Author Archives: Heather

Inspiring Creativity – Training for Community Organisations, Charities and Students’ Unions

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

The value of creative thinking for workplace productivity and personal wellbeing is something that is understood but all too often not cultivated. This course looks at how creativity used daily can improve working practices, to build confidence, facilitate collaborative working, inspire innovative thinking, and foster well-being. It will engage with different ideas of what creativity is, how the working environment can be made more creative and will leave each participant with a plan of how to personally become more creative in your own working practice This training will be delivered in your organisation over two days, for up to 12 attendees.

The course is interactive, creative and focused on reflecting on your working practice. All our courses are developed in consultation with the community sector,

Learning Outcomes:

Identify ways to create a more creative working environment
Develop an understanding of the connection between wellbeing and creativity
Be able to inspire creativity in others
To have a grasp of different creative facilitation techniques and how you can use these
Be able to have a clear plan of how you can apply different techniques to increase your personal creativity

Course Schedule:

Day 1 – Defining creativity, art, inspiration, and connectivity, what does it mean in different working situations, why is this useful in the workplace? What does and doesn’t work and why; A creative environment – overcoming fear and workplace wellbeing, creating a balance: the role of confidentiality and the importance of space of sharing, team working, networking and diversity
Day 2 – Techniques for becoming more creative: exercise’s in lateral thinking, divergent thinking, metacognition; More creative facilitation techniques for mitigating power structures and encouraging engagement; Going further – looking at the actions you will take improve creativity in your workplace and making a personal creativity plan

This course can be delivered in-house for up to 12 attendees. We encourage organisations to work together in partnership to allow training to happen and are happy to train multi-organisation cohorts.

Total delivery cost for 2 days and up to 12 attendees: £1350

10% discount for courses run in August 2018.

If you are interested and would like to know more please get in touch! heather@magneticideals.org

Call for Papers: UK Student Movement Research Project – ‘Protestival’ University of Sussex

UK Student Movement Research Project // 1st Symposium

As part of Sussex University’s Protestival // 20 – 22 April // University of Sussex, U.K.

Call for Papers and Panels

The 2010 protests and occupations against tuition fees reignited the student movement in the UK on a scale not seen since the late 1960s. A generation of young people and students organised in their universities and colleges, worked inside the National Union of Students, and campaigned outside of the national union too. There was an attempt to set up a separate anarchist student union at the end of 2012, and a student occupation at University of Sussex in support of staff fighting against privatisation in early 2013. The Sussex occupation organised its own national demonstration that drew student activists from across the country. Heavy police repression at the University of London led to the formation of the Cops Off Campus campaign, and resistance to border controls took place through organisations such as Universities Resist Border Controls. There has been renewed interest in feminist and LGBT+ activism, and efforts to question colonialism in our curricula.

Parallel to this wave of activism is the work done by researchers of the student movement. Bringing both closer together and learning from each other is essential for better understanding the student movement and to meet the challenges of the coming years. The UK Student Movement Research Project was set up in January 2017 to connect those interested or active in research on the student movement. The people involved come from a variety of academic and activist backgrounds, and research in a variety of different disciplines.

The 1st Symposium of the UK Student Movement Research Project will be held at the University of Sussex 20th – 22nd April. We welcome contributions on any aspect of the student movement in the UK, but also student movements around the world and analyses from transnational and global perspectives. These can have a contemporary or a historical focus.

Proposals are welcome for individual papers, as well as for panels drawing together 2-3 papers around a common theme. We are also interested in inviting those whose research presentation involves creative practices or a workshop based approach. Alternative spaces will be available for presentations, and if you have an interesting space on Sussex campus that would like to use then please let us know.

Contributions can be from academics, independent researchers and from student activists themselves. While the anti-fees protests are an integral part of the movement’s recent past so papers on this would be very welcome, we are especially interested in topics that have thus far been neglected in academic and political discourses. We are also interested in papers that link the student movement to other social, political, emancipatory and cultural movements.

Please submit your abstracts of no more than 300 words to us in the form below.

https://goo.gl/forms/XWCkvnDuUNEq1pmk2

Deadline for abstracts: 16 March 2018

The UK Student Movement Research Project’s symposium will be in collaboration with the University of Sussex Students’ Union Protestival, which celebrates a milestone of 50 years of student activism since May 1968. This will be a three day festival of speaker and panel events, workshops, music, comedy. The festival will look at the legacy of student activism and also, where things are at today. As well as presenting papers as a part of the symposium there will also be opportunities to get involved either as a participant or as an audience member in other events throughout the festival weekend.

