What impact did Creative Civic Change have on communities?

Communities described how the large scale activities such as festivals, parades and carnivals ‘brought the community together’. These events made the ‘community’ – whether that was the estate, the parish, the neighbourhood, or the villages – both visible and celebrated. One community member described how their events in the local park were a chance for estate residents to ‘breathe together’.

87% of respondents (of 703 responses) to the Communi-Tree survey told us that they had met new people and/or felt more part of the community through Creative Civic Change events. This was also echoed in our interviews:

“You just see more and more of the community come together to these events, they’re just getting bigger and bigger and more widespread around the community … which is great, because I’ve spoken to people that I don’t travel in their circles sort of thing. So I wouldn’t have generally got to speak to people like that.” (Community member)

“It was the most wonderful experience, bringing the entire community together … Because it is an open space people were coming up – there was a library with books, Gospel Choir, food. It was wonderful and culturally diverse, not just the BME community, but ordinary white folk.” (Working group member)

Existing relationships were strengthened too. Informal social interactions became richer and wider; one community member described how they used to pass people they knew on the street and say hi, but now they stopped to chat, whilst another commented:

There’s more conversations going on. And there’s more networking definitely, you meet more people because of the art.”

Project worker

A number of people spoke about how, as newcomers to an area, Creative Civic Change enabled them to integrate and learn about their new community. Creative Civic Change also helped to make communities who are often marginalised more visible, and create a sense of belonging:

“Meeting new and interesting people and LGBTQ people from a different generation, [who] I think [it’s] super important to mingle with. It paved the way for the rest of us.” (Community member)

In some places, activities focused on bringing different parts of the community closer together. In one project this looked like bringing together people from two different and historically unconnected areas of the city:

I think it’s just bringing two different sets of communities together, where we, you know, we’ve done trips to the theatre, we’ve done activities outdoors, that would probably never happen.”
Project worker

For two other projects, this looked like building a sense of connection between different villages in the same parish or area:

“It’s getting people in different areas to talk to each other and spread the word about what is happening.” (Working group member)

Creative Civic Change communities also felt part of an England-wide cohort of allies and colleagues; they spoke about meeting people with shared values and similar challenges, and about feeling supported and energised by the others in the programme.

Generous friendships have formed, experiences and information have been exchanged and, in some instances, collaborative creative projects have come about:

“Bringing people together in celebration, and celebrating us, as practitioners and celebrating our communities and welcoming people in, giving people space and a voice and letting people play and talk and do interesting things. You know, that’s been just huge.” (Project worker)

Artists who were commissioned described how Creative Civic Change had revealed a local creative community they didn’t know existed, and how they now felt part of a network of artists who – although they varied in experience, practice and art form – understood, supported and inspired each other:

When I moved here, I didn’t know anyone, never mind any other artists … it’s been nice to kind of meet people on your wavelength … to have that network of people around you and support.”
Artist

Many artists relished the opportunity to work collaboratively with other creatives, commenting how most of their work was done solo. These collaborations sparked new ideas and added to this sense of being amongst supportive peers.

“It was a lovely group. There’s five of us … and it was an absolute pleasure to work with them. And we we just bounced ideas off each other really well.” (Artist)

“Working with the other artists was lovely over lock down … there’s been a lot of ideas that we’ve been able to explore that’s been really positive … and the joining together of different artists that you wouldn’t have met … they’ve just been brilliant, really, and an immediate kind of connection … It’s just a sort of understood kind of ethos, I think of people that do this work, it’s about making it work. It’s not about getting in each other’s way, you know. And there was a lot of goodwill and, and skill, as well, just talent and ability.” (Artist)

Many forged relationships that continued beyond their time working together, meeting and collaborating on other projects, as well as keeping in touch more informally.

“I’m still in really close contact with all the artists we’ve worked with … We’ve got these kinds of ties now with each other. And so we know that we can work together again, and I know that I can call on them if I’ve got a project in mind.” (Artist)

As well as connecting with each other, for many artists Creative Civic Change was an opportunity to connect with their own community. A number commented how this was a rare opportunity to work with communities ‘on their doorstep’ as they more usually had to travel outside of their local area for work:

“Even though I’m doing more of the management side of things, now, I still regularly just go up for a session, just to join in and be part of it, like they did a party, and I just thought, ‘Oh, I just want to come up for that party, being part of the community.’” (Artist)

Communities forged new partnerships and deepened existing relationships with a wide range of local organisations, including local authorities, faith groups, businesses, football clubs, schools and colleges, arts organisations, other community groups and charities.

