New review of The RITP

Huge thanks to Nikita Vanderbyl and Professional Historians Australia for this extraordinary review of The Relationship is the Project.

‘Community-engaged practice was once termed ‘community arts and cultural development’. It is a way of working with communities—in all their many forms—while nurturing the relationships that are central to any successful project. In The Relationship is the Project Jade Lillie and Kate Larson with Cara Kirkwood and Jax Brown have brought together a fantastic selection of writers to examine and describe best practice in this heterogenous industry.

The strength of this book lies in its breadth. Much like the diverse communities represented in its 32 chapters, The Relationship is the Project demonstrates the principles it describes. Featuring the foundational tenets of community-engaged work, but going beyond these, the chapters explore important questions including working with First Nations communities, cultural safety, intersectionality and self-determination. These early chapters set the tone for the rest of the book, which foregrounds the importance of relationality and self-reflection as essential practices for the work we do with communities.

Other common themes emerge: time, listening, and flexibility. Expectations from funding bodies around the timing of delivery or project outcomes can be challenging, but the rewards for recognising the needs of the community and working with them flexibly and adapting to new directions if needed far outweigh the results from a business-as-usual, one-size-fits-all approach.

Importantly, chapters are written by members of these communities but intended for a wide audience. How arts workers, researchers, facilitators etc.—both inside and outside the community in question—navigate the power dynamics and privilege in project-based work usefully underpins many chapters here. The debate around many of the subjects discussed in this book are currently highly politicised, with debate shifting continuously. A text such as this, where authors patiently and succinctly unpack their subjects, is essential reading. I couldn’t think of a field, discipline or workplace that wouldn’t benefit from this information.’

Read more on the Professional Historians Australia website.

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