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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.

‘What do Universities actually do?’: Some thoughts on Interdisciplinary Knowledge Exchange and Creative Arts Collaborations.

Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg (The Open University, UK) and Graeme Surtees (The Stables, Milton Keynes)

‘What do Universities actually do?’ was the question our partner Graeme at The Stables, Milton Keynes had most wanted an answer to, before we began collaborating together. This was a very valid question and provided me with a focus for this blog. It’s a co-authored blog, since universities often try very hard to imagine ‘what … Read more…

God’s Eye View: Curating the intersections between artist, audience and place

Prof. David Cotterrell and Amy Carter Gordon, Sheffield Hallam University

Exploring the contributions of artist-researcher, curator and practice-based research in stimulating public dialogues through site-specific art installations and how notions of place are vital in shaping these new narratives. In this blog, Amy Carter Gordon and David Cotterrell reflect on a pilot collaboration between Sheffield Hallam University and No Bounds – a critically acclaimed independent … Read more…

The challenges of research collaboration

Rosy Greenlees, former Executive Director at Crafts Council and Suzie Leighton, Co-Director at National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange NCACE

This article was originally published at www.artsprofessional.co.uk on 22 February 2023, it has been re-published here with the permission of ArtsProfessional.  Rosy Greenlees and Suzie Leighton have been reflecting on the challenges of knowledge exchange between the arts and higher education sectors. Here they explore the mutual benefits of co-curated collaborations and what support leaders in the field … Read more…

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…