Back in September, People’s Voice Media had the pleasure of hosting a meeting with the transnational partners currently collaborating on the Eurospectives project. We joined with representatives from different community organisations and social enterprises spanning from across Europe including Agora Köln, Comparative Research Network, Crossing Borders, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, COSV and CFR Vigo. The meeting took place at The Quaker Meeting House in Liverpool and proved to be an exciting and informative couple of days.
Over the course of the meeting we discussed a huge amount of content, reviewing progress so far and sharing ideas which helped to generate new ways of working, including a brief moment of confusion when the group were introduced to Flinga - a collaborative online platform for visually exchanging ideas (what a mouthful) - for the first time.
Mark Fraser, a digital artist, delivered a stakeholder presentation exploring his experience with visual Storytelling. Mark spoke of his involvement with Person Shaped Support, a liverpool based charity focussed supporting members of the community, which led to his involvement in a series of creative projects in which he continued his experimentation with digital photography and photo art. In his work Mark combines art, technology and discussion around mental health.
We made a start on building our digital storytelling curricula for participation and citizenship, exploring ideas of collaborative learning environments from the perspectives and experiences of each of the partners. It was really inspiring to hear about the work already being done in this field by the people who were present in the room.
PVM provided a dissemination update, highlighting the importance of web analytics in terms of scoping out our engagement levels and we also invited partners to reflect upon their projects, through applying the technique of community reporting. Sharing skills and knowledge in this way allowed us to share information about the work PVM does, whilst introducing partners to an inclusive and accessible method of gathering stories.
We were also lucky enough to attend a creative workshop with The Apple Store in and around the city, along with partners from Co-Engage, another European project PVM are currently working alongside. During the session we experimented with video editing techniques and explored The Royal Albert Dock, snapping photos with the IPhone 11 Pro (Not an ad - although it did have a pretty good camera!).
A few of us also got the chance to catch an exclusive viewing of a recent production at the Royal Court Liverpool. Terriers and Eve’s Story are both plays by Maurice Bessman exploring the pressures of being part of a gang.
All in all, we had an amazing couple of days and it was great to catch up with everyone whilst making progress on the Eurospectives project. The next meeting will take place in Berlin next month, where we will continue to reflect and develop the project whilst trying not to get too excited about the Christmas markets!