Working with experts with lived experience? Ask an artist for advice!

Theatre makers Karlijn van Kruchten and Maxime Schräder spent five months working at the 2Switch thrift store. Together with their colleagues, they created a theatre performance about the world of thrifting and, most importantly, about themselves. Because if you work at a thrift store, there’s a chance you’re in a reintegration program to ‘take steps in your personal development towards suitable employment’. It turns out that colleagues take these steps faster and better when they put their talents and stories to good use in contributing to a theatre performance.

How do you go about this as a theatremaker? How do you engage in conversations with such a diverse group of people? In this workshop, Karlijn, Maxime, and participant Simone share their experiences. How did they collaborate in as equitable a manner as possible? And how did Simone experience this?

The workshop invites policymakers to explore design anthropology as a way to work with experts with lived experience and inclusive participation. It also offers new insights and tools for designers and artists who want to make and develop work in a participatory manner.