Collaborating to enhance Wellbeing: A Story about Working with a Collection of Curiosities

  • Kathryn Best: MA Design Management and Cultures, LCC
  • Laura Galdi: MA Design Management and Cultures, LCC
  • Jose Santos Redondo: MA Design Management and Cultures, LCC

Abstract

As part of a collaboration between the students of MA Design Management and Cultures and MA Publishing at LCC, seven intrepid students (predominantly international) made their way into the rarely visited area behind Elephant and Castle to discover what they call a gem in hiding. The archives and memorabilia housed within The Cinema Museum (TCM) appeals to obsessive collectors and visitors who go down memory lane through the artefacts and films contained therein.

Beyond this, the two rather eccentric founders and their clear headed, warm hearted, business support consultant, presented the students with a challenge. How could they put together a sensitive marketing-oriented narrative and brochure that made sense of the delicate relationships they had in connection to: (1) their passion for the communities in and around Elephant and Castle (2) the historic Lambeth workhouse in which the museum is housed, and where Charlie Chaplin spent time as a boy (3) the wellbeing agenda deep at the centre of the legacy plans of the founders and (4) survival of the museum in the face of massive local regeneration which financially challenges their fragile business plan and charitable status?

This paper will explain the organizational and pedagogical decisions made within the running of the project which formed part of a Collaborative Unit. It will include insights into the value of student-led inquiry, the paradoxical challenge of teaching students to discover their own collaborators and the outcomes achieved - both agreed and emergent. There will be time for audience discussion and sharing of good practice.