Can Creative Methods Enhance Participation of People with Housing Needs? Lessons from an Arts-Based Pilot from Hungary

The practice of DIs involves a plethora of actors across the public, private and civic sectors. Using the photovoice method to identify issues that are important to members of a community of people with housing needs, a participatory research team carried out a pilot research project bringing together public actors (the homeless service provider of Budapest Municipality), practitioners (the Sociodrama Working Group of the Hungarian Psychodrama Association) and researchers (HUN REN CENTRE for Social Sciences). The paper presents 1. how the participatory research group was formed 2. the division of tasks among partners and the way how the photovoice method was used and 3. the first results (photos) created within the arts-based project. Based on the results of the research team the paper seeks to answer the question to what extent, and how can participatory practices impact on people's socioeconomic conditions and wellbeing? Exploring the ways in which practices of the research team interacted with social power structures, state institutions and collective agency, results of the paper highlight the transformative potential and challenges faced by an arts-based research pilot carried out in an illiberal democracy.