The (not so) secret life of a creative agent

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  Creative Agent or Captain Adorable?

Adapted from handout from Anna Craft from Exeter Uni, from Heard (1990, p.25)

In the workshop we were asked to read a script and ask  - What evidence is there of possibility thinking?





What did you do at school?

This is a new school for me.  The first thing I did was to listen to the priorities of senior teaching staff.

Yes, but then what did you do?

I found out about the creative work already happening in the school, and what partners they already work with.  We thought about an area of focus for work over the coming year, who should participate and how.  We began thinking about what kind of people could support and develop work in their school.  Also how best to tender for creative practitioners.  We framed an enquiry question that could be understood by all.

Yes, but what else have you done?

We set up initial workshop(s) to explore what the students/pupils thought.  The workshops could include an opportunity for young people to show me priorities in their school and record them in an appropriate way - perhaps some kind of tour, or Voxpop, recorded with Flip camcorders can be good for this.  We introduced the enquiry question.  We invited a short list of creative practitioners, representatives of organisations, or additional teaching staff/community agencies to meet and discuss the enquiry with students.

We set up a series of activities to develop conversations around the enquiry question, consider a framework for the project.

And then did you do anything?

By taking part in activities, or sometimes leading activities to discuss our enquiry, I had some kind of meaningful conversation with all the students/pupils taking part.

But did you do anything today?

I ate lunch in the staff room, or maybe in the main canteen.  By being in the school people are starting to recognise me and I feel more at home here.

And then what did you do?

I made sure I had recorded comments from all the people I had spoken to, and made sure there was time at the end of the day for all to reflect with our team.  I arranged another meeting for creative practitioners we have chosen to work with and teaching staff to timetable the project, budget it, and provide more detail for our project plan, based on previous discussion and the initial workshops.

So did you do anything?

When I got home I made sure I emailed photos/film footage, notes, from the day, trying to keep them brief (and usually failing).  I made sure I thanked everyone and identified key achievements of the day.

So did you do anything today?

By about midnight I had just about managed to sort out the paperwork, sent off a draft copy to school coordinator, 'cos I knew you'd say...

WHAT DID YOU DO AT SCHOOL TODAY?