West London Story Forum Summaries: How to engage in storytelling at a time of economic downturn (27th Feb, Willesden Green Library Centre)
Leader: Samina Zahir
samina@hyrbidconsulting.org.uk
Key points of discussion:
Life in a time of anxiety
• Money no longer reliable
• Way of working inexpensively. Importance of groundswell and people’s networks
• How to find value
• How can we find community – artistically & projects. Libraries as community hubs: amongst others – elders groups, RAS groups, neighbourhood groups. Importance of challenging art as one way programming festivals – how to engage people
• How to include art in the everyday here and now
• What role arts/ artists can play –need for movements of people network to support this. Stories – very democratic.
Key Actions
• CLP – Leadership – Explore ‘meeting the challenge’
• Lorenzo:
o Once a month – setting up an artists/ creative/ community forum
o Thinking carefully about the language, ensure that people can feel comfortable in the space; thinking carefully about the space
• Think about ways to connect people who live close to each other. Can we facilitate walks – near to where we live?
• Nico: how communities can share stories, facilitating this.