP conference.

Ananda Breed is Professor of Theatre and Principal Investigator of AHRC GCRF Network Plus project Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP): Informing the National Curriculum and Youth Policy for Peacebuilding in Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Indonesia and Nepal (2020-24) and GCRF Newton Fund project Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) at Home: online psychosocial support through the arts in Rwanda (2020-22). Breed is author of Performing the Nation: Genocide, Justice and Reconciliation (Seagull Books, 2014), co-editor of Performance and Civic Engagement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), co-editor of Creating Culture in (Post) Socialist Central Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Applied Performance (Routledge, 2022). Former research fellow of the International Research Centre Interweaving Performance Cultures at Freie Universität (2013-214).

Further information shared in the session:
Access Charlie Ingram’s introductory document exploring practice. Using Theatre practice as a way to engage in evaluation processes and more specifically policy feedback processes, and here is the link to a research article that explores the same.

Access Ranjita Dhital’s article on her research in Nepal.

Julia Puebla Fortier and team used arts-based and participatory evaluation approaches in their UK programme to support the well-being of young people through cultural engagement and volunteering. Access their toolkit on lessons learned and tips for practice.

Here is an example of a project using theatre methods to engage young people around the issues of climate change, through giving them agency to create what they want. Its a flexible, responsive and non-linear learning, drawing inspiration from young people’s local contexts.

 

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