Welcome to The Democracy Box
The Democracy Box Report – Beyond the Ballot Box is where you will find all the research and prototype detail
The Democracy Box Prototypes
- The Democracy Box Public Information Campaign©
- The Democracy Box Creative Cascade Model© Pilot Schools Programme
- The Talking Shop© A public cultural and democratic information centre
The Democracy Box Public Information Campaign
This model creates an authentic, peer-to-peer public information campaign that bypasses traditional corporate or government messaging, successfully cutting through online noise to deliver vital civic literacy. This prototype places its target audience at its heart and has been tested with hundreds of people all across Wales and is ready to be upscaled as a sustainable, year-round public information campaign. We began by recruiting, training and paying young people aged 16-26 as Democracy Box co-creators. Now we are ready to scale and recruit people of all ages, from the most disengaged and disenfranchised demographics and communities, as Democracy Box co-creators. Just like the young co-creators they will be paid to find new creative ways to retell and share The Democracy Box Story in-person and across multiple social and broadcast media platforms to their peers using mediums and styles they actually consume. To date Democracy Box co-creators have produced podcasts, social media pages (TikTok/YouTube/ X/ Instagram), in-person events, a website and Linktree, interactive graphics, short films, and music videos including some commissioned by BBC Bitesize.
The Democracy Box Creative Cascade Schools Programme
This programme will equip and prepare teachers to replicate the Democracy Box co-creator process with students aged 7 to 16 in all secondary and primary schools and non-formal education settings. The programme enables teachers and students to creatively re-tell and cascade The Democracy Box Story in multiple creative ways, developing democratic awareness, understanding and participation among school children and educators in Wales. Each year students will learn the story in more detail and re-tell it and cascade it to the year below them using progressively more complex creative skills, mediums and techniques year on year. The programme creates the foundation for learners to begin to develop an understanding of their responsibilities as citizens of the UK and to recognise their own and others’ civil rights. This prototype has been successfully piloted in partnership with Central South Education Consortium in Wales with more than 15 schools and is ready to be rolled out to primary and secondary schools
Young people told us that as well as digital information and getting it into schools they also want this information in person and face to face. So we came right back to where we began with the physical space of The Talking Shop and put The Democracy Box inside on the wall, on the screens and in bilingual booklets that you can take away with you.
The Talking Shop
A the physical space where The Democracy Box Story lives, breathes, and brings people together. Part art installation, part living room, and part civic space. Each Talking Shop transforms an empty shopfront into a welcoming, homely environment -like a cross between an art installation and your Nan’s house —where everyone is invited to engage in dialogue, explore ideas, and participate in cultural life. The Talking Shop provides and facilitates a space for people to collide, connect, collude, converse and create. The shop offers information, conversation, creative encounters, democratic deliberation, and endless cups of tea, removing barriers that often prevent people from engaging in public decision-making or cultural activity. The Talking Shop is designed to be a safe, neutral, and warm environment that combats social isolation while acting as a physical portal for civic life. It provides free Wi-Fi, local cultural signposting, and a comfortable place to sit without any commercial expectation. It welcomes the young, the old, and everyone in between, creating a cross-demographic space that simply does not exist anywhere else on the modern high street. In 2022 Omidaze began trials of The Talking Shop across Wales incorporating The Democracy Box to create a blueprint The Talking Shop and create a proof of concept to enable The Talking Shop to exist in any town.
