Creative Generation is an intergenerational participatory audiovisual project designed by Big Bang Lab, aiming to create links between communities of residents living in Housing Estates and neighbourhoods in London. In our society we are facing a lack of human and social interaction between young people and older people.
This exciting project is an attempt to restore a sense of commonplace and a better understanding of each other’s narratives in order to build a better future. Some stories can get lost forever so archiving the conversations and interviews on video is important for the community and for future generations. This project is a combination of creative oral history with civic lead journalism using video as a tool to capture stories, travel on time to the past, to the future and maybe come up together with new solutions to old problems.
The challenge of bringing people together to share stories is minimized by the opportunities ahead to allow genuine individual and collective voices of expression to emerge. We all need the time to talk and listen to eachother’s in order to co-create alternative visions for the future beyond stereotypes, especially under challenging socio-economic circumstances and uncertain futures for all. Learning from each other’s narratives is a gift but where do we start our journey?
Tulse Hill in South London and St Martin’s Estate in particular are spaces where historically the friction between local public and private service providers has shaped the life of residents going through the ups and downs of community lead activism and the determination to have their voices heard. We work closely with High Trees Community Development Trust, an organization providing adult learning opportunities and ongoing service to the wider community. One of the sucessful stories of the neighbourhood.
Let’s explore our collective wisdom!
To know more about it check our microsite www.creative-generation.org.uk
Crowdversation 1: Creative Communities
Crowdversation 2: Arts and Health
Crowdversation 3: Culture, conflict resolution (West-Eastern Divan Orchestra)
Crowdversation 4: Older people and financial inclusion
Crowdversation 5: Corporate Memory and urban futures
Crowdversation 6: Co-creativity and collaboration (BOW workshop)
Read this blog post about it written by our unconditional fan Ben Goldsmith from Workspace Group.
Balloon Orchestra Workshop (4) Tidal waves / winner! by Big Bang Lab audio
Este video refleja el trabajo de campo realizado por los participantes del taller de comunicación Ideagora impartido por Sergio López Figueroa en la ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , durante las jornadas de Implosión Cultural el 19 de Marzo de 2011. La captura de información tuvo lugar durante una visita a uno de los mercados de la ciudad. Esta práctica de trabajo es totalmente independiente y las opiniones de los entrevistados y entrevistadores ha sido libre y espontánea.
El video es una muestra piloto del modelo de captación de información colectiva, creativa y participativa Shared Voices utilizando medios audiovisuales y diseñada por Big Bang Lab. Para obtener una idea general de los resultados recomendamos complementar este video con la escucha de las entrevistas capturadas en formato de audio que han sido editadas en segmentos para su mejor difusión por internet.
Este trabajo no es el resultado de un proyecto de la oficina de la capitalidad cultural 2016 o de la alcaldía de Las Palmas de GC. Este vídeo se puede acceder para visualizarse exclusivamente desde una página web como testimonio del trabajo realizado. No será posible la copia y difusión en otros sitios o canales de distribución.
Más información sobre el proyecto y candidatura de Las Palmas de GC capital cultural 2016 laspalmasgc2016.eu
This new venture is combining the social media platform of the spoken word, AudioBoo with a wiki platform to engage people all over the world with our flagship project and cultural social responsibility programme, Global City Symphony. We are inviting to get contributors to a wiki open to individuals that speak more than one language to translate the texts, upload an audiofile using their voice in order to create a series of multilingual messages.
More important for us is the opportunity for us to allow people to engage and contribute to this collective effort and become local and global ambassadors of Global City Symphony. We are looking for individuals interested in social change in the context of the city and the role of culture to bring the city alive and change the approach to tackle other aspects neglected in the development or urban planning agenda. We are confident people will connect with the vision and mission of the project using language skills by translating content to another language, but also taking ownership of the project to engage with and become future volunteer ambassadors.
visit us now!
Shared Voices, the power of genuine communication
Are evaluation forms the best to tool to capture the impact of your organisation’s work? What about using the power of video for web distribution and involve a number of stakeholders in the making? The value lies on a diverse representation of stakeholders, customers and influencers being engaged in the creative process using video interviews and by endorsing in their own way the benefits, so the outcome becomes personal and unique.
We work with charitable organisations, mainly -but not exclusively- in the health and arts sector in order to measure the impact of the video in their training, events or to asses fundraising strategies or stakeholder engagement. Moreover our facilitation process involves making sure participants interact with each other, shooting or recording and making it happen. We at Big Bang Lab are not lazy, but facilitators in search of quality of information. Last Summer I had the opportunity to work with the Otakar Kraus Music Trust, a fantastic charity working with children with autism and other disabilities by helping them with one to one music therapy. The children were engaged searching new sounds and exploring their inner creativity.