Not surprisingly, partnerships worked well when there were shared values and aims, and partners talked about the benefits of demonstrating a collaborative way of working:

So we’ve kind of gone in together, we’re a partnership, and so it gives the folks of our projects a bit of credibility. But … also, we’re modelling the kind of partnership behaviour, and the kind of co-production and collaboration, that we’re trying to encourage other people to participate in. So they see us working together, and other people then want to come to the party.”
Partner

Partners described how they benefited from their relationship with Creative Civic Change. For some, it deepened their relationships within the community, whilst others talked about how the Creative Civic Change project workers ‘joined the dots’ between groups and opportunities in their area.

One small community organisation described how the Creative Civic Change workers ‘looked out for them’ when they were part of other, more strategic conversations, keeping an ear open for how the partner could benefit.

Local authority relationships in particular led to both immediate and long term benefits for residents. In one Creative Civic Change community, they had been trying for months to get BT to remove a decommissioned phone box that was now being used informally as a toilet. When their local Public Health boss saw for themselves, as part of a visit to one of their events, the phone box was swiftly removed.

In another, local residents now sit on the planning group for a multi-million pound ‘levelling up’ investment. One local authority partner commented:

“A lot of the other issues that would probably stay hidden, that we wouldn’t know about, have come to the surface. So for me, we’re finding out a lot more that we didn’t know, scarily or not, that we need to deal with.” (Partner)

Residents were introduced to a wide range of different cultural activities and opportunities. 89% of the respondents to the Communi-Tree survey told us that Creative Civic Change activities had given them a chance to be creative or improved their personal creativity (from 589 responses).

For some this was a new, and positive, experience:

I wasn’t really doing much arty stuff before but since I’ve been doing it with [project] it’s shown me that I can do it and I actually like doing more stuff.”
Community member

Whilst for others, it gave them the chance to rediscover and foreground their own creativity. Some community members even took the step of quitting their existing jobs to focus on more creative work:

“I know that pride comes before the fall, but I’m really proud of my own journey … my own art, if you like, it’s just been a wonderful addition in my life, I’ve fallen in love with that, you know, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with it.” (Community member)

Artists described getting involved in different creative disciplines, about bouncing ideas off one another, about experimenting and trying new things:

“We’d never done anything like that before … during lockdown we did a lot more stuff online and street performances with no audience, and put them on YouTube. Then [project] asked us to do something … and that allowed us to come up with the idea to use the QR code and we had no idea if it would work. But it did work.” (Artist)

For one artist who was also had the role of critical friend (an individual who acted as mentor, coach, supporter and questioner to the projects. Some were also artists) in the programme, the experience was transformative:

CCC … allowed [this new creative practice] to just bloom and flower … I’m still actually working at the moment to try and describe what that is, there’s this sort of conducting, shepherding, glueing, listening, you know, position, which also includes aesthetics and quality, and a lot of practical stuff.”
Artist

Creative entrepreneurship flourished. Many artists spoke about how the commission from their Creative Civic Change community was a springboard for them to develop their work, economically as well as creatively. They described further commissions, teaching invitations, collaborative projects, and (re)establishing themselves as creative professionals:

“And since then I’ve also grown my own business from it … And the intention is that it will be a CIC [Community Interest Company]. And so it kind of encompasses everything I was doing as part of COVID And Beyond … So it’s really like exploded and grown.” (Artist)

For a number of projects, changing how artists’ work is valued and paid was important. Some proactively set reasonable day rates for artists who were massively under quoting in submissions, and many provided a scaffold of support (for example help with contracts and invoices, health and safety, permissions, safeguarding and other practical aspects of creative delivery) to enable inexperienced artists to do their best work.

This investment was noticed by community members, as well as artists themselves:

[Those artists] have to be paid for that time. And that craftsmanship or womanship, and it was about three months worth of talent that we got to show us, to encourage us … It was amazing. But it had to be paid for.”
Community member

Attitudes shifted amongst partners too, about the value and power of creativity:

“My attitude has changed. Because I used to think, ‘what are these arty people popping into our community throwing things at people, do they not realise what they need is food on their plate’. But of course, aspiration is a big part of life … I know now that I’ve got a group of people I can go to. .. that actually feel that art has a relationship back to the community. And I can connect with people who have the skills so that people who wouldn’t otherwise get anywhere near it can feel it’s great … So for me changing my attitude was a big thing.” (Partner)

• Research undertaken by The Audience Agency via their Cultural Participation Monitor (a nationally representative panel survey) sheds more light on the range of everyday creative activities that people do (both at home and out of home) and the factors that support this creativity. They found that lower costs, and ideas and inspiration, were the most valuable areas of support, themes that were echoed in our Creative Civic Change evaluation conversations.
• Champions of everyday creativity, 64 Million Artists, have lots of research, toolkits and information available on their website.