The space is hosted six days a week by trained freelance artists, creatives, and Democracy Box co-creators. We paint massive, neutral, open questions directly onto the walls to provoke conversation. We use free creative activities as an engagement tool and entry-point and approach to democratic deliberation. While sitting at a communal table making bunting, painting stones, collaging, working with clay, or knitting, complete strangers who hold vastly different political views naturally begin to talk. The physical act of making something with your hands completely changes the dynamic of a political conversation. It slows down the pace of interaction, forces eye contact, removes the performative hostility of social media, and restores nuance. In a Talking Shop people of different ages, backgrounds and with opposing political views can sit next to one another, share a cup of tea, and find common ground. This prototype has been tested via a pilot and 4 trial sites which have recorded over 17,000 recorded visits and 100% positive feedback. The model is ready to be up-scaled. www.the-talking-shop.co.uk
The research and the evidence
This is background information on The Democracy Box. For The Democracy Box website please click here
The Democracy Box is non-partisan (it’s not about party politics) and, along with all of Omidaze’s work, is committed to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Goals
The Democracy Box Toolkit©
A best practice guide for anyone co-creating and collaborating with young people. This toolkit will enable organisations to place young people at the heart of all work which is created to reach their age range. The toolkit will support organisations and individuals in both the democracy sector and beyond to engage inclusively, meaningfully and creatively with young people. The toolkit draws together Yvonne’s body of participatory work and artistic practice from over thirty years, including her knowledge and experience of working with young people across the UK and internationally and combines it with 18 months of intensive Research & Development funded by Clwstwr. Contact omidaze@outlook.com for more information.
Interested in co-creation and creative conversations?
💥 Co-creation Training – we will train your team in the essentials of co-creating – using The Democracy Box co-creation toolkit.
💥 Conversation – We design & deliver online Creative Conversations for you. We will recruit participants from the demographics you most need to engage and produce & facilitate creative conversations online. Hear from participants about their lived experiences on specific topics. Think focus group but a lot more fun!
💥 Co-creation – We will design & deliver bespoke co-creation projects for your organisation enabling you to truly involve people in co-creating the resources, information, services and projects you need to reach them
The Democracy Box© and The Talking Shop© and all associated content is copyright Yvonne Murphy/Omidaze Productions 2020.
Working with people as co-creators
Omidaze have created The Story of our UK Democracy That Every Citizen Should Know in Seven Short Chapters This ‘story’ contains the basics which we think every citizen needs to know to fully participate in our UK democracy.
This information is in a story format because our research shows that using story is the best way to engage and share complex or dry information.
All Democracy Box co-creators use these seven chapters to creatively retell the story using social media, video, music, rap, podcasts and more.
You can find some examples of how they have retold this story so far on multiple social and broadcast media platforms by clicking any of these links:
- The Democracy Box Podcast Series
- 4 Democracy Box raps commissioned by BBC Bitesize
- The Democracy Box on Instagram
- The Democracy Box on TikTok
- The Democracy Box YouTube Channel
- The Democracy Box on Twitter
During the R&D and prototyping stage Omidaze recruited over 70 young co-creators aged 16-26 from across Wales, including those from the five lowest voter turnout constituencies and paid them as co-creators.
Omidaze also held creative think-ins and focus/feedback groups with many more young people to research, develop, test and evaluate the work.
“..when I first joined the “Democracy Box’ I really didn’t know anything, in fact, I didn’t even know that Britain was a democratic country… I honestly believe that we need more black and more female representatives within the world of democracy to convince and allow young people to meet people they have more comfort in trusting and listening to.” – Young Co-Creator aged 17
We are now ready to scale and recruit co-creators of all ages from the most disengaged and disenfranchised communities and backgrounds.
The Democracy Box aims to promote understanding of our UK democracy and achieve a shared basic level of understanding by the majority of the population.
For our UK democracy to be fully functioning it needs all citizens to be informed, actively encouraged to get involved and to understand that it is their democratic right to challenge, question, protest, shape, critique, debate and influence our democracy all year round and not just at the ballot box.
The Cycle of Poor Shared Storytelling
Everyone interviewed, surveyed and focus grouped, without exception, were keen to understand our democracy and frustrated that they didn’t.
“Why weren’t we taught this at school?” is the constant refrain.
There is a shame accompanying not knowing this stuff which moves with us through into adulthood and gets harder and harder to admit to.
Many Welsh and UK citizens, including teachers and educators do not have a sound basic understanding of the UK democracy, for example how local, devolved and Westminster Governments all fit together and why.
We need #NoShameNoBlame surrounding our UK democracy story as two of the young co-creators from phase one titled their initial podcast idea.
