The Flow.Walk.Drag. team has given careful thought to the principles and ethical approach of the project. As a participatory project, co-created with multiple collaborators, including workshop participants recruited in Margate and Liverpool, we are attentive to our responsibilities to our co-creators and the communities we work in.
Our project centres joy and play, using drag and creative participatory methods. Yet we are exploring difficult topics that have the potential to evoke distress among those we work with. FWD’s themes may evoke disgust, anger and other difficult emotions, and may generate conflict and backlash as we explore themes of contagion, pollution, exclusion, and our relationships with microorganisms. Working with people as collaborators and co-creators is always a complex process, as we navigate a range of needs, perspectives and expectations, and respond to issues that arise.
To do this work with care and integrity, we have established an ethics infrastructure for the project which includes a Code of Ethics and an Advisory Board. This infrastructure guides our work, setting out principles and processes that act as ethical coordinates, helping us to think through our approach to every element of the project and to respond to issues as they arise.
Our project Code of Ethics is a live document, which is shared with collaborators and co-creators and revised in response to feedback. You can find a short version on our website here, and we are happy to share our longer, three-page document on request. The initial draft of this document was written by the core FWD team, drawing on our extensive shared experience of participatory and creative projects. We would like to acknowledge, in particular, the producers of Holloway, whose Code of Ethics was an inspiration in structure and content.
Our Advisory Board is made up of four trusted individuals in the community, science and arts spaces across Margate and Liverpool. Please find the profiles of our Advisory Board here. These are paid positions, ensuring that we value their time and expertise. We meet regularly to discuss the project and to seek guidance on our approach, our methods, our plans and our communication. We also ask our Advisory Board to be responsive and available to discuss issues that arise, either individually or as a group.
Where issues arise, we discuss the issue as a core team and draw on the expertise, insight and guidance of our Advisory Board. We reach decisions together, making space for full and open discussion, and in line with our Code of Ethics.
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