Transcript Creative consultation with young people

Creative consultation with young people
in Lancashire
MPA worked with two groups of
young people, one in Accrington
and one in Burnley
The groups had four sessions
each
This involved:
• One cultural visit
• Two sessions with Creative
Practitioners
• Five focus group sessions
Methodology
 Participants chose an intervention
to make and reflect on (i.e. ‘taking
part’ and ‘being in the audience’)
 Focus groups used open
questioning, brainstorm and
mapping activities, and were
digitally recorded
 Audio was transcribed
 Transcribed text was coded using
NVivo 8 qualitative data analysis
software
Using NVivo the following codes or
categories were identified in the discussion
Young people felt age was relevant
Yeah, he spoke to us like adults
we said. He spoke to us like we
were people so we could make
our own choices and we would be
sensible about it.
…it’s like culture changes with
the time. Like before, when they
like didn’t have computers and
everything it was like a closer
community but now that you’ve
got all the technology it’s kind of
changed the culture completely
Culture seems to be about identity
I think they do and I think we actually saw that
ourselves in Project Pride (a performance
about Burnley). Like we saw what it was like
and we saw the changes and telling people
about what we had found and kind of… I don’t
know about anyone else but it made me feel
happy because I had that knowledge that they
didn’t have…I was imparting it to everyone else
and it just seemed like everyone in the room
was just suddenly slightly closer because they
knew it all collectively.
I’m not going to say I’m not normal, but I just
like … I don’t like to be the same as everyone
else.
For young people, art and culture can be about
happiness and enjoyment
well you kind of feel accepted right away,
because everyone’s the same as you are, like
they’ve got in not because of their talent but
because of their love for the arts. And you just
feel good that someone else feels the same
way that you do about a certain activity.
No one was like the best at anything, we were
all just in love with the arts
I felt really like important!
…and friendship
With like, things like the
Youth Theatre and that
brings you closer because
you meet people like dance
schools, like you just get an
instant group of friends well not instant but you get
a group of friends that you
all share the same interests
and then its something that
brings you closer
… and anticipation
 Because it’s the whole buzz of it all, like you’re in a mist of
hairspray and strange costumes and things like that. Just to
show people what you can do, you may not win anything, but it’s
what you’re doing, it’s your two minutes of doing something you
love and they aren’t the same. It’s the whole uniqueness of doing
two minutes as a team where you’re doing the same thing infront
of everyone
Young people referred to being ‘into it’
Well some people just like fall into
it by accident. Like my friend, she
like … she was walking around
Manchester and she just walked
into like this shop, Vinyl
Exchange? And now she’s
obsessed with records. And
accidents like that, they’re not
everyday things, and that’s not
how most people get into it, but it’s
accidents like that that are really
special.
Young people show commitment to art and
culture, but this can mean prioritising
And so it’s just like thinking, about
what’s more beneficial for you in the
future like looking towards… because
we’re close to sixth form now.. so
looking towards what we need and
then realising that some things you do
have to drop them because we’re in
GCSEs now. And so we need to
realise that there’s what we have to
do and what we like to do and you
have to kind of, where the lines have
been blurred before, you kind of need
to separate them out and prioritise
what’s important.
Sometimes prioritising can be on the grounds of
cost
 Because I do so much, things like get more expensive each time
and I think like the reason why… because I do ballet, and tap
and then that was like, the main thing that I did, the fact that I
was doing Latin and street-dance and other dances too just
added to money so I think cost is a big thing as well. So that’s
why I dropped those two to stick with the ones that were my
favourite.
Young people reflected on ‘taking part’ in a
workshop with a Creative Practitioner
Taking part: we want active learning
Erm, give them a bit more time to actually do the workshop …
Yeah and not as much time, well still some time for explaining, but
not as much…
Taking part: being independent learners
Yeah, he spoke to us like we
were interested in it.
Yeah but it wasn’t just standard stuff
that would be like rehearsed (by the
Creative Practitioner), you know when
it’s just like, you do this, you do this, you
do this, and this is how you do this.
It was kind of like right OK, well what do
you want to do about it? And we were
just like right, OK then!
