The importance of co-production
Co-production/Co-creation/’Nothing About Us Without Us’
At the heart of the work I’ve done in education, my research and in the third sector, I have been driven to place the voices of people affected by the issues at the centre of the work. This has often been in small ways but I was able to expand that practice with a consideration of audiences in my academic research into political live art. I was also able to bring it centre-stage in my strategic work in shaping the mission of the human rights charity EachOther. It is now a core component of my work as a freelance film maker specialising in co-creation projects.
My process
Every project is different but will be driven by the people most affected by the issues we’d look at. Phases include listening, capturing thoughts and concerns, as well as building in gaps where people can reflect and amend ideas - all of these and more are how the work gets made.
Working with organisations
Each organisation I work with have different needs and different levels of safeguarding requirements. Therefore I will mirror the safeguarding practices you require. I have my PVG certificate for working with vulnerable groups.
You can watch these most recent projects below
I first put my background in devised performance (where you use different processes to create theatre from scratch - not from a script) to work on a film commissioned by the EHRC. They had wanted an engaging film to bring human rights and children together. Working with UNICEF’s amazing Rights Respecting Schools around the UK, I enabled children to start conversations using questions that they chose from a pile - around issues of human rights. Whilst not a co-produced project in its entirety - it certainly used aspects in enabling the children to shape and direct the conversations in the way they wanted to go. To date its had over 32k views just on the EachOther YouTube account.
Watch the 2:12 minutes film above.
Fairplay
Excluded
In 2020 the multi-award winning documentary ‘Excluded’ that only features the voices, opinions and solutions from young people to address school exclusion was launched. I worked with young people and organisations supporting them through the filming like Includem and The Advocacy Academy - both organisations driven by co-production.
We workshopped how the young people wanted the film to develop, all those who wanted to were named as co-producers on the film and received wages for their work.
Watch the 46 minute film above.
“You were using the Lundy model before you even realised it was the Lundy model!”
Since it was launched in December 2020, the film has been watched over 21k times, been screened in cinemas, at film festivals, used by social workers, teachers, educational psychologists, local authorities, police and prison teams, been nominated for a Learning on Screen award and from October 2023 will be embedded on a core module ‘Introduction to childhood studies and child psychology’ on the Open University on their ‘Childhood and Youth Studies’ and ‘Education Studies (Primary)’ diplomas and undergraduate degrees. It will run for eight years and the Open University expects up to 45,000 students to undertake these courses over that time frame.
“‘Excluded’ shows young people will achieve much more when we can remove barriers to their success and showcase those achievements better than any adults can.”
Watch the 58 minute film above.
On 10th December, Human Rights Day, we launched our first long-form documentary ‘Excluded’. In it, we hear exclusively from those most affected by school exclusions: young people – who share their stories and views on this complex human rights issue. To continue the conversation around the issues covered in ‘Excluded’, we held a live-streamed panel discussion.
The panel was chaired by youth activist Betty Mayo, an alumnus of social justice charity the Advocacy Academy, who features in our documentary and helped shape it.
Among the panelists was Natalia Morgan, from the No Lost Causes campaign group which also forms a key part of our film. We were also joined by Glasgow City Council’s education director Maureen McKenna, who set up the ‘Nurture programme’ credited with drastically reducing school exclusions; and Dr Halima Begum, director of race equality charity the Runnymede Trust.
Watch the 18:40 minute film above.
Using the concept of Gogglebox, I worked with Just for Kids Law to bring one of their latest cohort of young campaigners together to use the Excluded documentary as a starting off point for conversations and considerations around school exclusion.
We set up a living room environment and got these young campaigners to watch the film and then have discussions around the ideas the film prompted.
Scottish co-production event
On 9 November 2022, I organised a free afternoon conference at Glasgow’s CCA, with a panel focussing on co-production and one focussing on school exclusion and its impact on children’s rights. The event was in partnership with the human rights charity EachOther and Includem, and was the first opportunity we’d had since the pandemic to screen the documentary in Glasgow on a big screen. At the same time we used the opportunity to bring together a range of charities, institutions and educators to talk about these issues in Scotland.
The co-production panel was co-chaired by Professor Laura Lundy from Queen’s University Belfast with Betty Mayo. This panel also included Juliet Harris (Director of Together) along with Olivia Brown (Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament [MSYP] for Midlothian North and Musselburgh).
Watch the full unedited capture of the co-production panel - 9 Nov 2022 - (Creative Commons useage)
“The Excluded event was both extremely enlightening and edifying to attend. The rich panel discussion, driven by audience participation, highlighted the nuances of exclusion that are frequently omitted from existing debate. I came away feeling not only more informed but enriched by discussion between organisers, the panel and audience.”
Professor Laura Lundy & Beinn Grant chairing the exclusion panel at the event in Glasgow
Olivia Brown speaking on the co-production panel at the event in Glasgow 2022
The school exclusion panel was co-chaired by Professor Laura Lundy from Queen’s University Belfast with Beinn Grant from the Scottish Youth Parliament. This panel also included Bruce Adamson (Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland), Iain Nisbet (specialist in the field of education law and Consultant Solicitor from Cairn Legal in Glasgow) and Zainab Adeleye (MSYP for Glasgow Southside).
“The Excluded event was fantastic – every aspect was engaging, from the powerful and moving voices of both the young people who have travelled through so much adversity already and the impassioned professionals working alongside them [...] I met an amazing mix of contributors, organisers and audience members, which, during the course of an evening, were able to voice and demonstrate their shared passion and commitment towards the issue, while not shying away from the challenges ahead, the impact it continues to have and the difficult discussions we must approach collectively and with equity.”
Watch the full unedited capture of the school exclusion panel - 9 Nov 2022 - (Creative Commons useage)