If we are to have a fully functioning democracy which will include increased voter registration, voter turn-out, and meaningful democratic and civic engagement and participation all year round then a better understanding of the UK democratic systems and structures by a wider percentage of the population is required.
If you are a teacher, it is hard enough to stand in front of a class and teach your own subject.
To teach something you do not understand yourself and to do it creatively and thereby engage and inspire young people is a tall order.
Teachers may sidestep it all together or resort to the passive practice of putting on a video or handing out a workbook resulting in low level or zero understanding and engagement.
The cycle of poor story sharing thereby continues and low democratic engagement and participation with it.
The Democracy Box can change that.
The Four Levels of Democratic Information
Illustration Maria Elorza The 4 Levels of voter/citizen information Copyright Yvonne Murphy Omidaze Productions 2020
We’ve broken down the information citizens/voters want and need into 4 Levels.
Levels 1 and 2 are non-election specific voter/citizen information.
Levels 3 and 4 are election specific voter/citizen information.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Level 1 is the focus of The Democracy Box and all prototypes. level 1 is everything contained in The Democracy Box Story. All citizens must be given this basic knowledge and the tools, information, confidence and permission to have their voices heard and take part, challenge, and shape and influence our democracy all year round and not simply at the Ballot Box.
Level 2 is the factual information about all the political parties outside of an election. Their history, values and ideologies. A basic summary of what they stand for and why and which is available all year round and not just when they are not asking for your vote. This is something the majority of young people we have listened to have asked for.
Level 3 is the election procedural stuff, which the electoral commission does so well. How and where to vote. How to register, where your polling station is, election timelines, how to complete a postal vote or by proxy etc etc. The nuts and bolts.
Level 4 is the party political election specific information. The comparative and analytical tools and information which all citizens need to decide who to vote for e.g. who the candidates are and what they are promising they will do if elected. The manifestos from all political parties. The hustings. (Most young people don’t know what the words manifesto and hustings mean) Basically who are the candidates, what are they promising to do and what they and their parties stand for.
Levels 3 & 4 are where most of the time, energy, focus and resources are spent but without investment in the foundation of Level 1 (and we would argue Level 2 also) we will never truly change the status quo and voter registration, turn-out and democratic participation generally will remain low or worse still decrease.
There are many people working hard on voter information and political education in Wales & the UK. Omidaze are proud to be collaborating with many of them.
Democratic education/information, using creative approaches, must be provided year-round to all citizens from age 7 onwards via three routes:
- Public information campaigns for all ages, co-created with people from the historically lowest voter turn-out constituencies, and they must be paid for their time, skills, insights and experience.
- One-stop shop democracy hubs, both online and face to face, which are easy to access, welcoming, safe, creative and inspiring. Spaces where unexpected, informed and open conversations and creative approaches to deliberative democracy can begin. Spaces that can help us to build trust in our democracy and begin to tackle our democratic deficit and polarisation. Spaces that can enable us all to be informed and participating citizens; empowered to make the change we want to see in society.
- Democratic education baked into the primary and secondary school curriculums from age 7 to age 16 using inspiring and creative methods.
The three Democracy Box prototypes have been created, trialled and tested for all three routes and are ready to be upscaled.
What happens next?
Researched, created and tested predominantly in Wales, all three Democracy Box prototypes have the potential to be up-scaled and rolled out across Wales and potentially the UK.
Omidaze passionately believes that it is vital that The Democracy Box is a ‘public good’ and therefore needs to be co-owned/co-produced by companies who have public service and democratic education and information as their core purpose. The vision is for publicly funded, arms-length organisations, including the BBC and the Electoral Commission, to come together and be the guardians of The Democracy Box and develop, embed, up-scale and roll out the prototypes in partnership.
Omidaze’s vision and aims for the prototypes:
The Democracy Box public information campaign prototype – for Omidaze to incrementally step away and for young co-creators to be upskilled and trained to lead The Democracy Box Public Information Campaign into the future under the guardianship of the BBC and the Electoral Commission and additional key stakeholder organisations. If it is to succeed, the public information prototype needs to constantly change and evolve. The platforms that are being currently used will soon be obsolete and replaced by new trends and tech within the next decade. The only way to create a sustainable model is to ensure that those most disengaged and disenfranchisedare at the helm and constantly being recruited, trained and paid as co-creators.
