Critical Response Process: a method for getting useful feedback on anything you make, from dance to dessert

by Liz Lerman

Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process (CRP) is a feedback system based on the principle that the best possible outcome from a response session is for the maker to want to go back to work. Whether returning to the studio, the desk, the kitchen, or the laboratory, CRP gives tools both to people who are making work and people who are responding to that work.

In use for over twenty years, CRP has been embraced by artmakers, educators, scientists, and administrators at theater companies, dance departments, orchestras, science centers, museums, and beyond. The Process has deepened dialogue between makers and audiences; it has enhanced learning between teachers and students. It has proven valuable for all kinds of creative endeavors, work situations, and collaborative relationships within and beyond the arts, from kindergartens to corporations.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Writing, School, Education, Reference, Teaching

62 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kristin Boldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great. Simple approach to work shopping creative work.

[Loretta]

I appreciated the specific walk through of this method and the appendix that provides sample discourses and other resources. In the Creative Writing courses I teach, I think it is so constructive- for the person facilitating, the person being workshopped, and the rest of the class- to have a peer facilitator lead. And I do apply a lot of this process to my own Creative Writing workshop classes. But, I think the formal back and forth between the artist and the rest of the class is interesting. I am definitely going to try it out this upcoming semester and see how it goes. Here is what I hope incorporating this method more explicitly in my classroom will accomplish:
1. Getting the class to focus on elements of craft rather than vague ideas about what they liked or didn't like,
2. encouraging the students to work on the difficult task of asking neutral questions,
3. and finally, making sure all students are helping the writer accomplish what they want to accomplish more effectively rather than imposing their own personal aesthetics onto a text.

We will see, but I am excited to try!

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Key practices from the Critical Response Process [include] stating the meaningful, phrasing neutral questions, and signaling opinions before stating them [and] can be applied on their own, without the formal four step sequence, to help advance the hundreds of conversations that take place in artistic collaborations." (p. 52)

"Remember: Nothing is too small to notice. When defensiveness starts, learning stops. Turn discomfort into inquiry." (p. 55)

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for any artist or creator who wants to develop their ideas during critique, as well as instructors, coaches, and teachers who want to create positive experience of critique with their students.

[Matthias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was required reading for my acting course. The guidance provided in the book covered a number of areas, including how to modify the method to classrooms, small casts, and two-person settings. The active use of the Critical Response Process in my class helped solidify certain activities in the book that originally felt vague. Seeing how it enabled my peers and I to have constructive dialogue was fascinating. Normally I dread hearing comments after I perform a small piece, but this time it felt like we were trying to actively better a performance and understand it.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an amazing process that could be used for preaching feedback, group evaluations of programs or projects or any creative endeavor. The invitation to talk about how something made meaning is so rich, and I love pushing to neutral questions, so that a reflector has the greatest freedom and agency in responding.

[Gabby Risley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to argue with books when they try and tell me how to think or act in certain contexts and I find myself poking holes in “How To Guides”. However so much of this made sense and I think what Liz Lerman has to say about thoughtful critique can carry over into every other aspect of creative communication.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for anyone who gives or receives criticism as part of their work. I have found the principles outlined here incredibly useful in my work with academics.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

All educators should read this!

[Keygan]

Read for class. An interesting description of a pretty unique workshop process.

It's well described in this short book and seems very versatile.

[Kathryn Mockler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this approach for running creative writing workshops.

It's flexible and adaptable and most importantly it is writer-focused.

[Espy Manning · Rating 3 out of 5]

- *3 1/2

[Abbygael · Rating 3 out of 5]

school book boooooo

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, informative book on an equitable critique method. I'll definitely reference this when I lead writing workshops!

[Katie Winkler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to be a facilitator for the talk backs for the New Works Series at a small community theatre. This book offers a sensible process for leading those discussions.

[Stevie Ada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such essential writing and methods that I use inside and outside the classroom for giving and receiving feedback. Liz Lerman's practices of embodied kindness weave their way though this slim publication.

I look forward to reading Lerman's forthcoming publication, "Critique is Creative". As with all of Lerman's writings, the body is the mainspring for all dialogue and theories.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and practical guide to artistic feedback

I love Lerman's guidelines and think her text should be used whenever and wherever feedback is given within a creative process. I'd recommend this text to anyone looking to utilize a system for artistic reflection, audience reaction, and process development. Clean, clear, and concise.

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tiny book is jam-packed with information on the author's method of getting and giving feedback on artistic creations. I should have been able to read it in a single sitting, except that I have to write a book report about it so I took a jillion notes and read back over passages and sat and thought about the concepts.

One thing I enjoyed was in addition to all of the useful information, the book is sprinkled with cute illustrations that use cakes and baking as examples to demonstrate the concepts being discussed.

I feel like the process laid out in here really would work well for getting valuable feedback in a way that isn't going to crush your ego. Most importantly, it really does seem like it could be applied to various artforms and crafts, unlike some things that *say* they're multi-disciplinary but are clearly slanted towards the author's main interests. I also like the fact that it allows for getting feedback from a variety of people, from experts in your art to your ideal audience to random people.

[Lindsii · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great way of organizing how to discuss things critically in theatre, but is often something you could easily figure out without this book. This would be a great book to read in middle school or high school theatre classes, but I read it in a college theatre class and it almost seemed like a waste of time. Most of us had been doing critical responses for years.

Also, the process she gives, when actually applied, takes a very long time. We used this process while picking monologues, and it took nearly an entire class to get through only two people's monologues. A lot of the process should and could be applied, but to take her step by step process for everything is a waste of time.

However, this book would work well for younger students or groups that don't get along well. It saves people from hurtful words and would be great when used in actual productions in an education setting.

[Ross Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure it deserves a whole book, and it certainly doesn't justify the "trademark process" it's bundled up as. A few pieces of reasonable ideas about workshopping critique, but nothing original and groundbreaking. Yet the author appears to think this is a whole new notion nobody's thought of before, and that this should be enough to sell on the lecture and training circuit. One half suspects soon she'll be charging a few thousand dollars for people to attend, take a multiple-choice test, and then put "CRPP" after their name. (Critical Response Process Professional)

[David MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic method for getting useful feedback on creative projects. It separates a lot of the issues of personal taste ("I like it") from how well the work succeeds at achieving the artist's goals. I've been using it with composers for a few months.

[Ida · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting so far. very specific and I always like that. working it out, reading for school.

[Richard Leis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and somewhat dry read, full of great ideas for workshopping creative works. We will be using this method this semester in a fiction workshop class I am taking. I'm excited to give it a try.