Denny & Dunipace Residents Art-Wall

This community and voluntary run project developed out of the Denny design Charrette (which in turn grew from the Denny regeneration project). The project was run by one male, and five female volunteers.
Workshops were organised to encourage local people of all ages to come together to discuss the history of the town and residents, and create artworks which would later be printed on two large collages and installed in the centre of town. Anyone who attended the workshops would have their artwork included -- there would be no picking and choosing of works.
The project ran for eight months, with the  'artwall finally being unveiled by the Dowager Gala Queen and the project leader of the Community Green Initiative ( a local environmental project). Music, dancing and food accompanied the unveiling event.


   “Those attending the workshops spoke with a real sense of civic pride for the community in which they live, and this came through time and again in their artworks and conversations.”

  “It has been wonderful to see residents of all ages come together and share their memories of past, and hopes for the future in their own words, and recreate these ‘imaginings’ in various creative forms.”

 “The workshops have been well received and have shown there is an appetite in the area for a creative outlet for both children and adults”


However, despite the success of the project, it raised some issues of how community volunteering and participation works…

*   People have limited and unequal resources, and time; Not everyone wants to be fully involved, or participate all of the time. Sometimes, individuals just want to 'lend a hand'.
*   It is often the people who don't get involved who are most marginalised.
*   Civic participation and activism often needs to be nurtured from where women are, from the bottom up.
*   Small, local initiatives often work best for women.
*   There is a risk of 'burn-out' when too much pressure is put on small community projec
*    It is important that we think about ways of engaging people - while also looking at the ways in which they are engaging with each other.  It is crucial that we acknowledge the multiplicity of engagement within communities, so that we better understand how community projects can develop at a rate and speed and pace that connects all members with the process,  with the futures of their communities, and with various levels that members require.


Thoughts to take away….

*   Ask people what they know - rather than what they don't know. All communities have their own beliefs and ambitions rooted in their own knowledge and experience -  knowledge that needs to be recognised and valued.
*   Lots of the problems being discussed are continuous, and repeated over time.
*   When we include many voices  we hear experiences and expertise in stereo and get a much broader view of communities
History and culture matter to communities and these can be captured through the arts: oral history, writing, poetry, and visual methods.