If you have an idea for a related event that falls outside the symposium brief, please get in touch with Steph Cassin in the University of Sussex Students’ Union Events team. Her contact is steph.c@sussexstudent.com

The festival will be happening 20th-22nd April but the earlier you let us know your idea, the more time we will have to make your event a reality and as successful as possible.

While the Research Project has no direct funds with which to support travel and accommodation costs, opportunities to find cheap shared accommodation will be provided.

Unionising the Future: A Joint History of Trade Unions and Students’ Unions – Research Volunteers Required

Could your knowledge and experiences contribute to a history of joint working between Trade Unions and Students’ Unions?

Opportunities are currently available to participate in a project that tracks the history of interactions between Trade Unions and Students’ Unions from 1970 onwards. Your experience of joint working between these organisations could contribute to the narrative of a currently unwritten history. This may include policy that governs joint working, joined up working on campaigns, protests, consultations, casework, direct action, or any other areas you have experience of. This project is seeking perspectives on where things have worked well, where they have been difficult, and in your thoughts about the future of joint working between these partners.

Participants may be current, or past officers, stewards, staff or volunteers working at Trade Unions or Students’ Unions, or in other HE Sector organisations. You will be required to take part in a one hour recorded interview reflecting on your own experiences. This interview will focus on your personal experience and observations in relation to the topic and you will be required to do no prior work or research on the matter.

If you are interested in participating, please complete this online contact form and we will be in touch shortly: https://goo.gl/forms/bQoamscNQ4YWZuWT2

This research is being conducted by Heather McKnight, a PhD student at the University of

Sussex funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council funding consortium CHASE (Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South- East England). This research has been approved by the Social Sciences & Arts Cluster Research Ethics Committee at the University of Sussex.

Any information provided is confidential, no information disclosed will lead to the identification of any individual in the reports on the project, either by the researcher or by any other party. Personal information will be treated as strictly confidential and handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Call for Papers and Abstracts: Networks

EXCURSIONS JOURNAL 8:1
Call for Papers and Abstracts: ‘Networks’

Deadline for Symposium Abstracts: 31 July 2017
Deadline for Journal Articles: 31 October 2017

‘To operate within the matrix of power is not the same as to replicate uncritically relations of domination.’ Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (1990)

‘They have built tents across the campuses and lived there, both to show the impact indebtedness is having on their lives, to show that they need to move away from a university that is becoming more and more like a financial operation, more and more commercialised.’ Sylvia Federici, Education and the Enclosure of Knowledge in the Global University (2007)

‘One thanksgiving, Danny spent hours handing out flowers to people on a busy street. It was like he was trying to jumpstart a zone of contact in the world.’ Kathleen Steward, Ordinary Affects (2007)

The recent political turmoil, in both the US and European context, has made tangible the desire for dissolution of old networks of trade, communication and allies, and we find ourselves debating the formation of new structures, and their impact on the everyday as well as the political hierarchy. In the meantime, networks of resistance to the right have sprung up: the Women’s March on Washington found itself in solidarity with sister marches across the globe; people across Britain and the US wore safety pins to mark themselves as a resource for immigrants made newly vulnerable. Divided across the political spectrum, what these political happenings have in common is a belief in the plasticity of networks and the potential they have to create an alternative to the present.
Equally, developments in technology have enabled intimate surveillance of our everyday lives, increasing the potential for intrusion and violence, by both governments and corporations. Networks can be deeply conservative, restructuring academic and professional fields which are often rendered invisible in the process. Mechanisms of control, corporate or professional networks, and the norms/practices that constitute them, can ingrain societal exclusion and privilege.
Environmental crises, war and migration demonstrate how seemingly disparate processes are deeply networked and how both social, natural and technical systems are mutually constitutive. This highlights the need to be aware of the networked complexity of the world, and the entanglement of human and nonhuman phenomenon, which is crucial to make sense of the world in which we exist.

