# data[].attributes.body
Jayne Lloyd and Jo Offer are senior lecturers in MA Inclusive Arts Practice at the University of Brighton.

This Padlet is a space for us to have conversations, make visible our reflections and map ideas about the impact of Covid on Inclusive Arts Practice (IAP). Our intention is to update it between now and March 2022 and add and amend as our research progresses.

We set out to understand the knowledge gained from working, studying and connecting creatively during the pandemic. We aim to recognise the current context in which Inclusive Arts and teaching practices operate and to begin to identify what can be taken forward. In Inclusive Arts we start with a flexible framework. During the pandemic the framework completely changed in a way we are still trying to understand.

The process of capturing our thinking here is a valuable pause and space to sit together and start to draw together threads of thought that have ruminated for 18 months. We are striving to understand how we moved from 'Can we do Inclusive Arts in a pandemic?' to 'Of course, we should be able to do it because it is Inclusive Arts Practice.' We are trying to begin to understand some of the actions and practical decisions that we took and what we now know and are still wondering about. We want to understand what a new framework might look like and how we can move forward.

# data[].attributes.body
We wrote our research proposal in an earlier phase of the pandemic when remote working, lockdowns and social distancing were much more prevalent. Welcoming students at the start of this academic was much less restricted in terms of distancing and safety measures than last year and to date our teaching has remained face-to-face. However, we are not back to pre-pandemic times. We have all had different experiences over the last 18 months and the impacts of the pandemic continue to be felt. Our questions may shift as the research progresses but still provide a relevant starting point for our investigation:

Inclusive Arts relies upon the fundamental premise that practice and research takes place ‘together’ and values the non-verbal communications that happen through creative interactions in shared environments. Current social restrictions lead the IAP course team to ask:

‘What does inclusive practice and research look like during social distancing?’

‘How must we now think about key considerations to successful IA practice and research; such as: social, material and environmental aspects?’

'What, during such restrictions, can support the wide network of practitioners, students and researchers to maintain and nurture connections with marginalised groups, whilst navigating a changed and unpredictable social landscape?’

It is anticipated looking directly at this situation, asking these questions and gathering responses from the field will enable us to build a resource that can:

Situate the practice of Inclusive Arts within this new, globally understood situation contribute new knowledge to the field

create potential opportunities for future dissemination

Showcase rigorous IA approaches to practice and research which put the contributions of marginalised participants at the centre (such as those developed by IAP research students)

# data[].attributes.body
We have taken Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a starting point to consider how basic and higher needs have been impacted by the effects of the pandemic and to help us to start to consider how IAP workshops and teaching has changed in response to the pandemic.

# data[].attributes.headline
Do we need to fulfil basic needs before making art?

# data[].attributes.subject
Do we need to fulfil basic needs before making art?

# data[].attributes.body
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs places physiological and safety at the base of the pyramid proposing that these needs must be met or mostly met in order for someone to be motivated to focus on needs higher up the scale. Art and creativity fall into the self-actualisation category at the top of the pyramid and are supported by the fulfilment of everything below.

# data[].attributes.headline
Inclusive Arts Practice challenges Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

# data[].attributes.subject
Inclusive Arts Practice challenges Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

# data[].attributes.body
Lucy Mytton’s research came to mind because it highlights that a IAP is a practice that engages marginalised group in making art when many of them will not have the needs that Maslow’s scale proposes usually need to be met before creativity can take place.

MA IAP graduate (2020) Lucy Mytton brought Maslow’s hierarchy into question when she observed that the women experiencing homelessness made, valued and, at times, prioritised artmaking over needs lower down the scale. This is most clearly illustrated by the research participant who carried her cross-stitch with her in her bag.

# data[].attributes.body
This advertisement for homeless charity Crisis claims that art can support people to meet basic needs and be part of the solution to homelessness

Art with and by marginalised groups is often funded because it can meet needs at the foundation of Maslow’s scale. This draws into question the order of these needs and how they are met.

# data[].attributes.headline
Art and crisis - the necessary unnecessary

# data[].attributes.subject
Art and crisis - the necessary unnecessary

# data[].attributes.body
Timeline of arts/creativity peaks at times of crisis -  to add

Why is it surprising that so many people found solace, comfort and connection with each other and also themselves through art during the pandemic?

Surprised that we were surprised.

Remembering that art is not just something that other people do.

Surprising that during a crisis there is a role for something that might be seen as unnecessary.

# data[].attributes.headline
What's the role of repetitive creative practice? 

# data[].attributes.subject
What's the role of repetitive creative practice? 

# data[].attributes.body
•       Noticing repetition/repetitive making happening

•       Repetitive creative practice as a form of obsessive self-care

•       Working in a way associated with Outsider Artists

•       When is something seen as helpful/not helpful

•       Time and productivity

•       Doing to know –embodied knowledge and confidence

•       Connections to practices and skills

•       Doing something regularly everyday

# data[].attributes.body
People climbing the distance of Everest up their stairs, doing treks and marathons in their gardens reminded me of my research into people living with dementia walking in care homes. It raised questions about what is missing, how people are making do, how they are drawing on memory, imagination and past experiences, developing a heightened noticing and being creative with what was available. My research in care homes feels relevant to the pandemic and I plan to revisit it to find out how.

# data[].attributes.body
Air is one of the physiological needs at the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

The risk of airborne transmission of Covid-19 has led to guidance around wearing masks, opening windows, social distancing, reducing capacity in rooms, minimising time spent indoors with people you do not live with or not mixing at all with people outside your household.

Each of these precautions effects needs higher up the scale and has an impact on how we work together.

# data[].attributes.headline
Safety measures (air), what are the impacts on working together?

# data[].attributes.subject
Safety measures (air), what are the impacts on working together?

# data[].attributes.headline
Drawing new models to visualise relationships between environments and people

# data[].attributes.subject
Drawing new models to visualise relationships between environments and people

# data[].attributes.headline
Ideas about different kinds/formats of remote sessions

# data[].attributes.subject
Ideas about different kinds/formats of remote sessions

# data[].attributes.headline
Thinking about what it is like to be in a remote session

# data[].attributes.subject
Thinking about what it is like to be in a remote session

# data[].attributes.headline
Can proximity design support thinking about connection, inclusion and exclusion in socially distanced IAP sessions?

# data[].attributes.subject
Can proximity design support thinking about connection, inclusion and exclusion in socially distanced IAP sessions?

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Images of MA IAP sessions in the Sallis Benny Theatre in Sept-Oct 2020

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The Research Cycle by Kelvin Burke and Jo Offer, Inclusive Arts Practice and Research, A.Fox, H.Macpherson, Routledge

# data[].attributes.headline
How can we go beyond the research cycle to make changes on an organisational level?

# data[].attributes.subject
How can we go beyond the research cycle to make changes on an organisational level?

# data[].attributes.body
There continue to be things beyond our control with events (expected or unexpected) impacting our environment and inevitably our teaching and learning. Time to reflect on this is necessary both professionally and personally.
We aim to review and update this process and articulate recommendations that are both specific to IAP and applicable to broader organisational planning.
By revisiting the diagram above we are inspired to expand on the perpetual cycle of research, to see what happens to its shape when it reaches out to different audiences and where it might contribute meaningfully to systemic and organisational change.