From artistic enquiry to research

What does it mean to be local? grew from Abundant Futures, a long-term socially engaged project commissioned by ArtHouse Jersey and led by artist Dana Olărescu.Since 2023, Abundant Futures has brought artists, researchers, local organisations, and people from across Jersey together through workshops, gatherings, cooking, performance, sound, walks, and other creative activities.Through these encounters, the project has explored questions around migration, food, climate, land, knowledge, and belonging. The research is another step in this longer enquiry: listening closely to people's experiences and asking what they can tell us about life in Jersey. Art and creative practice created opportunities for people to meet, share knowledge, experience familiar places differently, and tell stories that might not emerge through a conventional research process. The research now gives us another way to listen.

About the research

Twenty-five people were interviewed, including people born in Jersey, long-term residents, and more recent arrivals to the Island. They worked across a range of sectors, including health and care, hospitality and retail, arts and education, finance and professional services, and public and administrative roles. They were asked a set of questions, while giving them space to talk about what mattered to them. People shared how they felt about the Island and the different communities they belong to. They also took part in a mapping activity to show which places, paths, and areas of the landscape were most important to them. You can find these places collated on the map linked here. The research is not intended to represent everyone who lives in Jersey. Each account reflects an individual experience or perspective. The stories gathered through the research are valuable precisely because they show some of the different ways people experience home, belonging, and participation. One participant captured the wider message of the research simply: “This is Jersey too.”

Why are ArtHouse Jersey sharing this research?

ArtHouse Jersey is interested in what happens when art creates opportunities for people to meet, listen, share knowledge, and experience a place differently. We are sharing this research because we think these experiences are worth hearing. It does not offer a single definition of what it means to be local, and it does not tell Jersey what it should become. It brings together individual experiences and asks us to listen to the complexity within them. For us, the value is in creating opportunities for people to encounter different experiences, find connections, ask questions and consider what they might mean in their own communities,  work, and lives. We don't have all the answers. The research doesn't either. Instead, it gives us another way to listen.

Where does this take us?

What does it mean to be local? is part of an ongoing enquiry through Abundant Futures. The research gives ArtHouse Jersey an opportunity to reflect on how we create spaces for people to gather, participate, share knowledge, and contribute; and on how artistic practice can help us listen to experiences that might otherwise remain unseen or unheard. We will continue to explore what the research raises for our artistic programme, our ways of working and our relationships with communities across the Island. A single answer cannot capture the complexity of life in Jersey, and we want to keep the conversation open.