Excursions Journal are seeking abstracts of 250 – 300 words for a symposium due to take place at the University of Sussex on 27 September 2017, and journal articles of 3000-5000 words. We are interested in receiving submissions from a range of disciplines that engage with instances, contemporary and historic, where the networks we have established matter. This could include, but is not limited to:

How networks in our historical approaches help us to better understand our present moment, or reinterpret our narratives of the past
Representations of networked practices in art, literature and music
Spatialisation, architecture and place
Economic networks of production, distribution and/or exchange
Telecommunication, technology and surveillance, conspiracy, and in/visibility
How networks structure organisations and hierarchies, engaging with networks of power, politics, social mobility and privilege
How networks are embodied, and how networks create and construct feelings of belonging and/or isolation
Migration and borders in relation to local, national and international networks
The role networks play in constructing identity and identity politics, issues of race, gender and queer networks
The transmission of ideas and practices through networking
Academic networks and critiques of these, looking inward as well as outward, considering professional networking, and collaborative practice
Inclusion, access and discrimination in the public and/or private spheres
Use of complexity theory or speculative entropy to understand social and practical issues
Religion, intentional communities, protest networks and the project of humanity

The deadline for abstract submissions for the symposium is 31 July 2017, abstracts should be between 250 – 300 words, and include a short author bio (no more than 50 words). Please submit via enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk

The deadline for journal submissions is 31 October 2017. Scholarly papers should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words and must follow Harvard style guidelines. We also encourage creative submissions in media such as film, photography, or audio. For creative submissions, please include an abstract and a brief biography (no more than 150 words) along with your submission. All enquiries should be directed to enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk. To submit your work, register with us here

Workshop 7th June: Time and Fear: The Proximity of Crisis and the Horrors of Repetition

T
Politics of Temporality Workshop

Time and Fear: The Proximity of Crisis and the Horrors of Repetition

Wednesday 7^th June, University of Sussex Freeman Centre Room F40

Full Schedule and abstracts available here

To book a free place please email h.mcknight@sussex.ac.uk

10:00 – 10:15	Tea and Coffee
10:15 – 10:30	Introductions by Chair Dr Lucy Finchett-Maddock
10:30 – 11:45	Panel 1 – Techniques of Fear and Change First as Tragedy, Then as Farce: The Slow Death of Social Democracy in the UK – Tom Frost, University of Sussex A Fearful Symmetry? The Uses of and Responses to Fear by Leave and Remain Campaigners in the UK’s Referendum on EU Membership of June 2016 – Dr Nick Randell, Newcastle University
11:45 – 12:00	Break
12:00 – 13:15	Panel 2 – The Labour Party in its own Discourse Inter-Generational Memory: The Labour Party and the Ghost of The Two Tonys – Daniel Lewis, University of York The Spectre of Technological Revolution: Scientific Revolutions in Labours Old and New – Matthew Francis, University of Birmingham
13:15 – 14:15	Lunch
14:15– 15:45	Panel 3 – Radicalism and Resistance H is for Heterotopia: Temporalities of the “new nature writing” – Dr Cathy Elliot, School of Public Policy University College London Urban rhythms and the afterlives of conflict. Memory, affect and landscape in Derry/Londonderry (N. Ireland). – Garikoitz Gómez Alfaro, University of Brighton A Heritage of New Terrorisms: The Chronotopology of Prevent Legislation in University Spaces – Heather McKnight, University of Sussex
15:45 – 16:30	Break
16:30 – 18:00	Book Launch: Emily Robinson, (2017) The language of progressive politics in modern Britain. This book traces the word ‘progressive’ through modern British history, from the Enlightenment to Brexit. It explores the shifting meanings of this term and the contradictory political projects to which it has been attached. It also places this political language in its cultural context, asking how it relates to ideas about progressive social development, progressive business, and progressive rock music. ‘Progressive’ is often associated with a centre-left political tradition, but this book shows that this was only ever one use of the term – and one that was heavily contested even from its inception. The power of the term ‘progressive’ is that it appears to anticipate the future. This can be politically and culturally valuable, but it is also dangerous. The suggestion that there is only one way forward has led to fear and doubt, anger and apathy, even amongst those who would like to consider themselves ‘progressive people’. Emily Robinson is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sussex, UK, Commissioning Editor of Renewal, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her previous work includes History, Heritage and Tradition in Contemporary British Politics: Past Politics and Present Histories(2012).