The Creative Cascade programme for schools prototype – for the programme to be government funded in each of the four nations and delivered in partnership with local authorities and education consortia and rolled out either by the Welsh Government pan-Wales or piecemeal by all local authorities, potentially in collaboration or partnership with the BBC and the Electoral Commission.
The Talking Shop prototype – for this to be blueprinted and a non-commercial ‘franchise’ model created that allows Omidaze to own and be responsible for the design and overall concept and handover the management and running of the model to collectives of stakeholders in each town in which it operates. The aim is for the model to be funded in each location by the collective of stakeholders (multiple public bodies working in partnerhip together with local, regional and national collaborators.The Talking Shop model should be used to complement and support existing models such as citizen’s assemblies and citizen’s panels.
The Democracy Box toolkit – for this one prototype to provide commercial income for Omidaze/Yvonne Murphy in the form of both consultancy and licensing.
“This work mustn’t end here…”
– Democracy Box online sharing attendee
So what happens now? Will this body of research from the 6 years (10 years if you include the root and foundation of this research and development) and all the work done with and people simply fall off the edge of the cliff?
One thing this research has made clear to Omidaze is that when it comes to democracy, we, as a society, are very good at re-inventing the wheel and implementing short-term projects, fixes and solutions and are really quite poor at sustained, strategic and long-term, joined-up solutions. If we are to change the current levels of democratic participation (whether measured through the traditional and arguably unhelpful optics of voter registration and voter turn-out or through alternative and more holistic and creative methods), then we need to have sustained and long-term solutions to this very real, growing and urgent problem of our democratic deficit.
The Democracy Box report recommends that the basics of our existing democracy are shared routinely to all adults via public information campaigns and democracy hubs (online and in person) and via formal and non-formal education settings from primary year 2 to secondary year 11 and that this then forms the foundation for all democratic education and citizenship teaching.
The solution(s) needs to be funded by the state and be independent and non-partisan. It also needs to have people from the most disenfranchised and disengaged groups and communities at its very heart as co-creators.
The Democracy Box prototypes have been trialled and tested for this purpose.
The only current obstacle to scaling up these prototypes is capacity and investment. Investing in The Democracy Box prototypes outlined in this report, along with additional digital tools, such as writetothem.com, theyworkforyou.com and whocanIvotefor.co.uk, and existing models, such as citizen’s assemblies and citizen’s panels, could be a game changer for our Welsh and UK democracy and radically increase democratic participation both at and beyond the ballot box.
Omidaze remains optimistic. However, there is a long way to go and the strain on a tiny non-core funded arts organisation to facilitate and sustain this work is beginning to take its toll.
How is this Work Funded?
Clwstwr funded The Democracy Box’s research and development from 2020 to 2021. Part of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme (CIPC), Clwstwr was an ambitious research, development and innovation programme (2018 – 2023). Clwstwr funded 118 R&D projects in the news and screen sectors which created new products, services and experiences.
Further prototype development has been made possible through partnerships with the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, the Electoral Commission, the Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre, Wales Millennium Centre and Youth Cymru with additional support from and the Cares Family/UnLtd and over 30 collaborating organisations.
The Democracy Box was created by Yvonne Murphy aka Omidaze Productions along with over 70 young co-creators from across Wales. The need for it was identified during The Talking Shop 2019 pilot where so many visitors asked Yvonne if she could show them somewhere on their phone that explained our whole UK democracy in a simple and easy to access way. The Talking Shop is a democratic and cultural information centre, which Yvonne/Omidaze first conceived of in 2017 and created and piloted and tested in Cardiff in 2019 thanks to funding and support from National Theatre Wales, Senedd Cymru, Dirty Protest, Creative Cardiff and a team of volunteers.
The Democracy Box© and The Talking Shop© and all associated content is copyright Yvonne Murphy/Omidaze Productions 2020.
