COMMUNITY ARTS

RESEARCH PROJECT

The Community Arts Research Project is all about communities having time and space to develop genuine relationships with artists in order to co-create amazing artwork.

This programme works with local people to deliver projects that are driven, developed and decided by them throughout the entire process.

During 2025/2026 we have worked with three new Community Arts Research projects:

The Projects

Headway Wearside

Headway Wearside has completed their first phase. They had six sessions with artist Hannah Kelly, who their service users and trustees recruited in October 2025.

The sessions explored their research question:

How is creativity affected by loss of different brain functions/networks? Creativity is spontaneous thought and executive control [planning & attention]. If one of these is lost how is creativity to be developed? How do we involve service users and what do we need to do to foster creativity?

PAC UK

PAC UK wanted to explore the research question:

How do we support the well-being and enhance the voices of birth parents who have had their children adopted to tell their story?

This group have been working with artist Sally Anderson, during monthly sessions. They were supported to go on a Go and See trip to Sunderland Empire to see ‘Blood Brothers’. The group are currently exploring a stage two of this work.

Sunderland MIND

Sunderland MIND have had six sessions with Midge from Unfolding Theatre to explore their question: 

How can performing arts and drama support mental health and wellbeing?

Sessions included improvisation, writing and the development of a Podcast. For phase two the group and Midge are developing an intergenerational drama group based at Sunderland MIND. We supported a Go and See visit to Sunderland Empire in February for interested participants to see ’Matilda’. A great partnership has been developed between Sunderland MIND and Unfolding Theatre, who hadn’t worked together before and it is leading into other opportunities for the organisation and their service users.

Producer in Residence at Thompson Park Community Centre

Alongside these projects and part of the Community Arts Research programme we started to explore a short pilot project with Thompson Park community centre to host a “Producer in Residence”, providing capacity to grow their arts and culture offer.

What do we mean by co-creation?

A process whereby artists/creative practitioners actively engage, listen to and collaborate with people from communities to create an artwork, project or activity together (including devising, planning negotiating, disseminating, evaluating).

  • Co-creation is about bringing diverse groups of people with different experiences, skills and knowledge together, united around a common aim/issue/challenge, to work in collective and non-hierarchical ways.

  • Co-creation is any artistic process in which creative responsibility, authority and agency are shared.

  • Co-creation is working together for the same purpose, aims and outputs ensuring that a project can achieve a strong legacy and have a positive impact on people’s lives.