Collectivity is a concept that has received renewed attention within the arts. What does collectivity mean? How do you give form to it? What does it mean for the process of researching and realising a collective artistic expression? Can collective organisation cause a cumulative effect in a process?

Within the 'collectivity' programme, students explore these questions in different programmes: 'Collective creativity' and 'Collective Research'. By shaping ways of working together in their own chosen way, students explore the challenge and potential of (alternative) non-hierarchical organisational forms and decision-making structures.

Keywords in this research are collective imagination and polyphony. Collective research

September 2023 saw the start of the Collective Research programme - in which students in a temporary collective explored ways in which joint research can be done, what forms are possible and what the added value of this is. For each collective, the outlines of a research project were developed around the theme: Climate change - sea level rise. The focus of the research was on the process of collecting, exchanging the material collected and making connections. Each collective decided on its own form to archive and communicate the process.

In this process, the students were guided by Elke Uitentuis and Juha van 't Zelfde. The research programme was linked to the broader programme 'Climate imaginaries at Sea' (ATD, Gerrit Rietveld Academy and HvA) and in this way contributed to making the climate issue transparent.

The results were presented in the Academy of Theatre and Dance's 'Research Month'.

Sharing lessons learned

To make the experiences and knowledge on collective working and collective assessment transferable and applicable to other contexts, we developed an 'inspiration & condition document collective working'. In it, the findings were translated into building blocks for a collective programme in different contexts.

The Research en exchange network for Creative producers (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD) (London), the Kibii Foundation (Moengo), ATD Lectorate) is being established to promote the development, re-evaluation and circulation of experience and knowledge on creative producing.  The "by doing knowledge" of individual creative producers is far ahead of the existing resources and research results shared in knowledge centres, educational institutions and interest groups. To date, no exchange and research structure exists to translate this knowledge into theoretical and applicable models that can be applied in different local contexts.

The network wants to contribute to this by providing insight into creative methods from around the world. On the one hand, this is done by facilitating projects that explore ways to make a difference in the local context, through art. Simultaneously, through joint programs, case studies and workshops, a common narrative and action perspective is built for methodologies that contribute to realising art for change.   

In addition to the aforementioned partners, the network receives advice for this by the Prince Claus Fund. They have contacts all over the world and see in the network a nice addition to their own activities. Payment platform Adyen has provided sponsorship funds for the first two years to co-finance the design of the network.  The goal is to grow into a network in which a new cycle starts every year. In each cycle, a number of research projects will be conducted simultaneously, questioned and interpreted from a global perspective.

We ran a pilot from Oct '23- Oct '24, with three research trajectories circling around the theme 'the living archive'. In this pilot research has been initiated by Schiavone Simson (Netherlands), Nike Jonah (U.K. and South-Africa), The Kibii Foundation - Marcel Pinas & Coco Duivenvoorde (Surinam). The research initiators were granted with 15,000,- euro for a research trajectory. Once a month they came together in online working sessions to share their research, challenges and insights. Besides sharing the processes of their research trajectories, in these sessions various creative producing-topics have been examined with guest speakers, such as Wim Manuhutu (NL) and Roberto Guillén (Nicaragua). In October 2024 we organised an online session with professionals from over 12 countries worldwide to share research findings and learnings, and to receive feedforward.

“In the pilot there was a shared commitment to change narratives. It inspired me to look for allies in new ways” Nike Jonah (pilot) 

“Overall, the research trajectory has been instrumental in shaping and refining my professional practice, leading to greater self-awareness and effectiveness in my role as a researcher.” – Schiavone Simson (pilot) 

This progamme resulted in the two-day Focus Meeting: ‘Relevance, Rhythms, Relations in Global Exchange'.

The Transforming Narratives research project is developing a possible format in which international creative producers and/or artists can meet online, question each other and learn from each other's expertise in creative producing from their own contexts in a relatively short period of time.

Transforming Narratives 1.0 (2023-2024)

From December '23, a group of producers and artists from Amsterdam and artists and producers from Suriname (+/- 20 together) met on an equal basis with the aim of learning from each other.

The exchange project focused on socially engaged producers and/or artists whose goal is to contribute to the recovery of a community or community.

Restoring a community also means creating space to have the conversation about what place the community has in society. During the exchange, besides entrepreneurship, the focus was on seeing yourself and seeing the other. Seeing yourself also means being seen by the other. According to the ancient African wisdom Ubuntu "I Am, Because We Are", seeing and affirming the other, also means affirming yourself.

The reciprocity lies in that 'learning from the other' is paramount for all involved.

The programme consisted of online meetings with workshops, lectures and or pear lerning forms.

To create structure in the exchange, we used, among others, the method '5 Pillars, developed by the AHK Lectureship Social Justice and Diversity in the Arts.

Partners in Suriname were:  Forum Tolin Toli Masanga (FTTM), Villa Zapakara (previously worked with the DAS Reseach) They had a coordinating and facilitating role in Suriname.

Dutch partners were Masterplan Zuid-Oost Amsterdam and the lectorate of the Academy for Theatre and Dance. They had a coordinating and facilitating role in the Netherlands. During the project, the partners from Masterplan Zuid-Oost set up the St/Art foundation.

Quote from a creator from Suriname; "What I especially take away from the talks is the importance of a clearly defined 'why'. This helps you get back to the core of why you started".

Quote from a creator from the Netherlands: "One of the insights I take away is that it is healthy to be in contact with cultural entrepreneurs from different markets. It offers perspectives in sharpening or expanding. Your own world and outlook is enlarged".

Transforming Narratives 2.0 ( 2025-2026)

In '25-'26, we will further develop this format with our partners from Suriname, foundation St/Art to initially connect artists from the diaspora in the Netherlands with artists from Suriname and Curaçao.

During the exchange, online and also live, producers and artists from Suriname, the Netherlands and Curaçao will meet each other with the aim of setting up a sustainable international interdisciplinary knowledge and exchange network, thus contributing to a better infrastructure of the cultural field in both the Caribbean and the Netherlands.  To perpetuate the connection with Curaçao, we will now also collaborate with the Boost Caribbean Foundation from Willemstad.

This programme resulted in the focus meeting‘Relevance, Rhythms, Relations in Global Exchange'.