Peter Duncan's Blog

Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Anti-Poverty Initiative

Pete is working on a research project on the impact of poverty on children , young people and families in Swansea. With rising rates of children living in poverty , high levels of NEETS and an economy based largely on jobs in the public sector, the City and County of Swansea are keen that their services and resources are targeted effectively. Pete and a co-worker will be using co-operative and participative research methods to gather information, after collation heading for a series of presentations in April 2012.

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Date: Friday, November 04, 2011

Incredible Opportunity - training with Cirque du Soleil

Pete had a weeks training with the world famous circus at Circus Space in London.

Cirque du Soleil had been piloting training for ‘Social Circus’ trainers and the course was the first run in the UK. Joined by 19 other trainers. the week long event was led by facilitators from Montreal and Los Angeles. It proved thought-provoking and inspirational - described by one participant as being ‘plugged into an ultimate energy source’.

A range of methods was used to explore issues in using circus with marginalised young people. Games exchanges, creative devising, performance and reflective sessions all worked well.

Lots of links to follow up and Pete put in a proposal to run a train the trainers course to build capacity amongst trainers in Europe.

Posted by pete on 11/04 at 12:01 PM :: :: :: (0) Trackbacks • :: Permalink

Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011

What makes us move?

As part of a six event programme, What makes us move? was a five day event co-ordinated by Albert and Friends Instant Circus in London.

Seventy people from six countries in a mix of workshops, exchange sessions, devising and performing shows. I worked with Ben and Amy from Dynamix creating and running workshops on - welcoming and contracting in, games exchange and review/evaluation sessions. Lots of exciting moments and focus on mediation, facilitating and co-ordinating groups. All in only seventy hours across the five days!

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Date: Thursday, December 02, 2010

Networking plans? Marketing in a brewery?

Pete attended a seminar for co-ops and social enterprises in Gorseinon.

Run by the Wales Co-op Centre, it featured speakers from Brains brewery, Legal & General and local authorities. There were interesting sessions on commissioning/tendering and marketing/finance. A good mix of participants and news of funding for training and mentoring led to a discussion about setting up a network of self-managed training for small co-ops in our area.

Posted by pete on 12/02 at 05:01 PM :: :: :: (0) Trackbacks • :: Permalink

Date: Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Big Society - Local Solutions

Pete attended a conference on this theme in Exeter

A well run event, co-ordinated by Co-operatives South West, with a range of speakers who are actively involved in local community solutions. Great afternoon workshop by Jim Brown of Baker Brown Associates - lots of food for thought - How Co-operatives can out-compete capitalist businesses - Co-operatives to 'top and tail' the welfare state?

Notes from all the speakers will be posted on http://www.cooperatives-sw.coop 

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Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Response to the new landscape

It has been interesting to see people's responses to the new political and economic landscape.

Friends in the higher reaches of local authorities and charities immersed in managing challenging re-structuring - with an emerging variety of creative solutions. Co-operators and trainers searching for understanding, details on policies and time to grasp implications.

CLADA has been through a process of looking both at the big picture and in detail at one element (the National Citizen Service) to establish both a company position and bid for a contract.

It will be interesting to see what solutions and partnerships emerge over the next eighteen months.

Posted by pete on 09/21 at 10:15 PM :: :: :: (0) Trackbacks • :: Permalink

Summer of contrasts

After the excellent, if exhausting InterAct 2010, a very mixed summer.

Suit Section: lots of research and meetings exploring new agendas - Big Society, Localism, National Citizen Service.

Shorts Section: work in a mix of teams running activities at festivals - Circus in London, Music in Exeter and Food at Jimmy's Farm, Ipswich

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Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010

NICE trip to Finland

Pete ran workshops at the European Circus Exchange Conference in London. (N.I.C.E.) He was invited to a conference in Finland and accepted anticipating a summer event....

Northern Finland in winter is an incredible experience! Nine groups from Finland and others from Holland and France were present. Running plenaries in Finnish was a new experience and a wide variety of transferable ideas for "Social Circus" were exchanged - from integrating asylum seekers to tackling drug abuse.

Posted by pete on 04/21 at 08:27 PM :: :: :: :: Permalink

Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Challenging Course

As part of the "Playshaper" project Pete ran a 2 day Training the Facilitators course.

Mixing experienced and lively facilitators with "built environment" experts to form cross-professional teams was challenging! Together they will now run seminars and conferences on creating more playable spaces across England.

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Date: Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Longest ever train the trainers!

Cardiff based No Fit State Circus - "The circus everyone wants to run away to" - is investing heavliy in its community workshops.

Keen to build a skilled bank of trainers, it commissioned a comprehensive course to build capacity. Working with tutors from Bristol and Master Practicioners from across the UK a 26 day course was spread over five months. Pete was involved in masterclasses, sessions on teaching and learning, skill swaps and creative design.

New trainers can be seen in the touring show TABU, and community events through South Wales.

Posted by pete on 05/06 at 01:11 PM :: :: :: :: Permalink