Do you have an existing collaboration between higher education and the arts or cultural sector that you’d like to develop and make more sustainable? The NCACE Collaboration Lab is a free programme supporting partnerships between higher education and arts and cultural organisations to develop their ideas, explore new opportunities and find sustainable ways to continue … Read more…
I. THE HOOK It all started, rather improbably, with Donald Trump. In the first session of Let’s Talk, a Teaching Development Grant project at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, we aimed to help students learn how to evaluate an AI chatbot. Whether it could hold a recognisable voice, remain grounded in the material we had given it, and show us … Read more…
I had the immense privilege of sharing my experience of working on a Lived Experience Creative Research project at the NCACE Festival of Cultural Knowledge Exchange, held between 20–24 April 2026. I worked alongside Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), the charity Hospital Rooms and Norwich University of the Arts (NUA). In my role … Read more…
The National Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange (NCACE) was established with support from Research England in 2021. Our mission is to facilitate and support capacity for knowledge exchange between higher education and the arts and cultural sectors, with a particular focus on evidencing and showcasing the social, cultural, environmental as well as economic impacts … Read more…
NCACE Collection Writing workshops, 2pm – 3.30pm 16th and 23rd November 2026 (online) NCACE is pleased to announce two new writing workshops to support early career academics and others who are interested in writing about collaboration with the arts and culture sector. These will be a starting point to help researchers working on collaborations/partnerships with … Read more…
There is a familiar rhythm to conversations about equity across higher education and the cultural sector. We speak about values. We speak about commitments. We speak about inclusion, collaboration, and care. What we examine less often is how those commitments are enacted, how they translate into decisions, and what happens when they do not. This … Read more…
Introduction In February 2026, NCACE convened researchers, cultural practitioners, and policy specialists for an Evidence Café exploring one of the most urgent questions facing our sector: how can we better understand, measure, and value knowledge exchange (KE) in the arts and culture? The session formed part of an ongoing collaboration with the Policy Evidence Unit … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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 … Read more…
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, … Read more…