Keep playing

Kate Regester reflects on the way the art of play is driving community development.

When I walked in to the Creating Routes workshop, at Creativeworks London on 29th April, people were already sat on chairs around the edge of the room, leaving a big empty space. What’s going to happen in that space? I wondered, as I sat down and shook hands with the person next to me. I was safe in my seated position with the weight of my backpack pressing against my legs. Then the workshop facilitator stood up and invited us to leave our stuff behind and join them.

The move from the chair to the middle of the room was weirdly daunting. It was only a short distance but it was stepping into the unknown. The group had never met before, who were these facilitators? Anything could happen. It sounds like a little thing, but as the 140+ projects that were showcased as part of the Creativeworks Festival attest, when you get a group of interested people stepping into the same space the results can be huge, far-reaching and overall surprising.

One of the things that stuck with me from the day of installations, talks, performances and workshops was a comment from the panellists in Women, Creative Collaborations and Digital Thinking who said that we are brought up to believe that work is a serious business, when actually the best work comes out when we play. Something that has been recognised by the top Fortune 100 companies like Google where play is more than just an activity, it is a mindset created by a value system. Play is an attitude which promotes negotiation, creative problem solving, taking risks and reaching a consensus when our different imaginary worlds collide.

The panellists, Ghislaine Boddington (Body>Data>Space), Ruth Catlow (Furtherfield), Lydia Fraser-Ward (Fantasy High Street) and Roberta Communian (King’s College London), discussed how digital technologies, like architecture, embed our values and interests into the future whether this is through the technologies, businesses, education and art themselves or the behaviours we exhibit when using them.  With this comes the importance of providing and promoting opportunities so everyone is represented in the creative process, ensuring those values meet the needs of every future user. Alongside which is the way we, as individuals, take responsibility for championing and supporting the younger generation into the workforce.

Collaboration is another big word bouncing around at the moment and an easy answer to some of the challenges faced by all organisations in the changing funding landscape. However, it is not always so easy to achieve, precisely because it require those skills which can only be developed through play. Play is not just about what happens in closed rooms or a responsibility of a curriculum; it’s an attitude that gives people permission to experiment and when the outcome does not turn out as you expect, creating a safe space where that learning can be turned in to an opportunity. In your workplace or in that space with other interested people. 

At Brighton City Lab on 28th April, I met individuals from a range of Social Enterprises and community-minded projects across Brighton. I saw a network of people sharing experience, skills and connections, coming together with the opportunity to explore ideas. It brought home how much of our learning happens not on the chairs at the edge of the room but when we are in the middle of the room, working together.

To go back to the Creating Routes workshop, you’ll be pleased to know that the middle of the room didn’t swallow me up. The facilitators asked us to choose from a series of random objects (head torches, police line tape, small mesh hats with bells on) something that reflected one of our skills and take it back to our groups. We entered the space as individuals with something unique to offer, put our skills together and created an imaginary project. In short, we played.

Links:

http://www.creativeworkslondon.org.uk/festival

http://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/brighton-city-lab/

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Kate Regester is the Project Development Manager at always possible

// kate@alwayspossible.co.uk