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The NCACE Blog platform fosters a vibrant community of writers exploring collaborations between higher education and the arts, showcasing diverse stories, experiences, and reflections on cross-sector partnership.

Artists in the Academy

Evelyn Wilson (Co-Director, NCACE), Ruth Jarman (Artist, Semiconductor) and Anne-Marie Culhane (Artist)

Last October during our inaugural Festival of Cultural Knowledge Exchange, one of the events I curated was an intimate, in depth ‘in conversation’ event on the theme of Artists in the Academy. I brought together two artists; Anne Marie  Culhane and Ruth Jarman, from the artist duo Semiconductor, to share their expertise, reflect on their … Read more…

Dynamic evaluation in community engagement

Prof Maria Chatzichristodoulou and Dr Alexander Laffer, Kingston School of Art, Kingston University

We have recently completed work as evaluators on the ACE-funded community engagement project ‘Asset-based Storytelling in Kingston’. The project was led by Kingston Libraries (Fiona Tarn) and professional storyteller Richard Neville, working in partnership with community organisations in the Borough of Kingston: Mind in Kingston, Hestia, Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness, Voices of Hope, Kingston … Read more…

Lived experience, co-creation and creative possibilities for health and wellbeing

Dr Laura Kemp, Senior Manager NCACE

On 3rd November 2022, NCACE hosted an Evidence Café on Cultural Collaborations for Health and Wellbeing. I was delighted to welcome delegates to listen to presentations and watch artistic outputs from three collaborative projects which focus on improving mental and physical health for young people and professional dancers.   The field of creative health is large … Read more…

Articulating ‘enough’: Reflections on non-financial impact in cultural partnership work

Dr Alex Reynolds, University of Southampton and Dr Amy Corcoran, Royal College of Art

Introduction As part of the 2022 NCACE Festival of Cultural Knowledge Exchange, we had the chance to facilitate a workshop defining and refining non-financial impact in collaborative cultural projects. Our intention was to use the workshop as a way of collectively collating a list of non-financial cultural knowledge exchange activities and forms of impact and … Read more…

Decolonising the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s Collections as an Inside-Outsider: A Perspective on Collaborative Research

Dr Helen A. Hopkins, Doctoral Researcher - Birmingham City University

This NCACE micro commission built on the findings of my Midlands4Cities funded collaborative doctoral project with BCU and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT), which aimed to determine what might make up an SBT ‘international collection’ and to the determine the best pathways to implementing positive change at the heart of Shakespeare’s cultural iconography: the museum … Read more…

Cultural Compacts, collaboration, knowledge exchange: the role of Higher Education in fostering place-based cultural and artistic ecologies

Evelyn Wilson (Co-Director, NCACE and TCCE) and Professor David Amigoni (Professor of Victorian Literature and Director, Institute for Social Inclusion, Keele University)

Evelyn Wilson: I first came across the notion of Cultural Compacts through a short presentation given by Paul Bristow (Arts Council England), during a Creative Industries Council Regionals and Clusters Meeting a few years back. Twenty Cultural Compacts were first supported by Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport back in … Read more…

Coming together creatively to talk about loneliness and communication

Dr Gemma Williams - Research Fellow in the Centre for Resilience and Social Justice, University of Brighton

University of Brighton researcher Dr Gemma Williams has teamed up with autistic and learning-disabled artists to produce a series of eye-opening animated videos. The artists behind the four short films have been supported to learn animation skills over the past year as part of a novel university-community partnership between University of Brighton and local arts … Read more…

Widening access to ancient cultures in museums and schools through partnership working

Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson, Senior Research Fellow, King’s College London

The Advocating Classics Education (ACE) project seeks to improve access to the study of Classical Civilisation and Ancient History by working in partnership with Liverpool World Museum (LWM) and OCR examination board, and alongside the Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology (MOCA) as a collaborator, to provide subject knowledge enhancement training for teachers, curriculum-linked support materials, … Read more…

STEAMhouse’s state-of-the-art centre ready to launch

Clayton Shaw - Programme Manager, Birmingham City University, STEAMhouse

The STEAMhouse building, Birmingham City University (BCU)’s new centre for innovation, will offer innovative, exciting and collaborative opportunities for growth for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Clayton Shaw, Programme Manager at STEAMhouse, discusses the space and what it will provide to businesses, creatives, students and more.  Preserving our past and building our future The … Read more…

The Power of Movement in Co-Creation

Dr Marianne Markowski (University of Greenwich) and Dr Jaqueline Richards

Two participants’ perspectives about the Knowledge Exchange Workshop “Learn to Love Being with Less” held on 15th June 2022. This workshop, using a range of arts activities including somatic movement and dance, took place at the Bathway Theatre in Woolwich London to explore the question: “How can we learn to love being with less?” The … Read more…