Clwstwr Clecs: Quick catch up with our funded Cohort member Adeola Dewis from Laku Neg
Hi Adeola! How would you describe what you do/your business?
Laku Neg is an artist-run company interested in African diaspora knowledge exchange - embracing and connecting the rich, plural identities of African diaspora creatives. Based in the UK but with its home online, Laku Neg provides a digital 'yard' for artists to connect and a point of reference for those looking to engage or understand more about the African diaspora and apply it to their work, education or institution.
What inspired you to apply for funding?
We found out about the Clwstwr funding via email, then applied with an idea. We wanted to hold an inquiry into a platform for our new company Laku Neg, to gather and share African diaspora and indigenous stories on screen.
We wanted to figure out how to avoid the extractive nature of research documentation in conducting and presenting our stories, how to measure engagement, value and impact of the stories and how to build a sustainable audio-visual channel of archive material. Our application was successful; we received £8950 in funding.
What were you aiming to do for your Clwstwr project?
This project aimed to better understand - through a series of interview prototypes - the ways in which care and agency can be interwoven into life storytelling, paying particular attention to form, content and sustainability.
We had central questions that we wanted to explore to better our work at Laku Neg. They were: What is a safe space? How do we meaningfully and sensitively capture lived experiences? What are the strategies for gaining trust and engaging cultural forms as a way of supporting and sustaining wellbeing and resilience? We were interested in exploring ways of embedding empowerment, inclusivity and agency into our working processes and models of engagement.
What process did you use to carry out your Clwstwr project, stage by stage?
We carried out a scoping review of online channels doing similar work to us. Then, we initiated contact and held introductory conversations with potential contributors/interviewees in order to draft systems of engagement. We conducted the interviews where the participants felt most comfortable and in spaces that were meaningful to the ways in which they wanted to tell their story.
After that, we developed a series of Laku Neg Whispering with CEOs of similar organisations who have developed bespoke content delivery models. We also worked on the form and platform (YouTube) for the content we wish to showcase, including branding our YouTube channel, creating a strong cover page and making a promotional video. Finally, we shared a prototype with contributors and wrote our report.
What were the outcomes of your research?
We hoped to develop a signature style for the Laku Neg brand in terms of conducting, producing and sharing interviews, as well as exploring different approaches to co-production. By the end of our project, we had produced an 'opener' for the video interviews, created three full video interviews with international artists based in Brazil, Belize and the United Kingdom and improved our understanding of less-extractive approaches to interviewing.
Where do you think you’ll go next, having carried out the R&D?
Laku Neg is currently in consultation with an online marketing advisor and business advisor. We’re working towards shaping our content ideas in line with our customer needs.