Untold Stories of Volunteering

Professor Mihaela Kelemen, Keele UniversitySue Moffat, Director, New Vic Borderlines

Arts and Humanities Rresearch Council Connected Communities Project

– Partners: Keele University (Project Leader), Leicester University, New Vic Theatre and NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations)

– A co-design research project: trans-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary using a cultural animation approach (February 2013-June 2014)

– More than 30 interviews were carried out across the UK – Six experiential workshops held at The New Vic Theatre, London

and Manchester– Participants included individual volunteers, volunteer managers,

researchers and policy makers

Cultural Animation: Our Approach

• Pioneered in the UK by Susan Moffat, New Vic Borderlines Director in collaboration with Polish colleagues (Dr. Zofia Dworakowska)

• Draws on the everyday experiences of ordinary people and their creative abilities to make sense of the world and achieve goals

• Builds up trusting relationships between participants by inviting them to work together in activities which may be new to them but which draw on their life experiences

• Dissolves hierarchies: commonsense, expertise, practical skills are valued in equal measure

• Articulates ideas and experiences in actions and images rather than the written word

Cultural Animation Outcomes

• A series of artefacts, based on themes and issues raised by the volunteers themselves: poetry, songs, puppets and models, shadow puppet theatre,short plays

• A documentary drama that toured the UK (London, Leicester and Newcastle under Lyme)

It’s paradoxicalYou can volunteer for a short time friendBut you better find yourself a job in the end(It’s paradoxical)

They want the community to have more saySo why are you taking all the funding away?(It’s paradoxical)

I want to do something for my communityBut you come and tell me I need a CRB(It’s paradoxical)

We’d like to do everything that comes our wayThere’s only 24 hours in a day(It’s paradoxical)

They sent me to work in a factoryWhat! You want my time and you want it for free!(It’s paradoxical)

Big Society is a propagandaBut we all have a proper agenda(It’s paradoxical)

Stacking shelves for free is not my future seeI want to work in geology(It’s paradoxical)

Some people see volunteering as fashionThe rest of us think that it’s all about passion(NOT paradoxical)

http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/culturalanimationoutcomes/

What does volunteering encompass?

– ‘Mundane’ volunteering: Multiple, small, daily tasks being undertaken by volunteers (cleaning, shopping, cooking, talking and listening)

– ‘Unusual’ volunteering: biohacking, setting up media labs, holy dusters, magistrates

– Volunteering as a memory (done in honour of dead person’s memory, as a way of staying close to that person)

Volunteering and identity

– Volunteering so bound up with people’s sense of identity that the interviews prompted some of them to divulge very private matters (marriage breakdown, job loss, suicide attempts, vicious official politics)

– Volunteering as a pathway to a new career (especially for women who had taken career breaks to raise children)

– Volunteering as a new lease of life / morale booster– Being empowered by volunteering– Matching volunteering activities to one’s

hobbies/expertise– The uncontrollable urge to volunteer for some people

Stresses of volunteering

– Health risks of volunteering (stress, exhaustion, infighting / politics, dealing with other fragile volunteers)

– Hurt feelings (offers to help are ignored, ‘fired’ as a volunteer, incompetent management)

– Conflict between volunteers (as something that people keep quiet about)

– Potential for conflict when highly skilled/professional volunteer is put doing tasks they consider ‘beneath’ them

– Volunteering can often be altruistic and selfish at the same time - putting something in and getting something back

Management Issues– Importance of training for volunteers and volunteer

managers– Who are the volunteers answerable to? – Limiting your commitment (to avoid burnout)– Need for policies and procedures – Treating volunteers well and supporting them (often when

they’re being pushed around)– Communication with volunteers– Clear roles for volunteers– Dealing with volunteers who are no longer capable of

volunteering (i.e. letting them down gently)

Volunteering and Government

– The stigma of volunteering if you are long-term unemployed (non-monetary benefits not recognised)

– Being forced to volunteer in an area you are not interested in/have no skills (Voluntolding)

– The commodification of the voluntolds– People having no idea what the policy is but are very

opinionated about what the government should do. – There does not seem to be a recognition of local

government– People volunteer despite and not because government

intervention

Links to Cultural Animation Outputs

• http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/culturalanimationoutcomes/

• http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Watch-and-Listen/Pages/Weathering-the-storm-How-communities-respond-to-adversity.aspx

New Vic BorderlinesBIG LOCAL WORKSHOP

ANIMATINING VOLUNTEERING

BIG LOCAL WORKSHOP

“IN STILL WATER EXPECT POISON”

WHY HAS THE WATER BECOME STILL?

WHAT IS THE POISON ?WHAT IS NEEDED TO GET THE WATER MOVING?

COMMUNITY CINQUAIN

Line 1 one word to describe the ‘still water’Line 2 two words to describe Line 1Line 3 three words feelings associated with Line 1Line 4 four actions, which begin, move the stillnessLine 5 one word which describes the change

THE EMPTY SPACE/Creating the picture of the future

Create the Community Banner use three colours and describe what these colours represent

Choose three objects, which represent things that your community has within it

Use the four actions in the community cinquain to show an ‘active connected community

COMMUNITY HAIKU…. 3 LINES (5 7 5)

PRESENTATIONS