Location

Details of how to get to Sussex Campus are available here: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/about/directions

A campus map is available here, the event is taking place in the Freeman building , number 43 on this map.

CfP Politics of Temporality Workshop, Wednesday 9th June – Time and Fear: The Proximity of Crisis and the Horrors of Repetition

Call for Papers

Time and Fear: The Proximity of Crisis and the Horrors of Repetition

Politics of Temporality Workshop, Wednesday 9^th June

University of Sussex, Fulton Room 214

We live in times that are saturated with narratives of present crisis, past mistakes and uncertain futures. Political temporalities may seem to be collapsing in on themselves to pinpoints of inevitability, from which there is no turning back until we have hit an unbearable ‘rock bottom’. The rise of the right may seem to be echoing back to dark and dangerous histories as if the lessons learnt have now been suppressed or forgotten. From the election of Trump, to the racist discourse surrounding Brexit, from the refugee crisis to climate change, we are seeing unsettling indicators that our future may be limited and totalitarian. At the same time we can see the emergence of international movements of resistance, the prevalence of direct action, discourses of kindness, and a call for a fundamental reconsideration of how systems of political representation are operating.

We welcome abstracts that address the above theme, this may include but is not limited to:

The relationship between temporality and fear
The positioning of the crisis as happening now
Representing and misrepresenting horrors of war and conflict
How the media and political parties are using past narratives, or future projections, to justify, or explain, political actions
The role of memory and/or artistic representation in affirming and escaping present fears
The positioning of fear in the personal and the political, understanding the temporality of emotions
What is the role of forgetting, remembering or suppressing the past in times of crisis
What counter narratives are there to the rhetoric of fear, and future limitations
What discourses are being overlooked by the primacy of the crisis narrative
The role of repetition in either resistance or oppression
The temporality of protest
The role of technologies in constructing these futures, or in reconstructing our past to explain or resist

Abstracts should be between 200 – 300 words. Please sent titles and abstracts to h.mcknight@sussex.ac.uk by 1^st May 2017

Calling Trade Union and Students’ Union Staff and Reps!

The Unionising the Future project looks to understand and bolster local relationships between Students’ Unions and Trade Unions. We are looking to provide research and resources in this area, working with Students’ Union and Trade Union representatives to share experiences, map activity and bring people together to discuss the future, which is looking ever more precarious in light of the recent referendum and impending HE bill.

Some practical things we are looking at doing include: Providing a guide for Students’ Unions about Trade Unions their working students can join with details on costs and benefits. Sharing Case Studies on successful joint campaigns. Trying to understand that this is not always and easy relationship, and bringing people together to discuss why this is, and ways we can overcome it. Providing training and resources for both Trade Unions and Students’ Unions on joint working….

…. interested?

Our first piece of research is a brief survey – it would be great if you could take the time to complete it! This survey will take around ten minutes, and seeks to better understand relationships between Students’ Unions and Trade Unions locally. The survey is based on conversations we have had so far with Student Officers and Trade Union reps, should there be any areas we have not covered that you feel are important we are keen to know, and there will be space to cover this at the end of the survey.

If you would like to know more about the project you can read more on our website here and join our mailing list here to hear about events and further opportunities to participate…

Link to Survey

UNION: a participatory exhibition of real-world responses to the referendum

UNION, a participatory exhibition of real-world responses to the referendum

PRIVATE VIEW :
Thursday 16th June 6-9pm

OPENING TIMES:
Friday 17th June 1-7pm
Saturday 18th June 1-7pm
Sunday 19th June 1-7pm

An impartial exploration of the issues surrounding the upcoming referendum. Practitioners from the fields of art, law, and music have come together to create a space for public debate at the Synergy Centre, Brighton.

Utilising a diverse range of mediums, including sound, text, film and performance, you are invited to share your opinions and have your preconceptions challenged in advance of the vote. The exhibition will represent arguments on both sides of the debate, and you are encouraged to contribute your own ideas, knowledge, and concerns, in a supportive and non-judgemental environment.

Fact-based information will be provided by our resident experts, and an evolving, participatory “ideas-board” will be constantly updated with responses and rationales for the arguments, regulations and laws that affect you most.

This event is completely free, and refreshments will be provided. You are invited to pop in at any point to discover, discuss, debate and contribute. Whether you know next to nothing about the referendum, are “in”, “out” or unsure, come and join us in an impartial, accessible, open, and scare-tactic free exploration of the issues at hand – make your voice count!

