Moving Forward: A snapshot of NCACE future plans

We are delighted to announce the very welcome news that NCACE will continue to be funded by Research England for the next four years. It is a great achievement and one that has only been made possible by the many wonderful individuals and institutions that we have had the pleasure of working with and engaging with in so many ways since we publicly launched back in 2021.

Our mission was then - and indeed remains - to facilitate and support collaboration and knowledge exchange between higher education and the arts and cultural sectors, with a particular focus on evidencing and showcasing the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of such collaborations.

The power of networks

During our first phase, we were hugely honoured and privileged to have worked with hundreds of amazing contributors from across universities, the arts and culture sector, local authorities, community organisations and funding bodies, helping us to shape and develop our programmes of work.

Their unique knowledge, expertise and generosity supported and enabled the creation of around seventy events, largely online and attended by over 3000 participants from around the UK and internationally. It was that same expertise, knowledge and commitment that has enabled us to establish the NCACE Collection - housing research reports, case studies, think pieces and other publications – as well as the NCACE blog platform. Each and every event and publication has played a role in helping us to support the practice, showcasing and understanding of collaboration and cultural knowledge exchange.

This work has also been very well supported by a wonderful small group of founding university partners including: Bath Spa University, Birmingham City University, Manchester Metropolitan and Northumbria University. Our move last October to become part of School of Advanced Study, UoL is supporting relationships to emerge within and beyond Higher Education, most notably with the GLAM sector.

Future areas of work

A key focus for NCACE has and will indeed continue to be the creation of positive, nurturing and imaginative environments in which to: strengthen and support our networks and communities of practice; address emerging challenges across both higher education and the arts and culture sectors and generate and share valuable knowledge, insights and know-how.

Our second phase will focus on three core areas of work, complemented by several cross-cutting themes. These areas have been carefully designed in consultation with many colleagues across both sectors and in response to our deep, ongoing evaluation activities. It is an approach that we believe will enable NCACE to balance continuity whilst driving innovation, improving capacity, supporting leadership and expanding the knowledge base on collaboration and cultural knowledge exchange.

Core areas of work

People and Communities of Practice.
This strand of work will further develop NCACE’s proven leadership in cross-sector capacity-building and network development.

Showcasing, Communications and Signaling.
This strand of work will further develop visibility for cultural knowledge exchange through a programme of communications, public engagement activities, and training opportunities.

Knowledge, Evidence and Resource Creation.
This strand of work will further develop the considerable knowledge and resource base about the values and impacts of cultural knowledge exchange, collaboration and creative research partnerships.