“I loved the exhibition, in fact exhibition is not quite the right word – you’ve created something incredibly inspiring and provoking that is much bigger than the exhibition space. Croydon needs this and I’m looking forward to planning ahead for libraries.”
– Joan Redding, Libraries Manager, Croydon
We are piloting novel ways to use arts and virtual reality to engage communities and grass roots civil society groups on place based application of system change ideas. Our Croydon System Change Project, brought together over 12 representatives and leaders of local civil society and grass roots action groups in Croydon. This diverse set, reaching across climate action, sustainable living, racial justice, homeless and social justice issues is interacting with an artist in residence we are managing at Turf Projects in a High Street venue in Croydon. After a series of deliberative workshops debating for the first time what system change means for them, taking inspiration from our case study research and expertise in system change, our artist in residence, Meitao Qu, has created an inspiring immersive experience to archive and communicate the key insights, struggles, and ideas for transformative change. This was first exhibited at Museum of Croydon in October and November 2023, and then travelled to South Norwood Library until end of April 2024. The show is part of the official Borough of Culture programme here. We are grateful to Arts CouncilEngland for supporting this exciting and replicable work.
Borough of Culture Listing of our free exhibition at Museum of Croydon: https://culturecroydon.com/event/pick-a-path-4-croydon/
How Can London Borough of Culture Pograming Contribute to System Change and Positive Futures? Read the Impacts and Achievements Summary of our initiative here: Croydon Project Summary Achievements
Creative Citizen Engagement app, utilising a simple card flip game is currently live. It’s a simple creative tool we created to engage feedback and ideas about systemic change from citizens in peripheral areas of Croydon: http://pickapath4croydon.online/
Visit the project website: http://croydonsystemchange.org/
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Focus Group Research Findings Report– how locals understand ‘system change’
As one part of what we learned about citizen’s insights, priorities, and how citizens reacted to themes and information in our virtual reality experience, read our Findings Report from the focus group research we conducted in South Norwood, a peripheral area of Croydon with significant economic disadvantage.