Creative Civic Change projects are largely rooted in places with limited creative opportunities, and where creative and social confidence present significant barriers to participation.

The issue of confidence became particularly apparent during COVID-19, as projects switched to at-home activities and creative packs:

“The number of people who got in touch and sent videos and pictures of what they’re doing and said things like, they would never have come to a workshop, they would never have walked in a parade. But they’d made a costume at home … it had not occurred to me that there will be people who wouldn’t enjoy [parades] … because they genuinely don’t want to be seen.” (Project worker/artist)

In recognition of this, projects were innovative in creating accessible ways for residents to get involved, working where people already felt comfortable, making it easy to dip in and out, and building personal connections to encourage people to join in.

Our evaluation conversations indicated that confidence takes time to build and so the strongest impacts were felt by those closest to the projects: project leads, artists, activity leaders and members of working groups*.

Around 25% of Communi-Tree survey respondents reported that they felt ‘confident’ during Creative Civic Change activities (fewer than responses of ‘happy’, ‘proud’, or ‘included’). However, that sense of growing confidence was perfectly captured by this respondent:

I’ve felt more confident to engage, and more positive about my creative skills and opinions.”

Community member

This sense of growing confidence and ownership was supported by conversations with activity leaders – and this took root beyond Creative Civic Change:

“Mums have come up and said, ‘since my kids started doing that, they’re reading better … behaving better’ … that opportunity for that child to understand they could be good at something and they can be safe and stretch their boundaries has just changed their whole outlook on life.” (Working group member)

One of the most important practices supporting confidence-building was listening. This is loudly supported by the 81% of Communi-Tree survey respondents that felt heard by Creative Civic Change projects. One project worker told us:

“[Name] is just profoundly different than she was when she walked in … she has turned into a person who thinks more than she did before about herself … just a couple of hours a week, being listened to, and being told that her view was as important as anyone else’s.” (Project worker)

Members of working groups told us that the inclusive and supportive nature of these groups helped build their confidence to speak up, sharing ideas and discussing decisions:

So it’s that sense of pride that actually, I do have a voice … I could put that out there. And to watch it grow from just this little idea that I had … just come to life.”
Working group member

Making space for individual voices to be heard paved the way for a more powerful collective voice to emerge:

“Coming together and sharing our ideas and our thoughts is so powerful, and … reminds us how often we do have power … because we feel quite hopeless … that we don’t have the ability to do much about our political situation. But actually, we can change.” (Working group member)

This sense of collective voice has empowered some projects to challenge more powerful organisations, including funders, policymakers, and large cultural organisations:

“We got turned down by [fund] three times, and so I went to the Chief Exec and said, you’re using our pictures everywhere, what are you going to do about the situation – there’s something in your process that we’re getting knocked back every time, so they did rectify it, so we then had a fund that we could use to stabilise us.” (Project worker)

The trust and support offered by both the programme and collective decision-making processes transformed project workers’ sense of confidence as leaders:

“I think that there’s a lot of trust … and freedom in this, and I think that it is immeasurable and unbelievable what that does for your soul, and your confidence and your sense of empowerment.” (Project worker)

Project workers talked about paying this forward into the community by taking an enabling approach. They stepped back and trusted residents to lead, whilst offering the resources and support to help them succeed – because as one told us: “you can ruin someone’s life by giving them £1,000 and letting them fail.”

