Slides used by Sue Moffatt, (New Vic Borderlines) and Mihaela Kelemen (Keele University), at the Big Local ‘I'll do that - volunteering in Big Local areas' learning event, organised as part of the Local Trust programme of networking and learning events for Big Local residents. The event took place on Thursday 25 September 2014.

1. Untold Stories of Volunteering
Professor Mihaela Kelemen, Keele University
Sue Moffat, Director, New Vic Borderlines

2. Arts and Humanities Rresearch Council Connected
Communities Project
– Partners: Keele University (Project Leader), Leicester University,
New Vic Theatre and NCVO (National Council for Voluntary
Organisations)
– A co-design research project: trans-disciplinary and multi-
disciplinary using a cultural animation approach (February 2013-
June 2014)
– More than 30 interviews were carried out across the UK
– Six experiential workshops held at The New Vic Theatre, London
and Manchester
– Participants included individual volunteers, volunteer managers,
researchers and policy makers

3. Cultural Animation: Our Approach
• Pioneered in the UK by Susan Moffat, New Vic
Borderlines Director in collaboration with Polish
colleagues (Dr. Zofia Dworakowska)
• Draws on the everyday experiences of ordinary people
and their creative abilities to make sense of the world
and achieve goals
• Builds up trusting relationships between participants by
inviting them to work together in activities which may be
new to them but which draw on their life experiences
• Dissolves hierarchies: commonsense, expertise, practical
skills are valued in equal measure
• Articulates ideas and experiences in actions and images
rather than the written word

4. Cultural Animation Outcomes
• A series of artefacts, based on themes and
issues raised by the volunteers themselves:
poetry, songs, puppets and models, shadow
puppet theatre,short plays
• A documentary drama that toured the UK
(London, Leicester and Newcastle under
Lyme)

5. It’s paradoxical
You can volunteer for a short time friend
But you better find yourself a job in the end
(It’s paradoxical)
They want the community to have more say
So why are you taking all the funding away?
(It’s paradoxical)
I want to do something for my community
But you come and tell me I need a CRB
(It’s paradoxical)
We’d like to do everything that comes our way
There’s only 24 hours in a day
(It’s paradoxical)
They sent me to work in a factory
What! You want my time and you want it for
free!
(It’s paradoxical)
Big Society is a propaganda
But we all have a proper agenda
(It’s paradoxical)
Stacking shelves for free is not my future see
I want to work in geology
(It’s paradoxical)
Some people see volunteering as fashion
The rest of us think that it’s all about passion
(NOT paradoxical)
http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/culturalanimationoutcomes/

6. What does volunteering encompass?
– ‘Mundane’ volunteering: Multiple, small, daily
tasks being undertaken by volunteers (cleaning,
shopping, cooking, talking and listening)
– ‘Unusual’ volunteering: biohacking, setting up
media labs, holy dusters, magistrates
– Volunteering as a memory (done in honour of
dead person’s memory, as a way of staying close
to that person)

7. Volunteering and identity
– Volunteering so bound up with people’s sense of identity
that the interviews prompted some of them to divulge
very private matters (marriage breakdown, job loss,
suicide attempts, vicious official politics)
– Volunteering as a pathway to a new career (especially for
women who had taken career breaks to raise children)
– Volunteering as a new lease of life / morale booster
– Being empowered by volunteering
– Matching volunteering activities to one’s
hobbies/expertise
– The uncontrollable urge to volunteer for some people

8. Stresses of volunteering
– Health risks of volunteering (stress, exhaustion, infighting /
politics, dealing with other fragile volunteers)
– Hurt feelings (offers to help are ignored, ‘fired’ as a
volunteer, incompetent management)
– Conflict between volunteers (as something that people
keep quiet about)
– Potential for conflict when highly skilled/professional
volunteer is put doing tasks they consider ‘beneath’ them
– Volunteering can often be altruistic and selfish at the same
time - putting something in and getting something back

9. Management Issues
– Importance of training for volunteers and volunteer
managers
– Who are the volunteers answerable to?
– Limiting your commitment (to avoid burnout)
– Need for policies and procedures
– Treating volunteers well and supporting them (often when
they’re being pushed around)
– Communication with volunteers
– Clear roles for volunteers
– Dealing with volunteers who are no longer capable of
volunteering (i.e. letting them down gently)

10. Volunteering and Government
– The stigma of volunteering if you are long-term
unemployed (non-monetary benefits not recognised)
– Being forced to volunteer in an area you are not interested
in/have no skills (Voluntolding)
– The commodification of the voluntolds
– People having no idea what the policy is but are very
opinionated about what the government should do.
– There does not seem to be a recognition of local
government
– People volunteer despite and not because government
intervention

11. Links to Cultural Animation Outputs
• http://www.keele.ac.uk/volunteeringstories/c
ulturalanimationoutcomes/
• http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-
Events/Watch-and-Listen/Pages/Weathering-
the-storm-How-communities-respond-to-
adversity.aspx

12. New Vic Borderlines
BIG LOCAL WORKSHOP
ANIMATINING VOLUNTEERING

13.
BIG LOCAL WORKSHOP
“IN STILL WATER EXPECT POISON”
WHY HAS THE WATER BECOME STILL?
WHAT IS THE POISON ?
WHAT IS NEEDED TO GET THE WATER MOVING?
COMMUNITY CINQUAIN
Line 1 one word to describe the ‘still water’
Line 2 two words to describe Line 1
Line 3 three words feelings associated with Line 1
Line 4 four actions, which begin, move the stillness
Line 5 one word which describes the change
THE EMPTY SPACE/Creating the picture of the future
Create the Community Banner use three colours and describe what these colours represent
Choose three objects, which represent things that your community has within it
Use the four actions in the community cinquain to show an ‘active connected community
COMMUNITY HAIKU…. 3 LINES (5 7 5)
PRESENTATIONS