Glossopoly and the Digital Affective Histories project
Part of the Arts & Humanities Research Council’s Connected Communities programme.
Glossopoly began as a simple tool to engage children in discussions about the town in which they lived. Their drawings were used to choose the places and landmarks of interest and the final board was created by local artist, Paul Gent.
The university team then thought about how the board could be used to engage other people in discussions about community, both with and beyond Glossop. You can now play a fully operational Glossopoly game, with players of the game choosing to ‘develop’ the properties they win into assets such as green spaces, community buildings and youth centres. The Chance and Community Chest spaces have been replaced with questions about the community and at the end everyone assesses how the different locations have been developed. Dr Martin Phillips showcased the board at a number of events in the university and at the Connected Communities Festivals in Edinburgh and Cardiff. The power of using the arts for research purposes has been demonstrated through this project. It is a great leveller and acts to draw many voices into discussion.
Digital Affective Histories continued from our partnership with Leicester University in the Glossopoly project. In 2014 / 15 we used arts and digital methods to connect university research with local communities in Glossop. It started as a comparative study of the modern day uses of mill buildings in Leicester and Glossop and worked with artists, Paul Gent and Nicky Ward in arts workshops at Glossop Market and community venue, Bradbury House. Mark Turton used reminiscence interviews to develop film material, and it was all combined by Leicester University into an app and 3D realisations of the research. A final celebration in April 2015 brought together the finished film material and art work, including Zoetropes made with local school classes and sketches of everyday life in Glossop. Leicester University also demonstrated the development of their digital app and we presented the specially commissioned projection show by Barret Hodgson of Vent Media.
Here’s a taster of the final night:
Our schools programme has been running since 2015 with funding from the National Foundation for Youth Music matched by Derbyshire Music Education Hub and contributions from the schools.
Each year we launch with a trip to Manchester to work at Band on the Wall for the day, where the young people work with their technician on the sound and lighting desk and with professional musicians with different backgrounds. In the sessions that followed the young people work with Lucy LeClaire, Eskay and G-kut to learn new skills, such as programming music on software such as Garageband, Logic and Ableton Live; writing lyrics about their lives, and using this to talk about ‘life in general’ in an open way; Researching their musical influences and art and design used by recording artists; and instrumental skills. They also gain in self confidence and dialogue with staff and teachers who see them achieving and working together. Since 2015 64 young people have gained an Arts Award from Trinity College London at Bronze or Explore level.
