Our collaborative projects

Our projects explore the role of culture in relation to identity, health, wellbeing, and mentoring.

We specialise in using creative methods to generate and analyse qualitative data about culture and place. This can support new policy solutions. We have particular interests in debates about the changing nature of our public spaces. We explore the role for culture in relation to heritage, high streets, housing and health.

Get in touch to find out how we can develop culture-led solutions to support your organisation or research.

Our UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded projects and partners include:

And Towns 

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have funded three 'And Towns' projects. These projects helped us to understand the relationship between culture and place attachment in a wide range of towns. 

We have expertise in using creative methods. Such methods help us understand how communities express and articulate meanings for pride in place at a hyperlocal level. We also help organisations develop skills to use qualitative data about people's lived experiences.

Our partners on these projects included Historic England, and Arts Council England. We also worked with cultural organisations and local authorities in Darlington, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Southampton, Hereford, Southend, Dorchester and the Isle of Wight.

The three 'And Town' projects are:

Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery 

Feeling Towns 

Neighbouring Data 

Pathways to Health Through Cultures of Neighbourhoods 

Pathways to Health collaborates with civic leaders, health professionals, NGOs and cultural organisations in Southampton. We work with 30 different bodies.

Pathways to Health learns from young people (aged 11 to 16) from deprived communities across the city. We are working together to understand what culture means to young people and how they use local assets.  

We use that understanding to reimagine cultural provision within an integrated care system. We want to identify how young people can use arts and culture for self-care. This could help to reduce future health challenges. 

Invisible Mentors and Diverse Capacities: Building A Knowledge Exchange Network For Creative Industries In The Solent 

Will May was the lead on Invisible Mentors: British Poetry in Partnership, 1960-2020 and Diverse Capacities: Building A Knowledge Exchange Network For Creative Industries In The Solent. These collaborative projects focused on building knowledge exchange networks across the Solent area.

Diverse Capacities connected local government officers and creative freelancers. The project included workshops, creative activities, and mentoring for South Asian heritage writers. It culminated in a public exhibition, enhancing regional connectivity and cultural infrastructure.

As part of Invisible Mentors, Will May and colleagues started a regional mentoring scheme, Poetry Ambassadors. This was a collaboration with Winchester Poetry Festival and Artful Scribe. They developed and evaluated the impact of the three mentors on the young writers' work and professional confidence. Some of their conversations are now available as part of the podcast series, Verse Mentors.