Projects, participants and local stakeholders all reported increased involvement from the local residents and creatives in delivering activity. For example, one local stakeholder observed that there were more people out and about on the street and getting involved in the project:

They’re building up a lot of residents’ confidence … Some of the residents who thought they were unimportant before now volunteer at a lot of the events that they do and believe in themselves.”
Stakeholder

Creating supportive and encouraging networks helped artists to (re)gain the confidence to lead both on Creative Civic Change activities and their own work:

“I got involved as an artist … I wasn’t really in a good place. I had kind of given up my artistic practice … I’d given up on it. And then I had the opportunity to be involved in the project. And it just really helped me get back into it. My confidence just grew as an artist and as a professional … and now it’s led on to – I’m running my business again … I thought it was all behind me.” (Artist)

For young leaders, being given the freedom to design and lead activity, but with support from an emerging artist, helped them to build their confidence and also to inspire other young leaders:

“I’ve never done it on a level like this where I had a lot of the control. When we did our own planning session. That was completely new … One thing that was really great about [it] was that [one girl] came in after one session and she said that she wanted to be a young leader.” (Young leader, year 10)

*formal and informal collectives comprised of local residents, creatives, project leads and project supporters.

“I’m not sure we really expected to have such an impact on people’s confidence and sense of well being … for some people … they were really isolated, really lonely, maybe had a drug and alcohol problem. But just by being connected, they’ve turned their life around. And I’m not sure we expected it to be quite that dramatic.” (Project worker)

During Creative Civic Change, communities faced many challenges, not least the impact of COVID-19 early on in the delivery of the projects. Creative Civic Change’s creative activities, the people they did them with, and the atmosphere in which they were delivered, all helped community members to ‘switch off’ for a while and have a break, and they felt re-charged and restored as a result:

It takes you away from all the stuff going on in the world. It really does.”
Community member

“It makes your day brighter. And when you come in here, just everything goes away from me.” (Community member)

Being involved in Creative Civic Change activities has helped individuals to cope with difficult life events and challenging situations. Many people spoke powerfully about the emotional support they received from others in their groups and from project workers.

“I lost my husband two and a half years ago, I’ve been through hell and they all know it, and my daughter found this for me. And I was not like this, I was quiet and withdrawn. And if it wasn’t for this lot, and [name], I honestly might not be here today … this is my second family.” (Community member)

“There was a change in my health. Because I was suffering very, very ill health, life threatening. So it made a massive change in my wellbeing. That was just amazing.” (Community member)

For one participant, who had to prepare a victim impact statement for a court case, creativity and the support of her group gave her the strength to get through it:

“I’ve got to go on the stand and do a victim statement. I’m like, ‘I will fail and probably cry and not get to the point’, and the writing group stopped everything they was doing, and helped me write a poem … so that I can actually get to the judges head and go, ‘this is what the real truth is’ … and I don’t believe I could have done it without them, you know, the judge just respecting me and hearing me.” (Community member)

The challenge of delivering a time-limited project in complex contexts within the community was very real, and project workers reflected on their own resilience and ability to keep going.

Life is such that you go up and down. In the life of the CCC with us, it has taken us to the heights of excitement and to the very depths of despair. But we stuck it out.”

Project worker

The sense of commitment and determination was evident, as was the way projects drew on the strengths within the community.

97% of the respondents to our Communi-Tree survey experienced positive emotions during Creative Civic Change activities. Amongst these, happiness was the most common emotional response (64%). Happiness and joy were also strong themes in our interviews with project leads, working groups, and artists.

For some people, engaging with creative activity again reignited a spark from earlier in their lives:

I really enjoyed the creative aspect of being with people, and dancing and things like that. So, and it was lovely to actually, you know, 50 years on in my life to be going back to something that we didn’t expect … it was a joy to have the experience.”

Community member

There was also a real joy for artists and project workers in witnessing the impacts of their work on others:

“The joy when [the group] is going really well, and they can do this without me, and the joy of sitting in the middle of the parade and going, ‘I helped make this’, you know, this is not just me, but I really helped make this happen.” (Artist)

“I receive an awful amount of pleasure seeing the ladies in the sewing group, like learn and develop. Like they’re so proud of what they’ve made and it gives me great pleasure … seeing that, in their learning and that expanding and they want to learn more all the time … I think I get more pleasure out of it than they get themselves.” (Artist)

Collective moments of celebration brought positivity into people’s lives, as described by one [Filwood Fantastic] Lantern Parade participant:

“And it was this dark winter night, and someone said … it shined a light in their dark times … people started breakdancing in the street and came out … you could see how in a really difficult time, even if people are worried about their health and their jobs and their money and their family, that actually stuff that’s creative still matters and makes a difference.” (Partner)

While Creative Civic Change is a time-limited project, these experiences sustain, creating memories that will live with people long-term, a fuel to draw on for the future:

“That was a happy day, it’s a happy memory – you know that kind of felt like it was really genuine.” (Working group member)

And while it’s not all been easy, the experience as a whole has impacted on how people feel, and what they are treasuring from their personal experience of being a part of Creative Civic Change:

It’s just, it’s joyful. It’s been joyful. You know, and then I count the challenges in that as well… but the little ones, little moments … the inspiration, the love, the kindness. The learning as well has been really, really good for me as an individual.”

