Art and Cities

29 MAY 12   Art and Cities   DCTV Event, Wood Quay, DDC

Lisa Crowne took part in this event organised by The Dublin City Community Forum in partnership with Dublin Community Television, Create and Dublin City Council. The workshop focused on one question; “Drawing from your experience, what way does community development and arts practice best contribute to the city?”

Some info about the structure of the workshop below. Speeches, outcomes and feedback from the event can be viewed and read on on their website

“This workshop was delivered using the “World Cafe” model. The World Cafe is a method, which makes use of an informal cafe for participants to explore an issue by discussing in small table groups. Discussion is held in multiple rounds of 20-30 minutes. The event is concluded with a plenary. The World Cafe is a creative process set in a cafe setting. The event either takes place in a actual cafe or else the room is set up to resemble one as much as possible: participants are seated around small tables with tablecloths and tea, coffee and other beverages. The cafe ambiance allows for a more relaxed and open conversation to take place. 

Often participants are provided with pens and are encouraged to draw and record their conversations on the paper tablecloths to capture free flowing ideas as they emerge. Participants discuss the issue at hand around their table and at regular intervals they move to a new table. One participant (the table host) remains and summarises the previous conversation to the newly arrived participants. By moving participants around the room the conversations at each table are cross-fertilised with ideas from other tables. At the end of the process the main ideas are summarised in a plenary session and follow-up possibilities are discussed.”