Participatory Process: Workshops and Organised Planning of a Thailand Higher Education Music Student Network Concert

Abstract

A participatory process is an important process that runs from brainstorming to realising the result. This process will not lose the essence of sharing. Researchers studied an example of a working process by examining international examples that included (1) a student project of the Southeast Asian Director of Music, (2) the ASEAN Youth Ensemble and (3) the nationally embraced Aksornsilpa Music and Arts Camp as examples of case studies to be framed. Then, researchers adapted the frameworks from the study to the workshop meetings of each university student's representatives of the Thailand Higher Education Music Student Network (THEMSN) to shape the practical idea of workshops based on the participation process.

          The study was participation action research that clearly demonstrates the methods of team thinking, action, and evaluation between researchers, organisation expertise, and the representative of each university that participated. The research aimed to create a platform through which the young leaders could share their musical knowledge under the frameworks and environments that the researchers provided, including the ideas of PDCA, stage management, budget and planning, evaluation, and the final executive summary.

          The study's findings showed that the participatory process of THEMSN's workshop meetings could be structured and managed through the idea of musical concepts and organisation (such as concert themes) and by dividing the work groups according to ability. The result of the workshop revealed that THEMSN could plan suitably. During the last discussion of the workshop, the researchers, as facilitators and instructors of each section, advised them once again to develop the possible results of concert planning and organisation appropriately.