Change in the countryside means that voluntary arts activity needs to play a vital role in revitalising rural communities. Ginny Brink explains.
Rural communities are facing growing challenges to their economic and social sustainability. These have been brought about largely by local and global technological and economic development. Other influential factors, include centralisation of local government, an ageing population, imbalanced migration patterns, changing labour markets, changing family life, property ownership, and the impending withdrawal of EU funds. The boundaries between urban and rural lifestyles have become blurred, some areas have become wealthier and others poorer, and many show high levels of social exclusion. With increasing recognition across the UK and Republic of Ireland that rural areas are an integral part of the country?s economy, environment and quality of life, rural issues are high on policy agendas. Sustainability is the underlying theme - to create ?thriving economies and communities in rural areas? (DEFRA ? The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
A fresh approach
In recent times, much of the support available to rural communities has been competitive and difficult to access. As a result, many communities are struggling to keep up with the changes, and even those that have managed to do so are reliant on precarious short-term solutions. It is clear, therefore, that there is a need for a new approach to community development.
In 2004, the Carnegie UK Trust set up the Carnegie Commission for Rural Community Development to establish a more coherent approach to strengthening rural communities. The Trust had concluded that the approach currrently taken by public, private and non-governmental agencies and trusts was not sufficiently effective in supporting sustainable rural community development. After consultation, the Trust and the Big Lottery Fund announced a joint three-year Rural Action Research Programme, the aim of which will be to analyse rural communities, demonstrate and pilot practical and cost-effective community-led solutions and help shape and influence rural policy. The approach underpinning this work is a very positive and promising one ? asset-based community development (ABCD). Since the voluntary arts would be classed as important assets in this model, it is worth taking a closer look at how it works.
The concept of asset-based community development is based on three decades of community development research by John Kretzmann and John McKnight. The underlying premise of this is that building social capital and supporting the active involvement of people in identifying and shaping their own solutions is essential for any sustainable change.
Accentuate the positive
The traditional approach to community development is one that focuses on problems and deficiencies. Sadly, we are all too familiar with this view: neighbourhoods are portrayed as ?problem? areas characterised by high crime rates, drugs, unemployment and homelessness, and the so-called solution is to measure the ?needs? and then bring in others with the answers. The trouble with this is that it is not the whole truth about the community and it has devastating consequences for residents.
The experience of living a good life depends on whether or not the capacities and abilities that every person has can be used and expressed. If they are, the person will be valued and feel powerful and well connected to the people around him. This creates strong communities. Weak communities, on the other hand, are places that fail to utilise the capacities of their members. People come to focus largely on their deficiencies and problems, rather than their skills and abilities. As a result, they see themselves as deficient, and believe that their deficiencies can only be relieved by services provided by other people, usually from outside the community. They become passive consumers, with no incentive to find solutions themselves or to take charge of their own lives. Because this problem/needs-based orientation can guarantee only survival not progress and change, it creates a sense of hopelessness.
What?s more, since only outside experts can provide help, the relationships that count most for local residents are those with ?experts? such as social workers or community workers. Those inside the community, those neighbour-to-neighbour links of mutual support and problem solving, are lost and the glue that binds the community together is weakened. Essentially, this traditional approach overlooks the basic wisdom that regards problems as being, in fact, symptoms of the breakdown of a community?s own problem-solving capacities.
Assets and solutions
In stark contrast, ABCD is an approach that does not look at what is absent or problematic, but instead draws attention to three simple, interrelated characteristics:
? Community ?assets?: these are the talents, strengths, knowledge, skills and resources of the individuals who live and work there, and the social relationships that fuel local associations and informal networks.
? Internal focus: since this approach is asset-based, it is also by necessity ?internally focused?, concentrating on the solution-finding capacities of local residents, associations, and institutions. This inspires creativity and hope and gives a sense of control.
? Relationship driven: A development process that is asset-based and internally focused looks to rebuild the strong ties that form the basis for community-based problem solving, recognising the value of building relationships between members of the locality. People become confident they can count on their neighbours and neighbourhood resources for support, and a sense of efficacy based on interdependence and strength develops.
Thus, unlike the problem/needs based approach, the ABCD process is community? rather than agency? driven. It places priority on community members investing themselves and their resources in a collaborative effort that makes full and creative use of this resource base. It focuses on the strength of associations and informal linkages within, rather than outside, the community and the relationships built over time between community associations and external institutions. This, in turn, creates a sense of empowerment and ownership of the development process enabling communities to shape and determine positive, and lasting, change.
There is sufficient historical evidence to suggest that significant and sustainable community development only takes place through processes similar to the one outlined above. The key, therefore, to sustainable rural regeneration is for communities themselves to identify all of their available local assets and to begin connecting them with one another in ways that multiply their power and effectiveness.
It is important to note that focusing on the assets of communities does not mean that these communities do not need additional resources from the outside. What it does mean is that outside resources will be more effectively used if the local community is itself fully mobilised and invested, and if it can be responsible for defining the agendas for which additional resources are obtained.
The role of voluntary arts
Among the assets that every community holds are the skills and talents of individuals that partake in the voluntary arts. As is in the nature of creative endeavour, these assets are multi-faceted and both artistic and non-artistic. In addition, most voluntary artists do not work in isolation, but belong to an art or craft group, or association. This is of paramount importance in the development of sustainable communities. The skills and talents that citizens? associations hold, play a vital role in community development. ?Associations?, less formal and much less dependent upon paid staff than formal institutions, are the very vehicle through which citizens can assemble to solve problems, share common interests and create the glue that binds the community together. Most communities harbour significant numbers of associations of various kinds, with religious, cultural and artistic, athletic, recreational, and other purposes in mind.
However, the depth and extent of this aspect of communities has been vastly underestimated. This is particularly true of socially excluded communities. These groups are indispensable tools for development, and many of them can in fact be stretched beyond their original purposes and intentions to become full contributors to the development process.
Thus, voluntary artists and arts groups play a central role in developing and sustaining communities. We must ensure that we are not overlooked by policy-makers and funders in their attempts to create what DEFRA seeks: ?a better quality of life for everyone, now and into the future?.
Ginny Brink is Core Services Co-ordinator at Voluntary Arts Network.
t: 029 2039 5395; e: info@voluntaryarts.org;
w: http://www.voluntaryarts.org
For further information visit http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/rural_issues