A talk on harnessing the power of creativity for the benefit of the community is the third seminar in the Work in Progress in the Social Studies series as part of its 20th anniversary year.
Annemarie Mayo and Bethany Shepherd from Central Saint Martins at the University of the Arts in London will deliver a joint paper entitled Narrative Environments in Creative Communities.
The MA Narrative Environments course pioneers collaboration among architects, designers, artists, curators and other practitioners. Students often work on live projects in multidisciplinary teams to create experiences for urban and community environments, as well as many other spaces. A broad understanding of story, location and the expectations of clients, visitors and residents, drives novel, multisensory, user-centred and user-driven proposals.
Mayo and Shepherd will introduce a small sample of live projects with the agency showing where students engaged creatively with the city. The first two projects were held with Camden Council with students asked to foster a sense of community with opportunities for further discourse within two very different scenarios. The third project was held with Google UK, where students created an installation to bring a convivial atmosphere to a temporary space. The final project outlines a research and prototyping workshop ideated to enable creative collaboration between student groups using analysis of embedded narratives to inspire potential futures for a space.
Mayo is a detail-oriented architect whose art, design and music background has given her a unique multidisciplinary outlook. She has collaborated with the Red Dot in Germany to research new living trends. At DeMicoli & Associates in Malta, she worked on the adaptive reuse of the historic Fort St Elmo. Continuously on the search for new storytelling outlets, she is the originator, lead songwriter and animator for the cartoon band The Kite Project.
Shepherd is a designer and educator working with stories and space. She teaches on the MA Narrative Environments course in the Spatial Practices programme at Central Saint Martins. She has over 10 years design experience spanning exhibition design, urban interventions, city narratives, information design, wayfinding, service design and brand experience.
She is passionate about socially engaged design practice and empowering audiences through collaboration. Shepherd is currently running a live student project designing an urban intervention for the Milan Design Festival and working on new museum audience experiences for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
■ The talk is being delivered today at 6pm at the Faculty of Education Boardroom on the third floor of the Old Humanities Building at the University of Malta, Msida. Access via the staircase next to HSBC’s campus branch. A discussion will follow.