Performing Leadership Differently: Co-Creating Collective Strategies for Change

The project will focus on central research question: How can arts, social science researchers and creative communities co-create models of participatory leadership and engagement for BAME and working-class communities within theatre and performance after COVID-19? As part of our research we will pilot and test new leadership models, linking them to the theatre and performance community. The methods that we are using are best suited to a participatory action approach which allow for maximum level of substantive participation from diverse stakeholders. This will allow us to innovate, co-create and share best practices for being able to respond to the crisis and enable diverse constituents in the sector to be heard by policy makers. By co-creation we refer to the participation of subjects and partners in further articulating the central questions of this research. In contrast to previous arts diversity initiatives, the project embeds those systematically excluded from leadership within the arts at every stage of the research, drawing on their expertise to build relevant and effective strategies of investigation. Throughout the project research methods will be adapted in response to participant feedback, to maximise impact, recognising that the practical expertise to combat discrimination and marginalisation lies in engaging, connecting with, and amplifying the voices of those directly affected by forms of institutional exclusion. Engagement with artists, organisations and audience initiatives will be activated to facilitate this through partner Something To Aim For (STAF) a sector support organisation funded by Wellcome Trust to increase diverse engagement in the arts and to support centralising voices on the fringes. STAF's networks include over 500 000 individuals and 73 arts organisations, ranging from Wellcome Collection and The Barbican to SMEs including Raze Collective, HighRise Theatre and Migrants in Culture. Direct engagement with artists and participants will mainly be conducted online, using strategies of digital networking to connect artists and networks who are increasingly fragmented and isolated. Workshops and other group activities will be facilitated through 'Us In the Making', a new digital hub developed to create and sustain communities who have been de-platformed, safely online, in response to Covid-19. Hub functionality allows video conferencing, group interaction and participation, remote hosting and presentation of materials and asynchronous access to documents and files.