We are looking for people to run local workshops to explore the ‘Future Of Lived Experience Storytelling’.

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We want to commission 5 workshops that explore the topic of ‘The Future of Lived Experience Storytelling’ with different groups of people to be part of the 3^rd annual Institute of Community Reporters (ICR) Conference on the 2^ndJune 2021.

At the conference, we want to open-up a conversation about the future of lived experience storytelling and explore things such as:

• the role of lived experience in achieving social justice 
• how we and other organisations can work better with stories and the people who share them
• the types of spaces that are secure enough for authentic storytelling to take place.

Your workshop should respond to the above – or some of the above – in some way and contribute to this conversation. 

The content, location, style, who the workshop is for and pretty much the whole shape of the workshop is up to you, as long as it is in-keeping with the overall topic of the conference. 

Key Details

• Your workshop should take place between 11:30am and 3:30pm on the 2^ndJune 2021.
• Your workshop should be at least 1 hour long.
• The workshop leader needs to be available between 3:45pm and 5:00pm to join an online livestream to share with the world the key ideas/discussions that took place in the workshop.
• Your workshop should create an equitable space for people to be a part of the conference’s conversation. 
• Your workshop should ideally – and where safe – take place offline in a specific geographical location (this is not essential and back-up plans should be made in case it needs to move online).
• The fee for each workshop is £250.00 upon receipt of an invoice.
• Each workshop leader should send a little bit of feedback post-workshop to us (i.e.; who attended, what was discussed/learned, what worked well and what didn’t).

To apply to deliver a workshop, please use this online form

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rKlApPkA0tN0L5MTdf7ah3IggPTCe4yb8o_Pi6riGgQ/edit   to tell us about the workshop you would like to run. 

The form asks for: 

• Contact details of the organiser and social media details (if any)
• A short outline of your workshop and what topics you will be exploring 
• Where it will be held
• Who the workshop is for
• How you will ensure the space is inclusive and welcoming
• A short back-up plan in case COVID-19 means the workshop has to go online
• A short statement about how your workshop embeds our core values – https://peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk/about/ 

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Monday 3rd May 2021. We will contact all applicants to let them know about our decisions by Friday 7th May 2021. For further information contact Kath at kath@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk  #ICRCon2021

During the last couple of weeks in March, some of the PVM team took part in a training lab designed as part of Co-Engage, one of the Erasmus Plus projects we are a part of. The project aims to contribute to the development of co-creation skills, enabling citizens to become social innovators. Based on the exchange of experiences and learning through co-creation, the consortium’s method will bring in light know-how and competences, engaging citizens for innovation and creativity and, through this, creating bridges between diverse sectors and fields of activity.

Held online, the labs aimed to get us thinking about co-creation practices and how these could better engage citizens as social innovators. Hosted by German partners CRN and Future Fashion Forward, the labs took on the topic of textile waste in the fashion economy and had us work in groups on different scenarios that would encourage citizens to engage with this issue and work on finding solutions, such as a co-created social media campaign aimed at getting people to organise clothes swaps.

While it was a shame that we could not travel to Berlin for the training, as had originally been planned, it was great to see all of our partners and participants all together and working on some fascinating ideas.

The Co-Production Collective wanted to explore people’s lived experiences of co-production within health and social care research. Working with People’s Voice Media, they used Community Reporting – a pan-European storytelling movement that supports people to use digital technologies to tell their own stories – to capture a series of dialogue interviews with people who identified as ‘co-producers’. These co-producers come from different sectors, work on different projects, and participate in different ways in co-production.

The key findings that emerged from this piece of work are:

• Co-production should be approached as a practice governed by a set of values, rather than an exact science or process.
• Co-production can bring real value to research projects and be key to ensuring that services are more effective and better meet the needs of the people who access them.
• Co-production can be challenging but with support and encouragement, embracing continual and shared learning and by creating spaces for co-producers to connect, barriers can be overcome.

Some of our projects, particularly our European ones, are catching back up after being delayed for so long due to the pandemic. One of these is Co-Engage, an Erasmus+ project designed to contribute to the development of co-creation skills enabling citizens to become social innovators. Part of the project is a series of labs, the first of which takes place at the end of March in a digital form.

We’re looking for a volunteer to attend from the comfort of their own home, with the chance to network with organisations from across Europe as well as learning a thing or two about co-creation practices. A member of the PVM team will also be in attendance. Details of the lab are below:

Topic: Co-discovery.

Overall Goal: Experimenting and testing old practices and new models, focussing on generating participation of citizens as co-implementers and activating people.

Lab Umbrella Topic: Fashion Consumption and Textile Waste problem in cities.

Organisers and facilitators: Future Fashion Forward and Comparative Research Network.

Day 1 – Monday 22nd March 2021 / 9am to 12pm GMT

Day 2 – Tuesday 23rd March 2021 / 1pm to 4pm GMT

Day 3 – Wednesday 24th March 2021 / Self-learning day

Day 4 – Monday 29th March 2021 / 9am to 11.30am GMT & 1pm to 3.30pm GMT

Day 5 – Tuesday 30th March 2021 / 1pm to 4pm GMT

Each of the days presents opportunity for learning, co-creating and networking with a blend of presentations and group work on a variety of challenges, with a fuller agenda being available nearer the time.

A small accessibility bursary is available for each of the days to help meet access costs.

If you are interested in volunteering to take part and have availability on the specified dates, email Sarah at PVM by Thursday 11th March.

All too often, women’s voices can go unheard. At People’ Voice Media, we have been working with a women’s group who form part of Inspiring Change Manchester and for the past few months, since the autumn we have been helping the group to use storytelling and Community Reporting practices to dig a bit deeper, find out more and explore the question; ‘What Matters to Women?’

The insight stories that were gathered by the group touched upon many different aspects of life as a woman and following the Community Reporter training, we worked together to explore the key themes and topics through sense-making sessions and in order to discover what were the aspects that mattered the most to those taking part. 

As part of a celebratory event at Christmas, we helped the group to put together an edited video which captures some of these women’s thoughts and experiences and with International Women’s Day coming up on 8th March, we don’t think there’s been a better time to share it wider. 

We encourage everyone to join in the conversation by considering the question; ‘What Matters to Women?’

You can watch the video HERE