Young people referred to technology in their
discussion
…that’s what you do – in your free time you
go on facebook!
And I listen to music on You Tube.
I don’t do very much. I have actually put xbox because I play Guitar Hero. I’ve put
drawing, listening to music … I draw some
times
I got bullied so now I just do it on Just Dance
Young people reflected on their experience of
‘being in the audience’
Being in the audience: atmosphere
I liked the atmosphere of the actual
theatre … And like people actually
knew it so they were going along
with the plot and you could hear
people talking about it and
referring to the play, and everyone
was listening. Everyone is so into
it, they’re listening to the play and
they’re actually interested.
Whereas some pantomimes and
stuff, they don’t actually care, so
they just start fiddling and making a
racket and stuff. So you could tell
that everyone was quite interested
in what was going on.
Being in the audience: relevance and familiarity
Experiences need be relevant to young people’s interests:
Well most people our age are into music, they’re into concerts and
stuff so, they’re not into like theatre, they like music because they can
relate to it in some way, like the songs.
Yeah, because then there’s like a whole feeling of familiarity … the
feeling of something familiar amongst something new. It kind of feels
good.
Because I’ve watched it like, as the film, but I want to see the
experience of like, what it would be like as the theatre, because I don’t
know if it would be like, any good, because I’ve never really done that
before.
Being in the audience: it has to be believable
I don’t know. I’d rather go just
to the pictures and watch a
new film.
Why?
Because it’s more realistic,
because it’s like, you could
see like the fires and
everything, whereas in the
theatre its just like …
Yeah I don’t get how that
would work.
Being in the audience: age is relevant
 Because of the whole peer pressure thing you’d kind of be self
conscious to react in the same way that you would when you’re
surrounded by people who don’t care really. Like older people, like
they do react, they’ll stand up and clap and cheer and stuff. So you
can do the same and you won’t feel weird about standing up and
stuff and clapping.
Being in the audience: age is relevant
How would it be if you were in the
audience and everyone was your sort
of age, would it make a difference?
I think it would. Because of the whole
peer pressure thing you’d kind of be
self conscious to react in the same
way that you would when you’re
surrounded by people who don’t care
really. Like older people, like they do
react, they’ll stand up and clap and
cheer and stuff. So you can do the
same and you won’t feel weird about
standing up and stuff and clapping.
Being in the audience: having a poor view
And her wish was, she couldn’t really
see so she wished that she had a
better view. Mine was I went to see
Billy Elliot and I loved the dancing,
and my wish was that I couldn’t really
see.
It was our seats. Like, some people,
they get in the way! I don’t like sitting
(behind) tall people
Yeah because you can’t afford to get
the front row seats
Being in the audience: participation and
interaction
Like the audience experience,
how you experience it as an
audience, if it’s like something
that you’re watching like a play
that you’re not supposed to get
involved in, then you’re just
watching it as like an outside
person it’s alright. But if it’s
something different like a
concert or something, you
don’t want to just be sat there
watching them, you want to be
like involved with it.
… there’s one in Rochdale called
Touchstones and downstairs it’s like
really interactive, like history. And
then upstairs it’s like modern art, like
you know like those things where
you put your pen in and it’s a spiral
and it makes like those circles?
There’s a person that’s done one,
that’s like the size of this wall. And
you get to do one yourself and you
can like stick it around it. And it’s like
really fun and me and my friend
spent lots of time in there when we
got to Rochdale.
Barriers to participation and engagement with
arts and culture
Barriers: arts and culture can be hard to find
Well like with some things you have to like search and search on the
internet, like go through links and web pages and loads of different
things to just find a website just to go to like a gymnastic club or
something…if they handed like leaflets out and then you could just
use like a web address or something, that’s like … well you’re
straight there it’s so much easier to find. And you feel more … well it
kind of appeals because you haven’t tired yourself out like trying to
find it. Like is there really a point, it’s not that hard to find. Oh right, I
know everything about it and now I can just go…
It’s kind of hard because like you don’t know how much money it will
be, sometimes it doesn’t even say on the site.
Barriers: place based challenges
Well Burnley’s just a town
really. It’s just a small
town….girl… living in a
lonely world!!