I was very happy to interact with them, their carers, parents and siblings and co-create a video for web. This will help OKMT to create awareness and show the intangible value to potentially new funders. In particular I was touched by the open and positive attitude of parents in relation to their childrenʼs condition which we hope will touch other families in similar situation, show to supporters their value with an insight or sample and promote strategically to engage other donors and future funders!
For a full article click here http://www.bigbang-lab.com/pdf/ThePower_sharedvoices.pdf
Shared Voices www.sharedvoices.net is a consultancy and video for web production and facilitation service from Big Bang Lab designed for research, fundraising, advocacy, evaluation, promotion or stakeholder engagement purposes in order to increase funding, customers, membership and improve best practice It is about capturing genuine inputs no matter who holds the camera or ask the questions. For some this is anarchy for many it is open democracy as its best!
Summary: Following a 2009 Delhi pilot, Big Bang Lab presents Global City Symphony, a digital media project using music, archive media, participatory documentary and silent digital films to connect disadvantaged communities around the world. A future creative learning and knowledge sharing platform in a network of seven cities will allow citizens to creatively express issues affecting their lives and the future of the cities.
Big Bang Lab designs and delivers uniqueindependent collective creative audiovisual productions combining the re-use of archive media across thepublic and corporate sector promoting digital silent cinema with live original music, participatory videoproduction, creative oral history and digital inclusion programmes.
Do you want to learn more about Big Bang Lab’s vision and achievements? watch this video now!
GLOBAL CITY SYMPHONY Following the production of the first pilot in Delhi as the outcome of aCultural Leadership Award (Delhi City Symphony) Big Bang Lab’s director is developing a global citizenshipproject connecting disadvantaged communities worldwide by providing hands on training and capacity buildingprogramme using local resources in seven cities worldwide in order to allow communities and artists todevelop new ways of connecting with each other and expressing their views about the future of their city,engaging neighborhoods in the creative and knowledge transfer process.
This project is Big Bang Lab’s cultural social responsibility framework, an alternative to corporate CSR, lookingat creating cultural and social capital in each city establishing the first social innovation model towards liveablecities by creating value from the intangible assets and empowering communities through information,participation and positive civic activism.
This is a working model of community participation through media,cultural heritage engagement and a review of a more ethical distribution on wealth based on new Intellectual Property agreements. We are planting the seed to sustain a programme for the future creative-cultural socialentrepreneurs and a new paradigm of collaboration and convergence.
We are looking for a £83,000 R&D sponsorship grant for a breakeven by March 2012.
Funds will be used for:
• R&D to produce 7 pilot projects • Clearing copyrights for use of archives • Development as an open source video platform and beta website • Staffing: 7 Big Bang Lab community engagement agents and 1 DirectorFuture plans include: • Development of a consortium in each city involving 35 private, public and civic organizations • Audiovisual production for web distribution channels and social networks • 280 individuals from 7 countries and a team of 28 cultural leaders
What can you do right now ?
JOIN OUR GLOBAL CITY SYMPHONY FACEBOOK GROUP
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-City-Symphony/120800231284342?ref=sgm
SIGN OUR PETITION on Change.org www.change.org/bigbang-lab
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WORK on our Vimeo channel www.vimeo.com/bigbanglab
Collective interviews video co-created by participants to the VII Campus of Cultural Cooperation which took place in November – December 2010 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, organized by Interarts. To learn more about Euroamericano, the VII Campus of Cultural Cooperation, click here alturl.com/x32tx
Music soundtrack composed and performed by Javier Infante, from Gran Canaria javierinfante.com
The Canarias Government, Organization of Ibero-American Status for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), Interarts Foundation and Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID) organized the 7th Euro-American Campus on Cultural Cooperation, which took place in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) from the 30th of November until the 3rd of December in 2010. The theme of the meeting was “Culture, Cooperation and Local Development.
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Video de entrevistas colectivas co-creadas por participantes del VII Campus de Co-operación Cultural organizado por Interarts en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria durante Noviembre – Diciembre 2010. Visite la página de Euroamericano, VII Campus de Cooperación Cultural alturl.com/x32tx
To watch other videos produced by Big Bang Lab for conferences visit the channel Shared Voices
The video was produced by Big Bang Lab for Otakar Kraus Music Trust, a leading music therapy charity based in Twickenham, London. The video is used as promotional and evaluation tool showing the process during a series of creative music workshops involving children with disabilities and their siblings.
