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Drama based activities are a really good way to engage people and engage communities, because you get a much more honest conversation. That opens up conversations from them as well as stimulates ideas in their brain. Because they think, ‘Well, that's a problem I have, could we maybe do that?’ All sorts of ideas are flying around the room. – John, Comms and Event Advisor at TGL

How to reach community members?

Community members’ personal networks (e.g. community groups; Aylesbury Estate)

Existing groups in Walworth (e.g. The Walworth Society; local theatres)

Housing associations (e.g. Notting Hill Genesis)

Social media

Benefits of drama-based sessions in community outreach/engagement

Diversity: The diversity of the participants let people have chances to look into the windows of others’ real lives through their performances and discuss how they might create change.

Organic: It opened people up for honest conversations. People shared their experiences through developing scenes around the issues they faced and brainstormed organically what they might do together.

Laboratory: Drama scenarios helped stimulate ideas. People came back for several sessions and used theatre and arts to discover ideas and solutions.

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Interactive community events that helped start the conversations

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Interactive community events that helped start the conversations

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Some other community events that helped attract community members to learn about TGL, include:

The event with Inspire, Timberland and Sony on 30 April 2022, where TGL popped up: 'We wore lab coats which were visually attracted to people. We then helped make connections and signed people up for TGL.' - John

Creative events as a hook to spark interests: e.g. Craft workshop, 'It's interactive, like a performance. so it can easily pull people in' - John

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John: Expansion of TGL along the Old Kent Road

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John: Expansion of TGL along the Old Kent Road

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‘A big dream of mine is the next stage of TGL evolution, to spread across the Old Kent Road naturally into the surrounding areas like Peckham. Because the infrastructure is here, the networks are here, it makes sense to spread it outwards.’ – John

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John: Elephant and Castle - Latino community

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John: Elephant and Castle - Latino community

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‘In the Elephant and Castle, there's a massive Latino community. I haven't seen a lot of engagement with them. That's a really untapped resource.’ – John

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John: Walworth Road - New communities that have moved in

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John: Walworth Road - New communities that have moved in

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‘The population is changing a little bit in Walworth. We will need to think about what that population wants and needs and how to key into them. For example, I've never seen a leaflet in their languages’. – John

New communities include:

Chinese community

Korean community

East European community

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John: Dulwich gallery - a get-away for the team's wellbeing

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John: Dulwich gallery - a get-away for the team's wellbeing

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What's helpful:

The weekly chats among teams are helpful for check-in

What could be helpful:

There could be more support networks or training for the team to upskill themselves - 'I'm good at coming up with ideas but I also want to learn practical social media strategy.'

Team bonding and well-being activities to stimulate ‘blue sky thinking’ e.g. going to the park, visiting a gallery

Keep track of the ideas generated so far. For example, the initial ideas created before the Covid-19 outreack. - 'I thought they were really good ideas, and maybe they have fallen off the radar. I'd be interested to hear what happens to them, because they were meant to be developed.'

I'm a great believer in things happen naturally. If we get away from where we are familiar with, go to a gallery or greenery, blue sky thinking will happen very organically. – John, Comms and Event Advisor at TGL

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John: also the theatre on Wansey Street!

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John: also the theatre on Wansey Street!

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Something exciting to celebrate and to watch closely as a result of the drama sessions:

12 people constantly joined the weekly sessions

50% of the people have come up with ideas that they could work on

5 ideas came out of the three drama sessions

I think this is really good output. Not all ideas will come to fruition, but the fact that 4-5 ideas came out of just three drama sessions – if you could replicate that over the community, the ideas generated would be solid. – John, Comms and Event Advisor at TGL