The creative and positive atmosphere during the activities and the encouraging results of the observed activities, convinced us that the organisers are doing useful work. Still, we would like to formulate possible ways forward on the basis of the findings we gathered in the field and an extensive body of literature.
Relations between organisers and participants
Based on our observations, one of the greatest strengths that contribute to the laagdrempeligheid of the activities is the relation between the participants and the organisers. The organisers emphasised this and also the literature we used to support our research acknowledges the importance of the affective bond between participants and organisers. Mutual trust and sociocultural understanding between the organisers and participants form the keystone of being laagdrempelig (Theeboom, Bogaerts, Francq & Melis, 2012 and Phillipaerts, 2011). However, even though we clearly witnessed great motivation amongst the organisers to create this bond with their participants, some issues could be identified as well. Green and Singleton (2006) state that a lot of public spaces in Western societies are predominantly white and male, and this, according to Kleinman (2000) implicates social and political violence in the form of power relations and will thus result in the exclusion of certain groups (Kleinman, 2000). As most of our organisers were white males (this issue is less relevant for the organisers at Burn) we noted that some people might be (unintentionally) disueded from coming to the activities of this organisation (Henderson & Frelke, 2000, p. 23). Therefore, it would be our recommendation to try to diversify the team of organisers in order to ensure that everyone feels more able to approach the organisation.
The importance of the relationship between the organisers and participants furthermore implies a dependency on the personalities of the organisers. To ensure sustainable laagdrempelige activities, organisations should make sure that the organisers themselves do not become irreplaceable. The organisations could aim to invest in a strong network of volunteers/trainees who can start bonding with participants and could replace the employees when needed.
Gender
As mentioned in the first research question as well as in the challenges, we saw that overall more boys than girls attend the leisure activities. This is also reflected in genders of the organisers, especially at Quindo - although what the causes are for this gender gap are unclear. OKAN-MijnLeuven, our supporting actor, faced this challenge by hiring Camille, a woman in order to establish more balance and encourage the attendance of more girls. In light of this imbalance therefore we propose further research related to gender issues in leisure activities of this kind and Broos of Quindo confirms that it might well be interesting for them to study this more deeply.
Leisure spaces are public spaces and are therefore not necessarily as open and free as they seem. These spaces are always gendered, sexualised and racialised (Wagner & Peeters, 2013, p. 417). Therefore, spaces may also exclude people, as we have seen at Burn. Unconsciously genders separate in the building, only girls follow the hip hop class and only boys rap. However, this may also have extra underlying reasons (such as interests, cultural divides, etc.). Encouraging the mixing of activities could be a solution to this problem, for example in the case of Burn rappers could make a mixtape to which the girls can dance. Consequently, they could use this collaboration to perform together at the Burn Festival during the summer. If the organisers can encourage participants to demonstrate to the citizens of Leuven what they are working on together, it may be possible to encourage the creation of a stronger relationship as a unified group and sense of belonging to the organisation and the community of Leuven.
Becoming ever more inclusive
The purpose of this research was never to compare Burn and Quindo, but during our fieldwork it became clear to us that even organisations that aim to be laagdrempelig tend to focus (even if unconsciously) on a certain section of the public. While people with disabilities were very much present in Quindo for example, this was not the case in Burn. According to Jeanes and Magee (2012), youth with disabilities are commonly heavily excluded from leisure activities. This is mainly because the places in which leisure activities take place are not fully equipped with proper facilities for people with additional needs. Moreover, the organisations or centres that provide leisure activities lack trained staff who are able to support young people with disabilities while they do the activities (Jeanes & Magee, 2012). Whilst we fully understand that budget restraints can make adapting facilities for greater physical accessibility difficult, the organisers of Burn could try to think how to lower the burdens for people with disabilities to take part in their programmes. The radio station of Quindo is, for example, very accessible for wheelchairs. On the other hand, the building of Burn is not as accessible, not to say hard to access with a lane of cobblestones leading to the building. It is our view that more could be done to ensure that certain activities at Burn could be opened for participants with disabilities, as this organisation is a laagdrempelige organisation, which, as explained before, wants to be open to everyone.
Finances and dependency
As explained before, lowering the financial barriers stopping people from attending leisure activities is a crucial element for laagdrempeligheid. Both Burn and Quindo are non-profit organisations heavily relying on public funding in order to keep the financial costs (such as membership fees) low.
Even though working with external funds is a common characteristic of community radios (Mhagama, 2007), Quindo should be careful not to become too dependent. Gordon (2007) explains that community radios may be forced to change their identity due to donor’s wishes to focus on other areas. In the case of Flanders, community radios are frequently pushed to change their programme in order to get more funding (Evens & Hauttekeete, 2008). Broos himself mentioned it during his interview; what happens if the government agencies decide to stop funding them? Can they keep being a laagdrempelige organisation with less budget? The same goes for Burn. Jeroen told us that the amount of activities they offer has increased a lot since the start of Burn, but that the funding has stayed the same. The future of laagdrempelige organisations as Burn and Quindo, are therefore dependent on a successful search for funds. A broad network of sponsors could help to ensure sustainability.
In the same scope, sustainability of activities also rely not only on organisers but on participants as well. Organisers should more listen to young people, by engaging them in a conversation either during workshops or in the performance of the activity, organisers would find out if their help is efficient. Some youth as noticed during field observations in OKAN-MjinLeuven seem to be shy, they just listen and not talk. It is therefore hard to guess if they are enjoying, or feel helped.
Further research
While conducting this research we became aware of the complexity of the issue of laagdrempeligheid. Indeed, there are certain elements that were not included in the scope of our research due to time limitations. Because of this, we propose certain topics that would be interesting to do further research on.
Point of view of the participants
As we have explained in our conclusions, the organisers have a clear view on how focusing on laagrempeligheid can contribute to community cohesion and youth’s sense of belonging to Belgian society. However, we believe that further research could be done on the participants in order to determine whether their experiences resonate with the views of the organisers. Moreover, it would be interesting to see how the power relations at play between participants and organisers may affect the way laagdrempelige organisations work.
Longitudinal research
We believe that extensive fieldwork over a considerable period of time should be done in order to see how the organiser’s motivations change over time. Moreover, it would be interesting to see which strategies, if any, the organisers take in order to keep their organisation laagrempelig in light of changing realities. Finally, extensive fieldwork over a longer period of time might reveal which groups of people continue to be excluded and why.