Designing Participation: Current Approaches and Future Directions

The "Designing Participation: Current Approaches and Future Directions" 2017 conference, held at the Royal Society of Arts in London on 26th May 2017, was a research-generative event that followed up on recommendations made in the most recent Arts Council England (2010) report to focus exclusively on adult participatory arts. Those recommendations were fundamental to the design of a set of six research questions used to encourage a series of lively research workshops during the conference. The London Doctoral Design Centre organising researchers have collated the research generated by a diverse selection of conference attendees - including members from the participatory arts field, the wider arts community and academic institutions. Grassroots-initiated and somewhat provocative, The Designing Participation: Current Approaches and Future Directions 2017 report makes an exciting contribution to this dynamic research area and defines the principles for further conferences. The video of the conference includes keynote speakers: renowned photographer, psychological therapist and workshop leader Rosy Martin and Access All Areas Cian Binchy, as well as presentations from the organising LDoc researchers’ Julia Johnson, Jack Champ and Will Renel.