Becoming civic-centred: a case study of the University of Greenwich’s Bathway Theatre based in Woolwich

Ellis, T., Hockham, D., Rolle, E. and Zigomo, P. (2020) Becoming civic-centred: a case study of the University of Greenwich’s Bathway Theatre based in Woolwich. Studies in Theatre and Performance, 40(3), pp. 316-327. (doi: 10.1080/14682761.2020.1807211)

Abstract

This paper constructs an inter-disciplinary lens to consider a University Theatre’s community engagement programme, What About Us: Empowering Community Voices. We argue for an ‘Open-Third Space’ as a way of decolonising the academy whilst constructing Higher Education and Community Partnerships. In doing so we re-think assumptions around privileging academic knowledge within Knowledge Exchange Frameworks (KEF). We assert the need for universities to consider knowledge exchange as a reflexive process whereby the knowledge of partners coming from non-university settings is positioned equitably with those from the academy. Moving beyond Lave and Wenger’s ‘Community of Practice’, which considers communities as homogenous groups, we take a Dreierien perspective, considering project partners as unique knowledge holders; enabling us to help frame, shape and create activity which is of interest to the multi-cultural community of Woolwich, where the Theatre sits. In doing so we are able to reflect on our shared experiences across the community engagement programme and introduce ‘Open-Third Space’ to the literature, which fuses the critical components of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s ‘open space’ and Oldenburg’s ‘third space,’ as a practical way of working and as a set of principles which will need further unpacking as the theatre develops its community engagement strategy.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: UNSPECIFIED
• Authors: Ellis, T., Hockham, D., Rolle, E., and Zigomo, P.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Journal Name: Studies in Theatre and Performance
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1468-2761
• ISSN (Online): 2040-0616
• Published Online: 07 January 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Studies in Theatre and Performance 40(3): 316-327
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
301220		Incubate/Propagate: Networked Ecologies of New Performance-Making	Elizabeth Tomlin	Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)	AH/R012962/1	Arts - Theatre studies