The power of participatory arts to innovate in public involvement and engagement

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In November, CIC Made by Mortals brought together a brilliant panel of academics, researchers and the participatory arts community to open up a discussion about how together we can innovate more within healthcare research.
 
The event was called Bringing People’s Experience to Life and we were joined by delegates from all over the North West and welcomed them to our home at the Guide Bridge Theatre, just outside Manchester.

Our Round Table chair was Dr Paul Clarkson, who is a senior lecturer of social care at the University of Manchester and deputy director of Social Care and Society.

Paul was joined by Rob Conyers, head of patient experience at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust; Julie Farley, business manager at Oldham Safeguarding Adults Board, Dr Hazel Moreby, Research Fellow at Lancaster University Research Design Service, which is part of the funding body NIHR; Annie Keane, PhD and manager at Vocal (Manchester University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) and Jess Drinkwater, a GP and clinical lecturer at the University of Manchester.

Using participatory arts and co-production is still a very new method of creating innovative and rewarding PPIE so there are many challenges. One of the main challenges brought up was around funding bodies and organisations understanding the role of participatory arts, as well as the language used within running sessions, engaging with people and writing funding bids.

The panel also discussed the multiple benefits that they could see from innovating within the field of PPIE. It was fascinating to hear each person’s own journey in bringing in co-production values and participatory arts into their own research or practice.