Participatory Democracy through Legislative Theatre
In the councils in which we work we run Legislative Theatre programmes in order to enable policy makers to democratise decision-making with people who are or have been homeless
Legislative Theatre brings constituents, policymakers, and advocates together to impact policies, practices and place-making, for unique and effective solutions to complex challenges.
We work with the world-leader in LT, Katy Rubin in bringing this participatory democracy methodology to the councils in which we work.
The LT process involves groups of homeless people and council workers staging improvised plays together which explore blockages in the systems. These plays are performed in front of an audience made up of members of homelessness services and policy makers. The audience can suggest changes to the narratives and resulting solutions are voted on and passed into legislation. In both Coventry and Haringey this has led to new policy being embedded into the Rough Sleeping Strategies and the homeless people involved being paid to remain on Scrutiny Groups within the council to ensure that the policy changes are being implemented. We are now going through the same process in Medway.
We are particularly grateful for the support of Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Albert Hunt Trust which underpins this work. If you are interested in talking to us about this programme, please email matt@artshomelessint.com
Short film of the Legislative Theatre project in Haringey and Policy Changes (2022)
Policy changes in Coventry as a result of the Legislative Theatre Project 2021
