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Public Engagement

Refugee Arts in Europe’s Smart City

RHS

Refugee Arts in Europe’s Smart City is an action research project studying the power of artistic and performative practice to develop understanding and participation with refugee groups.

Refugee Arts will be delivered in two phases.

The CPE grant will support a research visit to Athens in July 2017 to build the foundation for the wider project, taking place between Athens and London throughout 2018. We will form a network of transnational collaborators including social science and business management researchers; participatory artists and performers; representatives from refugee centred organisations; NGOs; and migrant and refugee communities. Through combining a range of specialisms and perspectives, we will ensure delivery will be informed by rigorous understanding and appropriate care, while generating innovative and impactful research outcomes.

The method of partnership collaboration will be evolved through Phakama’s established Give and Gain approach, proven to facilitate non-hierarchical participation across diverse groups of participants.

Engraining the voice of young people into the development of our projects is central to Phakama’s method. CPE's grant will enable Phakama to include two members of our Youth Board and Phakama’s Development Consultant on the trip who will support the delivery of two workshops. Workshop 1 will focus on the Give and Gain methodology and will be led by the Youth Board members, experts in the training and utilisation of this method. The workshop will share Phakama’s approach and provide an open space for all partners to share relevant experience and insight. Workshop 2 will activate this methodology, beginning to collaboratively refine the project brief, understanding in depth the need it will respond to and exploring how this will be addressed through its next stage.

Phase 2, will be the development of a long term cultural exchange project between partners in Athens and the UK to work with refugees and refugee centred organisations, embedding our ethos of  GIve and Gain to ensure a strong and sustainable way of working.

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