scholarly journals The art of survival: community-based arts organisations in times of austerity

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Rimmer

Abstract This article examines the consequences of shifts in the terms of engagement with the state – since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 – for small-scale UK arts-based community organisations. Through an engagement with the accounts of key stakeholders from three case study organisations, the article considers the nature and extent of organisational changes in four main respects: the activities undertaken, the people and groups engaged, the income streams accessed and understandings of role or mission. Having outlined the variable fates of each organisation over this period, the article illuminates how the effects of austerity and associated policy shifts have served to mitigate against organisations’ ability to sustain arts-based work with disadvantaged groups, resist neoliberal ‘enterprise’ agendas or maintain a practical commitment to community development aims.

Author(s):  
Trish Walsh ◽  
George Wilson ◽  
Erna O’Connor

Social work has been viewed as one of the most nation-specific of the professions, ‘being closely tied up with national traditions, mentalities and institutions’ (Kornbeck, 2004, p 146). In addition, the political imperatives of national governments, austerity measures and managerialism drive approaches to service delivery which may supersede social work’s professional priorities. This militates against an automatic or easy transfer of professional knowledge from one country to another. In spite of this, there has been an enduring interest in developing international forms of social work that transcend national borders (Gray and Fook, 2004; Lyons et al, 2012). In this chapter, we present a case study of social worker mobility as it has evolved from the establishment of the first national social work registration body in the Republic of Ireland in 1997 with a particular focus on data from 2004-13 capturing the years leading up to, and in the aftermath of, the global financial crisis of 2008. We contrast this with the situation in Northern Ireland (NI), part of the UK and a separate and distinct political and legal entity with its own policies and practices. We draw on statistical and descriptive data provided by Irish social work registration bodies (NSWQB 1997-2011; CORU established in 2011 and NISCC, the Northern Ireland Social Care Council established in 2001) to illustrate (i) how sensitive contemporary mobility patterns are to changing economic and political factors; (ii) how rapidly patterns of mobility change and (iii) how much more mired in complexity European social work mobility is likely to be if the European project itself fractures, as is possible following the Brexit referendum vote in the UK.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Łukasz Kurowski

Abstract While the legitimacy of the concept of the financial cycle (as distinct from the business cycle) in research and economic policy after the experience of the global financial crisis raises no concerns, the methodology for its application has become a subject of discussion. The purpose of this article is to indicate which research methods dominate in identifying a financial cycle and which methodological traps accompany them. The low level of critical perspective on the methods used to identify cycles often results in conclusions that have no economic justification and may result in erroneous decisions in economic policy and central bank practice. The case study carried out in the article confirms that the key elements in identifying a financial cycle are part of a long-term series covering at least two lengths of the financial cycle. In addition, because the results may be sensitive to the type of filter used, it is important not to rely on a single variable but rather to build indexes that take into account a number of them (including those obtained using filtration methods).


Author(s):  
Paraskevi Tritsaroli

The Middle-Late Bronze Age (1620–1500 B.C.) was a period of emerging and intensifying social complexity involving small-scale settlement hierarchies, but the archaeological understanding of social organization at this time has remained limited. In a comparative case study of funerary treatment and skeletal biology, the authors consider the distribution of multiple skeletal pathological conditions between distinct tumuli-style burials at Pigi Athinas. Though social rank may have started to displace the centrality of kinship, subtle variations in both funerary and bioarchaeological data indicated the most important structuring factors were sex and age distinctions. Over time, the influence of differential diets, divisions of gender, and ritual feasting appear as the people participated in a widespread Mycenaean system that shaped both gender and health in ancient Greece.


Author(s):  
Meleckidzedeck Khayesi

The objective of this case study is to examine how a farmer, Mr. Alex Omwela Adala, has utilised his talent to create self-reinforcing agricultural enterprises to stand on his own feet. This study addresses a gap in past research on entrepreneurship which tended to focus on profiles of entrepreneurs as well as development and outcomes of investment in businesses. Starting literally from scratch, this farmer has currently nine self-reinforcing agricultural enterprises that have enabled him to cater for his family needs and provide technical support to other small-scale farmers. He has played a key role in founding and managing the Dairy Goat Association of Kenya, Western Kenya Branch. The contribution of this chapter is in using a case study method and a transformative story to learn about talent exploitation for individual and community development. The chapter does not only provide an approach of data collection but also experiential insights and wisdom of an entrepreneur who has travelled the path of investment for 30 years.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 851-856
Author(s):  
Qiuyu Jiang

This essay examines how a small-scale non-governmental organization mobilizes community members in Montreal, Canada, to respond to the city’s shortage of personal protective equipment during COVID-19 by making more than 1600 scrub caps for local healthcare workers. As the CAP-MTL project has progressed, organizers have constantly adjusted how they run the project in order to meet evolving needs through three major phases: (1) centralizing resource allocation, (2) building a self-sufficient production team and (3) pairing volunteers with healthcare workers. This case study highlights how in crisis response projects, organizers must be flexible and adapt to fluid and dynamic situations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Millar ◽  
Artur Steiner ◽  
Francesca Caló ◽  
Simon Teasdale

AbstractCommunity Orientated and Opportunity Learning (COOL) Music was a 12-month collaborative project between researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University and practitioners at the Edinburgh-based social enterprise Heavy Sound. The project began in October 2017 and involved 16 sessions of participatory music making with 32 ‘hard-to-reach’ young people (aged 12–17) aimed at increasing confidence and self-esteem and improving social skills. Using COOL Music as a case study, this article explores some of the challenges faced by community-based arts organisations tasked with delivering such interventions, contrasting COOL Music’s small-scale, targeted, community-based approach with prevailing top-down music interventions in Scotland. We argue that such programmes are particularly suitable in engaging those at the margins of society, reaching them on their own terms through music that resonates with their own lived experience. However, we acknowledge the short-term and transitory nature of such projects may prove problematic for some hard-to-reach groups who require more stability in their lives and may also lead to staff fatigue and burnout. We call for further research in these areas, and greater policy attention to be paid to the sustainability of such projects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Ayman Abdal-Majeed Ahmad Al-Smadi ◽  
Mahmoud Khalid Almsafir ◽  
Muzamri Bin Mukthar

The financial tools all over the world become extremely decisive in these days. The main goal of this paper is to measure then to discuss the impact of performance of conventional and Islamic banking in Turkey during the financial crisis. some variables such as profitability, liquidity, operational efficiency and business growth are used as a measuring factor to determine the performance for both financial models. The period of study is taken during the financial crisis in 1997 and during the global financial crisis in 2007. The comparison in this study is made between the performances of Islamic banking  and conventional banking in Turkey.Some secondary data had examines in this study which was drown from the annual report from one of Turkey bank since 2002 until 2013. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) “18.0” has been used to compare between Islamic finance model and other model. The findings of this paper shows that Islamic financial system is performing superior than conventional financial system for the period of this study. Hence, it can be concluded that the system of Islamic banking is able to sustain and compete with the conventional banking system especially during any financial crisis.


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