They all participated together in a Summer Music Club in August 2010 supported by the Aiming High programme in Hounslow, London.
We took the opportunity to interview some of the parents to learn about the programme and the impact of music in their children. Some parents shared some open views about unconditional love and the power of non verbal communication that will inspire other families with autistic or down syndrome children.
We are sure you will be as inspired as we were during the making of this documentary by listening to the music created with joy by the children.
Sergio López Figueroa in conversation with five participants of the conference ¨”Culture and the Policies of Change”, the 2nd Culture Watch Europe Conference, Brussels, 6-7 September 2010.
We discussed briefly over the lunch break issues of sustainability, artists in the community, new creative opportunities as well as accessibility to a diverse range of cultural experiences especially to young people. The question of new emerging socio-economic models in the cultural setting including social entrepreneurship remains open and relevant.
As discussed over the past two days, we agreed on the challenges faced by policymakers at a local, national and international level to respond with new ideas to an open and dynamic environment in a global digitized and urbanized world, facing big social and environmental challenges.
What is your big idea? Share this video and ask the same question to your peers!
How culture and media can play a role to reduce poverty and increase social cohesion in cities?
In 2009 the founder and director of Big Bang Lab, Sergio López Figueroa, received an award from the British Council, part of the Cultural Leadership Programme. He worked in Delhi with Prayas an NGO supporting underprivileged children in Delhi. Other partners involved were the Public TV channel, Media training facilities, cultural venues and music organizations. The output was Delhi City Symphony, a contemporary silent film produced with the children with a live music performance. They also participated in the creation of a documentary about social and environmental issues in the city. This project engaged underprivileged children through music and digital media, with their own musical heritage in an imaginative solution to urban challenges.
Delhi City Symphony had many positive outcomes achieved in a very short time, breaking preconceptions and encouraging Sergio to continue further to bring a solid framework of Cultural Social Resonsibility and a the programme Global City Symphony, looking at culture heritage and the intangibles in the regeneration of cities and community cohesion.
Global City Symphony is a three year programme combining culture, digital media and music in the context of the urban regeneration and community development. This framework is an opportunity for a private and public sustainable model looking at outcomes towards a common goal.
“A sound vision” The Hindu “Tughlakabad fortissimo” Time Out, Delhi “We are creating Heritage right now” Kamalini Dutt, Doordarshan TV archives Resurgence magazine
We have been in this locality for so long but we never thought about the kind of issues like water and sanitation. Now we feel the issues alive and breathing around us.
Bridging the Urban Divide
With half of humanity already living in towns and cities, it is projected that in the next 50 years, two-thirds of us will be living in towns and cities. A major challenge is to minimize burgeoning poverty in cities, improve access of the urban poor to basic facilities such as shelter, clean water and sanitation and to achieve environmentally friendly, sustainable urban growth and development.
To watch other videos showing the work of Big Bang Lab in action, check this video channel. Building Fragments, the making of the Delhi City Symphony 2009 project.
Speech of the founder of El Sistema, Mr Jose Antonio Abreu, a true source of inspiration.
CSR as Cultural Social Responsibility. Delhi City Symphony
Film screening + networking event
The Hub King’s Cross 18th February 7 pm
Booking http://globalcitysymphony.eventbrite.com
• Why is culture outside of CSR or under represented by social enterprises?
• Are cultural enterprises committed to social change?
• What is the common language of CSR, Cultural and Social Enterprises?
Come and join us for an open discussion and watch the premiere in London of the film Delhi City Symphony, the documentary of the process behind the project and the development of CSR as Cultural Social Responsibility.
Background
In 2009 a group of underprivileged children living in shelter homes in Delhi participated in the creation of a documentary about the city shooting around their neighbourhoods, the streets and a Heritage site, coming up with their conclusions about social and environmental issues affecting the city. As a result of this participatory creative process they also engaged with their own musical heritage by producing new music for the film. The live performance took place on World Heritage Day at one of the central cultural venues in the city.
After the project finished we were left with the big question:
What next? How this model will benefit communities in the UK?
Organizer
Big Bang Lab
event@bigbang-lab.com
For more information and tickets http://globalcitysymphony.eventbrite.com
We will be questioning the issues of local communities involvement in contributing to the design of their cities and the creative use of audio visual heritage for learning purposes. This event is an open discussion with the audience and a network opportunity.