“Learning from River-of-Light”

An organizational learning resource

OPEN UP Platform Gothenburg Prof. Mick Wilson and Dr. Sarah Tuck

Hdk-Valand, Gothenburg University

(First Draft 19 October 2021)

(Final Draft 31 August 2022)

ABOUT

This learning resource has been prepared as part of the EACEA-funded project OPEN UP and profiles the insight and cooperative cultural tools that have been built from the collaboration between staff and students at Hdk School of Design and Valand Academy of Art in Gothenburg University and the civil society initiative Rive of Light in the period from December 2015 to October 2021. The resource is primarily based on a series of “Learning from River-of-Light” preparation sessions that took place between October 2020 and April 2021.  The resource is designed as a free public learning material to be used by academic, civil society and independent cultural workers interested in inter-institutional collaboration in intercultural and desegregation cultural practices.

STRUCTURE OF THE LEARNING RESOURCE

The resource is structured as follows. There is an opening contextual section that identifies the broader societal and institutional context within which the River of Light civil society initiative emerged. The second section, under the heading “A Project Emerges,” describes the specific context of educational practice within which the project dialogue developed and indicates something of the contingency of these circumstances while also foregrounding the importance of the key agents Behjat Omer Abdulla and Denise Langridge Mellion. The third section “A Collaboration Methodology” describes the essential features of the collaboration between Valand Academy and the "River of Light" process, with a view to emphasizing the transferable aspects of the model of practice. The fourth section “Challenges” provides an account of the kinds of tensions, miscommunications, obstacles, resistances and difficulties that this kind of civil society and institutional partnership project can encounter in a frank and open way. The fifth section “Successes” focuses on the successes and the factors influencing or shaping success, again with a view to a transfer of insight and learning from the Hdk-Valand cooperation experience in its work with "River of Light"  and how this might relate to other partnership project settings.

The closing section “Tools: What We Learn When We Do Things Together” attempts to summarize the learning and propose tools for wider application in socially engaged partnerships across  higher education institutions and civil society initiatives.

Disclaimer.

This project has been funded with support from the Culture Programme of the European Union.  This online resource reflects the views only of the authors, and the institution, Gothenburg University, our civil society partners and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which maybe made of the information contained herein.