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The arts can create a culture of respect, bringing communities together and bridging social divides. Graham Duxbury explains.

It was noticeable that the first speech made by the Prime Minister on his return from his summer break was about what the Government and the media have come to dub ?the respect agenda?. Tackling anti-social behaviour, cutting truancy, and reducing attacks on frontline staff in schools, hospitals and job centres have all been mentioned as priorities. To drive forward this agenda, the Government has made the Home Office responsible for a new task force headed up by Louise Casey, the one-time homelessness tsar recently dubbed ?the ASBO queen? in the national press.

Cause for concern

While liberal media commentators may complain about draconian measures such as curfews, dispersal orders and the ever-present ASBO, one thing Ms Casey can?t be criticised for is her championing of the concerns of many local communities. A lack of basic consideration and respect, low-level disorder and so-called ?nuisance behaviour? ? by old and young alike ? are very real issues for many people. They can have a significant impact on our quality of life and affect the way we view and interact with our neighbours and the way we use our shared public spaces. It?s very easy for those who live in genteel surroundings to talk about overreaction, the dangers of demonising and stereotyping and the need to tackle root causes. But when people are living in isolation and misery due to harassment or fear, and when some neighbourhoods are riven by factionalism ? whether between people of different backgrounds or cultures, or the increasingly evident skirmishing between young and old ? it?s difficult not to agree that something needs to be done.

So what is that something? The main thing we need to remember is that respect can?t be enforced. Respect needs to be encouraged and earned. Respect comes from understanding ? understanding other people?s points of view and understanding the impact of our own behaviours. Artists and community development workers are well placed to help build this understanding.

It?s also not just about relationships with other people. Our quality of life is intimately bound up with the level of respect that we ? and those around us ? show towards places as well as people. Run-down public parks, litter-strewn alleyways and boarded-up houses can be drivers for depression, anxiety and fear. Ugliness in the public realm saps the spirit and, according to the ?broken window theory? beloved by criminologists, breeds and attracts more significant and more damaging criminal behaviour. Of course, it?s a big causal leap from dropping a piece of litter to running a crack den, but these are two ends of the same continuum. Establishing a more direct and meaningful connection between people and place is one of the most obvious ways in which artists can engage in the process of changing attitudes and behaviours and cultivating respect. Some of the most successful examples of this arise from projects that aim to use exploration of our shared physical surroundings to bridge the gap between those who see themselves as victims and those they perceive as perpetrators.

This approach can be particularly rewarding when it brings together old and young. Structured reminiscence projects can be hugely powerful with young people tapping the memories of their older neighbours and slowly coming to see their locality through different ? but surprisingly similar ? eyes. At the same time, thinking back to their own childhood concerns and escapades gives older residents a different perspective on the pressures and challenges faced by young people today. Video can be an exciting medium with which to make this journey, capturing the sights and sounds of a neighbourhood today and comparing and contrasting them with recollections of a previous age and hopes for a distant future. The process of devising, shooting and editing film can also provide young people with significant transferable skills and the feeling of having created something of value that can be shown in public and used as a powerful tool to get messages across to decision-makers.

Often the outcomes of this process can also be used to make a physical and lasting difference to the local environment. Through the reminiscence process, people can build up a much stronger identity with a locality, exploring its heritage and its development and tracing back connections that build stronger ties and networks. Incorporating these memories, stories and testimonies into a shared landscape can cement these connections and help people to understand their place in their community?s history and their role as custodians of that common heritage.

It can also create things and places of beauty as well as meaning. And the more artists can help to capture and reflect a shared understanding of place and heritage, the more they will be able to push the boundaries in terms of form and execution. The greatest problem facing artists working in the public realm is acceptance: how to ensure that works, whether temporary or permanent, pass the ?local paper test? and become accepted as an integral part of a neighbourhood. The surest way of achieving this acceptance is to make sure that both the process and the product acknowledge and advance the narrative that connects the lives of those who have to live with the end results. If art is to help build respect, artists too must earn that respect.

Graham Duxbury is Head of Communications for Groundwork UK.
t: 0121 237 3650;
w: http://www.groundwork.org.uk