Its been a long long time since I posted here. This has been mainly due to working on my practice based PhD at Culture Lab, Newcastle University concerning community, social media and community art. Using the methodology of Deveron Arts, ‘The Town is the Venue’ (TiV) I have been working within the community I live, Bensham in Gateshead, to understand what happens in the community, what cultural events are currently take place and how people participate already.
By using the stalled ‘Pathfinder’ regeneration project and the subsequent empty land and derelict buildings in the area as a starting point to understand how community art can be pertinent and relevant to the people who live in the area and the everyday issues that affect them. As Pablo Helguera says in his book ‘Education for Socially Engaged Art’ (2011) the difference between symbolic and actual practice. You can see how the PhD project has developed so far at The Saltwell Road Project and my University blog
Ben Jones 