Community Engagement Initiatives

The History Troupe Community Engagement Initiatives are rooted in the significance of Schools, Colleges, Universities as anchor institutions working closely with community centers and groups to identify common challenges and goals. To date, many of The History Troupe’s performances have generated significant audiences and this provides a platform to raise awareness of the enabling value of research and the value of further study and the creative arts as a means to improve learning attributes and life skills essential to successful careers.

Sense of Place

The History Troupe has worked closely with The Marvell College on a range of workshops, performances, exhibitions and the Summer Studio 2018 to bolster widening participation within the NCOP project with FORCE.

The History Troupe met with Marc Cooper, Head Teacher of The Marvell College to explore specific projects that can build over time as opposed to events. In particular, how best to enhance a sense of purpose and place within the East Hull community and context.

Sense of Place, Project Insight

This section covers the objectives, framework, delivery and impact assessment for the InPort Stories Project geared to generate curiosity, offering a framework for students to develop a sense of place and purpose within their community. This project started in the first term of 2018-19 and was geared to generate greater self confidence, independent learning skills, creativity, teamwork and resilience across the student body and engage with the wider community.

Project: InPort Stories Exhibition / Where are we now?

Summary. Offering students a sense of Purpose, Place and Community is a valuable platform from which self-confidence, initiative, teamwork and resilience can build - all attributes essential to personal fulfillment, well-being and recognized by employers as key to employability. This project is one of several from The History Troupe to use heritage content to progress this agenda.

The Marvell College. Located in the heart of East Hull, The Marvell College sees the wider community context as vital to the learning experience for students. Building on work with The History Troupe over the past two years has worked with The Marvell College on a number of initiatives ranging from:

• Culture Week. A combination of installations featuring photography of life on the docks; workshops supporting the core curriculum and evening performances to enhance community engagement. Performances included the very first A Tale of Two Cities, the story of Hull’s two rugby teams (Hull KR & Hull FC) that has gone on to be seen by over 3,000 people across the city.

• Workshops.

• Evening Performances.

• The impact of these initiatives is measured in terms of content generated; audience and group participation; social media activity and survey feedback..

Community Project Purpose, Plan and Implementation. The poet T S Eliot was a major critic of what he called “the parochialism of the present” – that sense of thinking and living with no interest in our roots and heritage as an obsession with self and our immediate surroundings takes over. In an era of selfies and as disruptive technology hollows out our high streets, whole industries and questions future livelihoods, it is important to understand our roots, experience our heritage and explore future opportunities in terms of personal growth and career pathways.

This is the wider context. Specifically, The History Troupe is a Delivery partner for FORCE in their NCOP (National Collaborative Outreach Programme) and this means a focus on initiatives to build widening participation in Higher and Further Education.