Project worker

The positivity of the Creative Civic Change approach created a sense of hope for the future in these communities:

It’s like, we’ve all just got loads of hope. We know that things can be achieved, and we work together. And I think that’s such a massive benefit for wellbeing, mental health, and all those areas as well. We’re just hopeful people.”

Artist and community member

The project has given people hope and a sense of a positive future, where this may not always have been present before:

“If people don’t have that hope, they don’t see the point, even bothering to make a difference. So they need to see that there’s people out there that do believe things can change. Because if they see that people can make a difference. It’s gonna give them hope.” (Community member)

This sense of hope has created energy and momentum. A collective drive to create and sustain change, and for people to come together, looking out for each other and developing as a community.

Our findings echo research reviews undertaken by What Works Wellbeing. Their systematic literature reviews show strong evidence for the wellbeing impacts of music and singing; their review of the wellbeing benefits of visual arts activities for adults with diagnosed mental health conditions also shows positive impacts.

Group singing and/or visual arts activities were a feature across all of the Creative Civic Change projects and interestingly, What Works Wellbeing’s visual arts report notes that:

“The most effective ‘working ways to wellbeing’ are also confirmed in processes of implementation that ensure provision of secure safe-space and havens for interventions; that recognise the value of non-stigmatising settings; and that support and sustain collaborative facilitation of programmes and sessions.”

These are all factors that we see in the way Creative Civic Change projects worked, as outlined here.

Further evidence about how creativity and culture work in relation to health and wellbeing has been collated by the Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance, including Creative Health: The Arts for Health & Wellbeing (All-Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing, 2017.)

For a number of project workers, Creative Civic Change had a transformative impact on their practice, as they reflected on their personal history and values, and their approach to this type of work.

People spoke about working in fundamentally different ways as a result of their Creative Civic Change experience:

“Learning how to deal with opposition, developments, a collaborative approach, learning how to deal with disappointment, learning how to let go.” (Project worker)

For some, their Creative Civic Change experience enabled them to reflect on their own personal and career journeys, and recognise the power of their own values:

“I realised like I pretty much just manifested the adult version of what I was doing as a child … that’s the stuff that I love. Because I’ve worked in communities before this, but it was always, ‘we’re just going to deliver a digital project for older people to learn computers’, like something really specific, this has really been about making something together and it really made me in touch with that passion and who I am and what I’m about.” (Project worker)

One recalled growing up on a council estate with limited cultural access and the impacts of the people around her:

People believed in me being creative and what I could do … and I want to make sure there’s people out there doing that for other kids.”

Project worker

Understanding the complexities of their communities was a key component of Creative Civic Change:

“I’ve learned a lot about what they need, what they want, what they think they want and what they think they need. And sometimes they can be different … it’s keeping that conversation going … I found that relationship really interesting. And quite exciting to take forward.” (Artist)

Core to understanding communities and needs was actively listening to all the voices and opinions around – which can be hard:

“It’s that time that you put in to sit with people, and listen, and be available. And although that can be draining, and can be exhausting, there is no substitute.” (Community worker)

“I realised, I hope it was quickly enough, I just had to listen, lots and lots of listening, and stop showing off all the time.” (Artist)

Some people experienced fundamental shifts in how they think. A project worked described how their attitudes had changed:

I’ve started to see that people are just not one thing. They contain multitudes. And that … has helped me to get rid of some of my unconscious bias. Some of my learned prejudices, they have just gone. We are just people.”

Project worker

This deeper learning about the complexities of the local community was also felt by project partners. One parish councillor described how their Creative Civic Change relationship had fundamentally shifted how the parish council viewed their role:

“Previously the parish council had been sort of insular in a way. And this has opened them up, they’re more involved in thinking about the actual people within the community, rather than the function of a parish council … it’s not just ‘we look after footpaths, we look after this and that, and that’s as far as we go’. But now, I think it’s more a case of ‘right. so and so down the road, has got a problem. We’ll go and try and sort it’, it’s a change of attitude, the way that we work really, and it’s down to this involvement.” (Parish councillor)

A number of project workers related how they developed a range of what could be called leadership skills (although they didn’t describe them as such). These included creating a culture of possibility, facilitation and listening, delegation and trust, and visioning a future.

