Jessica Symons

Shaping the Flow: Ethnographic Analysis of a Manchester Parade Event

ABSTRACT The Manchester parade is a celebration of ‘all things Manchester’. Explicit attempts to nurture and encourage a creative outpouring from community groups are made by event organisers and artists. I found that the parade took its shape from different responses to the flow of activity. The emergent ‘freezing’ shape of the parade then influenced its further development. Drawing on notions of flow and freezing, I show how Ingolds emphasis on emergence can work together with Gells emphasis on the web of social relations, and it is the two working in tandem that give an entity its shape. This analysis of activities at a local level provides an insight into how global forces impact on groups and individuals unprepared or unable to go with the flow.

Untangling creativity and art for policy purposes : ethnographic insights on Manchester International Festival and Manchester Day Parade

This paper draws on anthropological fieldwork of a civic parade in Manchester from 2010 to 2012 to argue for engaging with creativity as a process rather than an attribute of a particular sector or individual. It shows how the focus on funding and supporting ‘creative industries’ defined as ‘cinema, television, music, literature, performing arts, heritage and related areas’ actually excludes and diminishes the potential for others to engage with ideas and creative processes. Two major events in Manchester’s cultural calendar – Procession by artist Jeremy Deller, produced by Manchester International Festival and Manchester Day Parade, a council-led civic celebration – both combined community groups with artist input to put large-scale structures and people on the city’s streets. In this ethnographic analysis, I argue that the ‘creativity’ sought from these artists is their adaptive and productive approach to making ideas tangible. By focusing on creativity as a process rather than a character trait, there is even greater potential for stimulating a ‘creative’ city.

‘We’re not hard-to-reach, they are!’ Integrating local priorities in urban research in Northern England: An experimental method

In this article the author identifies the dichotomous nature of a government approach which insists on autonomy. Exhortations to communities to be independent while fostering dependent relations lead to a kind of paralysis that inhibits people’s abilities to progress. These insights were gained in Salford, UK in a former working class community fatigued by government intervention. As part of an academic project focused on supporting local people’s ideas, new ways of engaging were explored. However the researchers’ role as project directors and the status of the university also had impacts on fostering self-determination. The author proposes that a reflexive strategy identifying and ameliorating the multiple points of government interventions in low-income communities would go far in nurturing people’s productivity. This includes working with local intermediaries who have an intimate knowledge of the communities they serve.

Introduction: tackling the urban through ethnography

In 2006, a magnificent oak table with fine Indian ink drawings sat in an artist’s studio in Manchester in the north-west of England. Three metres in length, it displayed a relational network diagram of key decision makers in the city. The art piece, called The Thin Veneer of Democracy (UHC Collective 2007), sketched a web of connections drawing attention to the close relationships between individuals from public and private institutions in the city. The spidery diagram identified ‘the names of 101 institutions, officials, companies and private individuals invested in Manchester City Council’s Knowledge Capital project’ (UHC Collective 2007). The artists behind the table were critical of these relationships. They emphasised the political dynamics in the city as a cosy arrangement between connected individuals and drew attention to how others felt left out. This brought disquiet to the people named on the table. They discussed the artwork with each other, saying that collaboration to regenerate the city was to be celebrated rather than criticised. Fast forward to 2015. In this year the British government under a Conservative administration, and Manchester City Council under a Labour administration, announced a historic agreement to devolve spending power to the city region, including the city centre itself, affecting almost three million people. Devolved power allowed for independent decision making at cityregion level and this agreement was the culmination of decades-long lobbying from the Manchester City Council Executive (Haughton, et al. 2016). Yet the final decision for devolution happened in private in a meeting between the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the Leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese. This was an ‘elite co-option’ (Smith and Richards 2016) and the outcome presented to the city region as a fait accompli. In the press release, Councillor Sir Richard Leese claimed the devolution plans were ‘revolutionary’ and a model that ‘other cities around the country would want to adopt and copy’ (Wintour 2014).

Strategies for connecting low income communities to the creative economy through play : two case studies in Northern England

ABSTRACT This ground-breaking research defines a new approach for engaging low income and disenfranchised communities in the creative economy. The authors propose that demystifying creativity and reframing it as an adaptive productive process can lead to a flourishing of aspiration and potential among target communities. Through research in a low income community and among disabled people in Northern England, the authors found that focusing on rubrics of exploration, play and ‘purposeful meandering’ tackled anxieties around creative production and a lack of confidence and self-belief. This emphasis on all people as cultural producers however needs to connect with clearer pathways into the creative industries.