Most who are reading NCACE blogs will, I think, be broadly pleased that the creative industries are now regarded by government – in last year’s Industrial Strategy but also in several subsequent policy statements – as one of the main drivers of future economic growth. The government now seems to believe that the creative industries … Continued
Take A Part (TAP) works with communities that have historically and systemically been underserved across the UK, using creative practices to support community-led and community-determined change. Reflecting on the collaborative practices of cultural democracy and co-creation developed over the 17 years of Take A Part’s national practice, Kim Wide MBE, founder and Co-CEO, explores the … Continued
One of the most strategically interesting developments I’ve encountered this year, through my work across research culture and research-enabling systems, is not a new framework, concordat, or strategy document, but the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange (NCACE) Research Associates pilot. On the surface, the scheme is modest: light-touch institutional support, a small honorarium, access to resources, … Continued
Akademi, a London based charity, has been taking South Asian dance into schools for over 40 years, pioneering the use of South Asian dance in these spaces. Reach Out and Reveal (ROaR), a project working specifically with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) schools, has been delivered since 2018 to support the physical, emotional and … Continued
On Friday 5 September 2025, the UK Science Minister Patrick Vallance announced a three-month pause on the work of the 2029 Research Excellence Framework (REF). This was to evaluate and reflect on how the framework can best assess research excellence by reducing bureaucracy. On Wednesday 10 December 2025 at the Universities UK Research and Innovation … Continued
The government’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper sets out an ambitious and largely welcome agenda: a more joined-up system, clearer pathways, stronger employer engagement and a renewed focus on higher-level skills as a driver of growth. Many of its core themes will feel familiar to those working across higher education, further education and cultural organisations. In fact, much of what is proposed … Continued
Not all casual encounters with/at academic institutions with infrastructure can result in ‘outcomes’. Yet for me in a rare serendipitous meeting it ‘did’! In my case it was slow sprinkled with prolonged silences of not-knowing, unknown/erratic eruptions of thoughts, vague discussions sometimes random conversations but at other times a quiet, simmering marination evolving deep within … Continued
Summary This blog post has been written following an NCACE Evidence Café event held in November 2025 on the theme of this blog’s title. It uses data from REF 2021 Impact Case Studies to identify formal collaborations between universities and cultural institutions, discussing the dynamics of how knowledge is produced and what drives transformative collaborations. … Continued
Introduction NCACE’s Evidence Café series has been an important and ongoing part of our work since March 2021. They are online events that support presentations, showcasing knowledge and evidence, information sharing, and storytelling. They act as a community for knowledge sharing and exchange in and around the theme of cultural knowledge exchange. Over the last … Continued
Reflections on YorVoice: a radical, interdisciplinary project bringing together researchers working on the human voice Your voice is unique. It contains information about your identity, mood, health – even your humanity. It also affects how you navigate the world; people judge us based on how we sound, while the growth in speech AI means that … Continued