Introduction

“There is no local here, love.” These were the evocative words said by an elderly participant at an arts-led research intervention at Patchway Community Centre at a monthly, volunteer-facilitated older person's tea party. Responding to arts-led research methods (in this instance, storytelling), the participant was evoking an absence of ‘the local’ in her locality. Pointing out the lack of cafes, pubs, amenable parks or community centres that did not have to cover their costs (“it costs money to be local”), she explained how ‘the local’ needs physical space in order to exist.

While we might bristle at the singularity of the description of ‘the local’, in our research, we found participants referring to ‘the local’ over and over again. In this sense, the local, the keystone concept in the current policy landscape of localism, was confirmed when interrogated through arts-based methods. In addition, however, participants also stated repeatedly that feeling local, or recognition of the local, is dependent upon whether or not there are spaces in which to get together to ‘be’ local. Specifically, this research found that the local can be both present and absent, even though the assumption with the Localism Act 2011 and related policy initiatives is that there are ‘locals’ all across England.

Certainly, research is consistently illustrating that localism is geographically, socially and politically uneven (Featherstone et al, 2012; Clarke and Cochrane, 2013; see also Chapter Three, this volume). This chapter, however, goes further to illustrate that the very existence of ‘the local’ is also uneven. Being local is not a private activity; it is one that is performed in spaces that are, to some extent, public. In English culture, the pub is the iconic ‘local’, but local shops, parks, cafes or community centres are also thought of as providing a space for people to get together and ‘be’ local. Without space in which to meet, there is no local. There is a very real connection between both the built environment and community: we cannot disaggregate the two (see Chapters Two and Three, this volume).

Investigating the local in this way was possible through using artsbased research methodologies, and this chapter explores the potential of these techniques and approaches.