Arts Partnership Surrey commissioned Farnham Maltings and Tandridge Leisure Ltd in 2007 to deliver a programme of high quality participatory art opportunities in nominated communities across Surrey; creative communities.

 

Here you will find a series of downloadable papers. They are not intended to be an evaluation report, policy making guide or tool-kit for engagement through the arts. It is a reflection on how we sought to engage with people and on what informed our thinking. They also highlight examples from others working in the field of participatory arts around the world.
 

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the creative communities project with their time, creativity and energy. It has been quite a journey and we are glad they decided to come on board. We are also grateful to Arts Partnership Surrey and Arts Council England for their generous financial support for this project.

 

We hope you will find these reflections valuable.

creative communities - the nine So Surrey projects and our afterthoughts - by Celine Gagnon

creative communities: from passive to active - participating in the arts - by John Holden

animating democracy - americans for the arts - by Barbara Shaffer Bacon and Pam Korza

dodging instrumentalization - social acupuncture, the social impressario, the grease and the glue - by Darren O'Donnell

no one asks for masterpieces - random reflections on 25 years as a community artist - by Richard Conlon

you can play my guitar - imaginative local authorities - by Karl Newman

there is such a thing as society - the opportunities for the arts in South East England - by Gavin Stride