Showcasing and co-reflecting

A two day workshop was organised on 24-25 July 2014. The event brought together the majority of the research team, advisors and community partners from the UK (The Glass-House; New Vic Theatre) and Greece (Atenistas, Lina Liakou/ (former Reactivate Athens research team) with the aim to:

1. exchange knowledge about conceptual approaches, contexts and practices surrounding asset based methodologies in Athens and the UK
2. experiment with hands-on dimensions and instruments from diverse asset based approaches (e.g. cultural animation, glossopoly, cross-pollination, the creative citizen approach). and c) plan activities for field work and engagement in Athens.

The event also provided a useful basis for ‘experiencing’ the assets of asset based approaches used by some of the connected communities projects and offered a space for the Greek community partners to showcase their knowledge, discuss challenges of community action and brainstorm on ideas about ways to approach civil society groups and directions for further research and engagement activities.

The activities and discussions resulted in further adding evaluations within a matrix of asset based approaches, which was developed by the PI (via input from the research team and partners) and sparked a lot of reflections about the strengths and weakness of community research, the importance of communication infrastructures and plans surrounding the ‘applicability’ of an assets approach for exploring civic activism in Greece.