PLEASE ADD YOUR QUESTIONS, OPINIONS AND RESPONSES ON THE EU TO THE FACEBOOK WALL, OR TO THE EXHIBITION WEBSITE:

http://unioneu.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/events/568464630004807/

www.magneticideals.org

Unionising the Future: Trade Unions and Students’ Unions Working Together

Marketisation in the UK education system risks reducing equality and social responsibility within the UK Education system. The Green Paper on Higher Education is pushing the agenda of marketisation further, and questions the transparency and accountability of Students’ Unions in the context of the recently proposed reforms to Trade Unions. Workers’ rights are being eroded, and some may argue that traditional structures of Trade Unions and Students’ Unions have become at best ineffectual in resisting, and at worst complicit in governmental plans.

However, the National Union of Students and the Trade Union Congress have stated they will jointly campaign under a “shared vision of a society based on the principles of social justice where all people have access to quality education, decent jobs and individual and collective rights at work” drawing a horizon of hope, knowing that we are stronger together.

Some practical things we are looking at doing include:Providing a guide for Students’ Unions about Trade Unions their working students can join with details on costs and benefits. Sharing Case Studies on successful joint campaigns. Trying to understand that this is not always an easy relationship, and bringing people together to discuss why this is, and ways we can overcome it. Providing training and resources for both Trade Unions and Students’ Unions on joint working….

…. interested?

How you can get involved:

Join our steering committee

If you would like to be involved in the shaping of this project, provide input to the materials developed, get your union involved, or develop ideas for what can happen in the future please email your details to unionfuture@magneticideals.org we’ll be in touch soon. Staff, officers, students and trade union reps are all welcome.

Submit a case study

The unions we have spoken have indicated that it would be great to hear more about what other unions are doing, how Students’ Unions and Trade Unions are working together locally and how you can overcome difficult challenges. We know that different Students’ Unions are in very different places with their relationships with local Trade Unions, but we also know that some of the great work that is happening needs to be shared across the network to inspire people. If you have a story to tell about a campaign, direct action, a policy win or just a great working relationship please drop us an email to unionfuture@magneticideals.org make sure you include any weblinks to news stories or blog posts about the work you have been doing!

Complete our survey

This survey is based on conversations we have had so far with Student Officers and Trade Union reps. As with all surveys it is a blunt tool, but will provide the starting point for future research. Please can you complete and send the link to staff members, officers and trade union reps within your union! Complete the Survey.

About Magnetic Ideals: We are a collective of researchers and artists in Brighton working to find and fund projects for social good. Many of us have, or do, work in or with Students’ Unions. We have provided activism, leadership and liberation training for students’ unions, supported homeless artists to get their work exhibited, helped establish a community organisation providing circus skills for the disabled, worked with YMCA to help improve how young people get involved in their governance structures, as well as on research with critically evaluating community engagement by students… now we are Unionising the Future!

More Information about the Project: The initial stage of the project is funded by a Seedbed Research Funding Grant. Full details of the aims and objectives of the project are available on our website: http://wp.me/P5Bqx4-4a The second part of this project will be run as a three year research project through University of Sussex Law School.

Deaf and Disabled Aerial Circus Training Course & Adapted Yoga

No Holds Barred

Run by us, for us. Come join the Adventure!

All sessions run from 11:30am – 2:45pm at the Hangleton Community Centre – we have limited spaces available so will let you know as soon as possible which sessions you are able to attend:

March 9th, 16th, 23rd March
April 13th, 20th, 27th
May 11th, 18th, 25th

Please note this will not run on the 30th March or on the 6th April

Return this form to joinnoholdsbarred@gmail.com to reserve your place.

If you are interested in volunteering at one of these events as a Circus Skills Volunteer or aWorkshop Volunteer please complete this form and return to joinnoholdsbarred@gmail.com

For further information on any of the above please contact joinnoholdsbarred@gmail.com or 07788236151

1st NHB project 5000 flyer poster

Learning Outcomes:

Course Schedule:

EXCURSIONS JOURNAL 8:1 Call for Papers and Abstracts: ‘Networks’

EXCURSIONS JOURNAL 8:1
Call for Papers and Abstracts: ‘Networks’