The ‘legacy’ of Creativeworks London can be described in a number of ways. CWL’s researchers have worked hard to forge relationships with industry and researchers in their field and continue their work beyond the AHRC-funded period. The Hub has established new partnerships and opportunities nationally and internationally.

This section describes key aspects of the hub’s ‘legacy’. Please keep coming back for updates, and also keep your eyes on our Publications section which will grow over the coming months.

The Audiences research strand has created and maintained a Europe-wide network of designers, software developers, artists, community developers, architects and urban developers, working on the Erehwon project (designing a prototype online platform for community awareness and civic engagement projects initiated by performance artists).

This interaction has created new designs, software, and knowledge for all stakeholders and allowed for innovation in the creative economy Europe wide. It is anticipated that the workshops and the prototype will contribute to positive social, economic and political impact at a macro-level, increase skills and capacity among the network and increase the influence on policy making.

In the development of Erehwon project, the Strand has worked with a number of London based creative SMEs such as Furtherfield and will maintain these collaborations post CWL seeking further funding. The prototype platform will provide an innovative research tool for several other disciplines and interdisciplinary projects in the Creative Economy and facilitate existing and open up new research avenues.

This collaboration between the Audiences Post-doctoral researcher, Dr. Mariza Dima and Osso Cultural Association, has been funded by the QMUL Humanities and Social Sciences Collaboration Fund.

The work of the Audiences Strand on analysing and understanding the different experiences of London’s museum audiences since the re-introduction of free entry, and the effects of existing policies for museum audience engagement regionally and across the UK is anticipated to impact future research agendas in the field.

The strand strengthened this influence by running an open studio event during the CWL Festival tailored to museum professionals with the aim of sharing the research findings and, based on them, influencing future museum strategies for growing and diversifying audiences. The work of the Strand with Tate and its audience demonstrated the different kinds of values Tate creates for its audience and highlighted significant issues and opportunities that the organisation will take on board for future developments.

The Audiences’ strand PDRA led on the development of a Horizon 2020 bid on designing ethical wearable technology, drawing on interdisciplinary research contributions and based on a European consortium of 8 partners, some of which were part of the wider CWL network.

The Place Work Knowledge research strand has built strong networks of SMEs, researchers and policy makers with a shared interest in innovation hubs. The Research Lab has been used as a very effective means to build these networks through engagement with research outcomes, and research outcomes have also fed into other funded projects.

The PWK strand’s research lab outcomes are:

PWK – Introducing Hubs (Part 1 of 3)

PWK – Connecting the dots (Part 2 of 3)

PWK – Holding onto knowledge (Part 3 of 3)

Networking in the Creative Economy

My networking is not working! Oli Mould, Royal Holloway, University of London

Joining the dots. Wendy Malem, Centre for Fashion Enterprise

Coming to Terms with Creative Hubs: A Symposium

http://www.knowledgelondon.net/index.php/2015/11/12/coming-to-terms-with-creative-hubs-a-symposium/

Consultancy Work

Dr. Virani’s work on creative hubs has led to a number of consultancy work:

• A collaboration with UP Projects on mapping cultural assets and resulting in the production of a film has been funded by the QMUL Humanities and Social Sciences Collaboration Fund.
• A collaboration with Poplar HARCA on monitoring the development of the Chrisp Street Exchange
• A collaboration with Poplar HARCA and London College of Fashion on Fashioning Poplar
• Tarek Virani will be undertaking a second research project with Poplar Harca and has also received funding to evaluate aspects of the work of UP projects.
• Andy Pratt, Tarek Virani and Jon Dovey will be undertaking research on internationalising innovation hubs for the British Council.

The Digital Economy research strand has curated the installation Digital Ecologies of Collaboration showcasing 20 collaborative projects funded via the Creative Voucher and Creative Entrepreneur-in-Residence schemes and encompassing five areas of critical digital enquiry.

The installation, which was presented at the CWL Festival on 29^th April 2016 and the AHRC Common Ground Showcase on 21^st June 2016, aims to demonstrate the wider impact that digital technologies have in defining objects and methodologies of collaboration, and highlighting the ubiquitous nature of digital cultures in contemporary society and their profound impact on the way we think and operate today.

It is expected the installation will tour to a number of venues nationally and internationally including:

• 29 April 2016 – CWL Festival, King’s College, London
• 21 June 2016 – AHRC Common Ground Showcase, York University
• Autumn 2016 – planned exhibition at V&A

The aims in touring the exhibition are to widen the impact of this area of research by engaging with a variety of academics on the issues explored in the installation; disseminate the practice of collaboration between SMEs and academic researchers which has been successfully developed by CWL; and potentially extend the established network to include new members of the community.

21 June 2016, London’s Digital Ecologies of Collaboration,
AHRC Common Ground, York University

Curator and Art Director: Dr. Alda Terracciano
Producer and Editor: Jana Riedel

First launched at the Creativeworks London Festival 2016 at King’s College London, London’s Digital Ecologies of Collaboration was staged at the AHRC Common Ground event 2016 at York University.

The Culture Capital Exchange (TCCE), the Knowledge Exchange delivery partner for Creativeworks London has received funding totalling £280,000 from Arts Council England and Higher Education Funding Council for England for a two-year pilot project, The National Academics and Creatives Exchange (The Exchange). Bringing 16 regional pilot partner HEIs together with TCCE’s 14 London members this project is working towards a permanent national network for facilitating collaborative research and breaking down barriers to collaboration between Early Career Researchers and Creative Industries SMEs and Micro Businesses.

The project will also deliver networking and development opportunities for ECRs, and build a bank of online resources. The Exchange is informed by, and draws upon the learning and experience gained by TCCE during Creativeworks London, and will benefit TCCE’s business model and operation going forward.

For further information please see www.wearetheexchange.org.uk

Creativeworks London collaborated with People’s Palace Projects in the project “Social Change through Creativity and Culture – Brazil”, a project that has developed ideas and key issues arising from the Creative Lab on “Social Change through Creativity and Culture” held in Rio de Janeiro in October 2015.

The Lab offered participants the opportunity to build project teams and at the end, creative project ideas were presented to a group of mentors and advisors. Participants then had the opportunity to apply to QMUL/PPP for direct project funding to define their ideas and develop them further. Seven projects were funded and collaborative research took place. Creativeworks London shared its expertise of running and administering such projects. The outcomes of the projects were showcased at the Multiplicidade Festival in Rio in May 2016. More information can be found here.

The third phase of the Social Change through Creativity and Culture (UK/Brazil CreativeLab) continues to extend knowledge-exchange between academics and arts practitioners in Brazil and the UK in order to discover ways in which the arts and creativity can contribute to social transformation, community wellbeing and economic development.  The research questions, context and methodologies are unchanged from the original programme.

An application has been submitted to the AHRC International Development highlight call for Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement. The bid is for £100,000 for a project based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The anticipated impact draws on research undertaken by CWL on Creative Hubs. The State Government of Sao Paulo are a partner in the bid, and have asked CWL to advise on aspects of their urban development policy of investment in new creative hubs; to run workshops on creative collaboration, and to pilot a mini-creative voucher round in partnership with Impact Hub, Sao Paulo. If successful, this will be a pilot for a larger-scale collaboration in Brazil, focussed on funding models for SMEs in the creative economy – please keep visiting our website for news.

Steve Legg MA(Cantab.) FIET, UK University Programs & UK Technical Staff Member, IBM, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by QMUL. Steve has been a member of the Creativeworks London Governing Council over the past four years and has also been very supportive of the programme overall giving lots of his time to CWL. We are delighted about this achievement and congratulate Steve.