It’s limited to certain things,
whereas Manchester’s like
whoa! And I haven’t even
visited the whole of
Manchester
Barriers: place based challenges
 say there was something in Liverpool, you wouldn’t… I wouldn’t
go there because then like, I’m not used to going there, I’ve never
been there before, so I’d have to go with my dad, or go with my
mum and it would just be something like that, whether… see in
Manchester you can just go with your friends, because you know
the bus route, you know how much it costs, but then the problem
with things like that is, say you go and watch a show, then you’ve
got to worry about how you’re going to get back. Because then
you don’t want to be out late at night after the shows. So that puts
you off a bit. But if… that’s why I think … oh I don’t know, because
I was just going to say, if there’s an arts thing, they tend to be in
the day like, art galleries and stuff, but they don’t really appeal to
me. They seem boring.
Barriers: place based challenges
Barriers: pointlessness and lack of reward
I just don’t enjoy it because
I’m not good at it, I don’t
enjoy it.
Because it never goes on the
wall
Do you mean at school?
Yeah and at home. So yeah,
it’s just not my thing
Barriers: cost
I didn’t want to stop but I had to discuss
it with my parents and said well, if it’s
costing too much I can lose a couple of
them and they said well no, we’ll find a
way to do it so…. But it does still come
into your mind when you think about it,
not obviously when you’re dancing but
when you look at how much it’s costing
you with like shoes and leotards and
skirts and costumes and things like that.
Then you really think well, this is
mounting up to hundreds and hundreds
of pounds.
Barriers: age
I think it’s better if it’s all the same
age because when I used to go
dancing, they put me in a higher
class than everybody else
because I was a little bit better,
but I used to get bullied because I
was only small.
Why did you quit?
Because it started having loads of
kids in it who were younger.
Young people want arts activities that are…
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Hands on
Relevant to their interests
Level of challenge- has to be flexible
Activities and communications have to be
appropriate for age/ability
Active (equal involvement)
Chosen by them
Well paced
Well resourced
Varied art forms
Easy to find
Easy to get in to
Fun
Stimulating
Cost
Young people want audience experiences that
are…
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Professional
Less costly/ cheap-ish
Well known/word of mouth
Invest/motivation/reward/relax
ed
Socially fun
Have refreshments
Accessible (web page, etc…)
Easy to get to
Inclusive
Fun
Unlocking the arts
Unlocking the arts
Locks  Keys
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Struggle with transport  maybe arrange cheap public trips to arts
events
Less advertising  do more advertising
Time to spend with the artists  money to help fund the workshop
Theatre schools (hard to get into)  scholarships
People don’t know/aren’t motivated to go find out ALL aspects of
performing arts  set up a day to show people these different
jobs, how to reach them and what they entail
People with low self belief  family workshops
Some people find theatre schools difficult to fund and get into 
help (like scholarships) to help people get into art academies
Some activities (e.g. Dance exams) are too expensive for some
people to afford  A fund that young people could apply for to pay
for some exams
What the arts mean to me
what makes me happy is doing anything
involved in the arts I think, and it’s kind
of the performance side. Sometimes I
don’t really like the build up to it, but
when the performance is, I can be
someone else. And I find that a really
good thing in the arts, so even if you’re
painting or something you can express
your feelings on to a sheet of paper or
whatever 22.21 But like acting, you can
be someone else. You can express your
feelings like in a different way and you
just get to be someone else and I just
think it’s great. And I did a heart on it
because it’s also like, my life really.
What the arts mean to me
I’ve always liked like reading stories
and fantasies and being taken to
different places and that’s what the
arts mean to me, they take me to
different places where I can be
someone else, and choose another
maybe future or history for myself that
could never come true realistically. And
that’s what it means to me.
What the arts mean to me
I like to be characters who can do
like, crazy things. And then, that’s
why like, these yellow lines are kind
of like the the… well it seems like I
want to be a show off and I want all
the spotlight on me but it’s like the
hero of the story, that’s why he’s got
a little sword there because I like
the heroes in a story because they
tend to be the most … the one that
gets to do the exciting things. So
the arts is like a way of doing
exciting things by being these
characters.