With one week to go till the second event in the GM Legislative Theatre / Homelessness Prevention Strategy process, the facilitation team is working hard and staying flexible, as we’ve all had to do throughout 2020. In the beginning of November, we set out to create a second play with a new cast of GM residents impacted by homelessness and housing insecurity as well as front-line staff: this play is meant to focus on the funding and commissioning process for homeless services, and more broadly, how decisions are made and money moves in the sector. Promptly, a second lockdown was announced, shifting our plans and the casts’ ability to participate in every rehearsal. However, we proceeded, with help from Ian Rutherford, the Whalley Range Methodist Church, WhatsApp, and lots of adaptations on the fly!
Beyond the logistical challenges, we struggled, not surprisingly, to make sense of the commissioning cycle, and tell stories about how commissioning and funding structures directly impact community members and staff. That’s definitely not because commissioning doesn’t impact people – but because one of the very challenges that we hope to address in the event is the need for more transparency in that system. If you also want to understand more about how transparency works, and you like game shows and circus acts (!!) – please RSVP to participate via zoom on Wed 9 Dec, 2-5pm!
With that said, we’re so excited to be working with artist Carmen Byrne once again to visually translate the commissioning cycle, from the viewpoint of folks who are impacted by these services. Take some time to sit with this illustration before next week, or any time you’re feeling squeezed by a machine.
Date and time: Wednesday 9th December, 14:00 – 17:00 GMT
This play will be hosted through Zoom, so please register here to receive all the joining instructions. If you have any questions related to this event, please contact samra@streetsupport.net
Special thanks to the following people who are working so hard to bring you this play:
Facilitators: Andy, Katy, Nadia, Pat, Stan, and John
Actors: Carl, Damo, Joe, Jova, Jules, Neil, Patrick
These are some sketches the actors made while in rehearsal, when they were trying to think about metaphors for the commissioning system.