People were honest that facilitation and decision-making through consensus was a new skill for some:

“It’s not about me. It’s been about facilitating the conversation.” (Project worker)

The speed at which you do this is in itself a skill: too fast and people get left behind, too slow and there is frustration that things aren’t happening. Going at the right pace was key to creating genuine trust and engagement:

“When you are going on a journey with lots of different people, everybody’s going to take their own time. Part of taking people on the journey is knowing to slow it down. Meet people where they’re at.” (Working group member)

Project workers also learned a vast array of practical skills. For some, way more than they expected. These included specialist areas like health and safety, risk assessments, web design and content management systems, safeguarding, first aid, planning and building permissions, leases and contracts, as well as more generic skills around communications, facilitation, budgeting, planning and project management.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a project founded on creativity, across Creative Civic Change many people learnt new creative skills, covering a range of artforms and practical skills:

“I got involved in new art forms. Poetry and video particularly, and textiles.” (Working group member)

“I never knew how to do upholstery and stuff, and then we did the chairs.” (Community member)

The impact of learning a new skill went beyond the craft of making and the sense of achievement. It also impacted on connection and the experience of learning as a collective process:

“The one that stands out for me is where we’ve been learning crochet … I started a few days ago at home on my own … So it’s something I’ve never been able to do. I’ve learned a new skill and I’ve made lots of friends, and I have lots of nice memories.” (Community member)

Creative Civic Change’s creative approach also impacted on how their partners worked:

It’s definitely introduced for us ways to be more creative and innovative in our work. And actually, that’s a benefit for our staff, because we have got some incredibly creative minds in the team. So we’ve been able to say, ‘let’s have a look at how we can do this a bit differently’. And they are taking some influence from [the project] and the creatives, and there’s some really quite beautiful things that have come out.”
Partner

Over 800 artists had the opportunity to work with Creative Civic Change communities, and 79% of them were locally based. This was in many ways an unexpected impact of the programme, with some projects reflecting on how surprised they were of the number of artists that they had worked with:

When we filled in the artists’ report … and we counted up how many artists we worked with. And it was like 170. And I was like, ‘when did that happen?’ … we couldn’t believe it. I was shocked by that. It’s amazing.”

Project worker

Many artists learnt a whole range of practical skills, including project management, budgeting and workshop planning, with a whole additional set of digital skills during the pandemic. For some experienced artists, Creative Civic Change offered a chance to develop ambitious new skillsets:

“We are theatre and dance makers and performers, but we had never put a festival together before. So that was kind of an enormous learning curve. That’s where it’s been wonderful growth for us.” (Artist)

Other artists developed skills and confidence in facilitation and co-creation approaches. For some established community artists, their Creative Civic Change experience pushed their existing practice a little further or in some cases challenged it. Other, less experienced artists were introduced to these approaches for the first time:

“It’s allowed me to be a bit more free with my teaching … and sort of made me realise that it’s a two way street. I mean, I knew that anyway, but I think it’s really opened my eyes to that … it’s about everybody. You know, it’s not just about an artist leading participants, it’s about participants giving stuff to the group too.” (Artist)

For some artists it was about rediscovering a sense of who they were, and the creative practice that they relished:

I realised that I need to be sharing the love of singing as much as I need to sing. Because I’m also a performer. So it brought that back to me, it gave me a bit of a pep, gave me confidence, reignited the passion.”

Artist

Artists described how their work with Creative Civic Change had led on to other opportunities with very valuable creative and financial benefits. They told us how they had secured new commissions and opportunities and successfully applied for the funding:

“Now we’re beginning to get bookings in from a lot of other places. And so I’m beginning to work with [theatre] and other people … and that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have [Creative Civic Change] actually believing in what we did, and allowing us the space and the freedom.” (Artist)

“I’ve formed a connection with [organisation]. And they’re running a BTech course from September. And so they’ve asked me to teach drama as part of their BTech course.” (Artist)

Creative Civic Change’s investment of time and resources into local artists will leave a legacy of more robust and sustainable creative communities within the programme areas. These artists are now excited at the potential of sharing their skills and expertise even more widely.

• Co Creating Change is a network and programme based at Battersea Arts Centre in London. Their website includes lots of useful resources for this area of work, including an extract from a book by Australian practitioner Jade Lillie entitled ‘The relationship is the project‘.