Collaborate project spotlight

Find out more about the research project between Fun Palaces and Katy Pilcher, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University.

Creative Voices, Activist Voices: Sensory Stories of Creative Communities

Fun Palaces with Katy Pilcher, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University

Exploring the radical potential that cultural participation might unlock wider civic activism.

This partnership was awarded a research grant in June 2023 as part of the second round of funding of the Centre for Cultural Value’s Collaborate programme.

The fund looks to support innovative new partnerships between cultural sector practitioners and academics to explore under-explored questions around cultural value.

Three people stood at a table talking together. One wears an aprn. On the table there are plants in pots and materials for potting plants. — Bromley by Bow Fun Palaces. Photo by Roswitha Chester.

What will the project explore?

Can finding your creative voice unlock your civic activist voice? What might be the potential barriers or social inequalities preventing this from happening?

As a social justice movement, Fun Palaces centres communities as cultural producers. Together with sociologist Katy Pilcher, they will investigate whether communities who make creative and cultural experiences for themselves also create ways to have their needs heard.

The project will highlight how communities come together across social divides to share knowledge and create cultural value while also exploring the radical potential that cultural participation might unlock wider civic activism.