Exploring the role of the Civic in Art and Design
The term civic is often associated with collective engagement in public life, community well-being, and the creation or preservation of spaces and systems that benefit the broader public.
Join us for an engaging session to explore the role of art and design research and education in shaping civic spaces and fostering meaningful connections between communities and places. Through inspiring talks and open discussions, we’ll consider how creative practices can help define and strengthen the role of the civic in making places.
Event Focus
This session invites participants to reflect on key questions:
- How can lifelong learning on the high street transform public spaces into vibrant hubs of creativity, skills-sharing and cultural participation?
- What role does creative health provision play in promoting wellbeing and connection in communities?
- How can we advance community inclusivity in heritage settings, amplifying marginalised voices and fostering collective ownership of cultural narratives?
What to Expect
- Keynote Speakers: Experts from the fields of art, design, place-making and civic engagement will share their insights and experiences on embedding culture into place and fostering community collaborations.
- Interactive Conversations: Share your thoughts and contribute to discussions about how we might better understand the meaning of ‘the civic’ and how art and design can help shape it.
- Collaborative Visioning: Explore how partnerships between councils, creative practitioners, cultural organisations, and communities can lead to inclusive, sustainable models of place-making.
Why Attend?
This session offers an opportunity to collaborate, learn, and contribute to shaping the future of our shared civic spaces. Together, we’ll rethink the potential of art and design to transform high streets, health, and heritage in ways that resonate with and enrich the places we live in.
This event is co-organised by the Centre for Cultural Ecologies in Art, Design and Architecture (University of Huddersfield) and the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design.
Speakers:
Evelyn Wilson: Co-Director of NCACE
Evelyn Wilson is co-Director of National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange, where she develops initiatives designed to support, showcase and generate evidence on cultural knowledge exchange between Higher Education and the Arts and Culture sector. Prior to working with and in the university sector, her earlier career was in the culture sector where she headed up cultural programmes and organisations in different parts of the UK, working mainly in media arts contexts. She is on the advisory boards of Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice and Artquest.
linkedin.com/in/evelyn-wilson-6b310219/
Steve Millington
Steve is a Professor of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University. He leads on the delivery of the Institute of Place Management’s Vital and Viable Programme, supporting high street and town centre revitalisation. Between 2019-24 Steve was a High Streets Taskforce Expert, during which he designed and delivered a national programme of placemaking workshops with supporting action plans in 40 towns across England. He has published many papers and edited two books on place and placemaking. His current research project focuses on circular society innovations.
Adam Ellis Leach: Programme Director, National Civic Impact Accelerator (NCIA) and Head of Civic Strategy & National Initiatives, Sheffield Hallam University
Adam established and now leads the National Civic Impact Accelerator (NCIA), a nationwide ‘what-works’ initiative, funded by Research England, designed to deepen the civic impact of universities across the country. He leads a team of professionals at Sheffield Hallam University and multi-disciplinary teams across NCIA partner organisations across the UK. Previously a civil servant, Adam specialised in complex data analysis and intelligence to improve national education policy, improving educational outcomes from the early years to adulthood, developing regional strategies to address skills gaps, and leveraging the power and resources of educational organisations like universities to drive positive societal change.
Dr Rhiannon Jones (FRSA) is Associate Professor (Civic Practice), Head of Civic and Communities at the University of Derby. She leads CivicLAB an Institution-wide centre on participatory culture, creative dialogue, and civic practice. She chairs the International Contemporary Working Art Group for Cumulus, the only Global Association in Art and Design. She is a member of the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement and Trustee of New Art Exchange, a ground-breaking, Global Majority, NPO for Arts Council England and an award-winning and internationally recognised Gallery.
She regularly works with Council for Higher Education in Art and Design, Royal Society of Arts, British Academy and Design Council UK. Her research into placemaking is a case study for the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange and presented at the All-Party Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group. She is a published academic, most recently with Intellect Books (2024), Taylor and Francis (2024-5) and had work featured with Council for Higher Education in Art and Design on Women in Leadership (2024) and NCACE (2024) as example of best practice. She frequently provides keynotes Nationally and Internationally within the Civic, Creative and Cultural Industry Sector. She judged the UKNA artists in 2024 and judged the Derbyshire Community Business Awards for East Midlands Chamber of Commerce in 2022-23. She co-founded InDialogue, curating international conferences and residencies, supporting over 600 artists from over 15 countries since its inception. She founded Designing Dialogue CIC the first spin out from the University of Derby, that tours S.H.E.D; a public arts, touring and innovation space which has received several national honours and has engaged with 12 counties, 41 partners and 42,596 people directly, 700 creatives and commissioned 50 new works. She has received funding from partners such as Design Council, UK, CHEAD, Arts Council England, RSA and local trusts and councils. Accolades include: finalist for Universities Alliance Award (2022), Shed of the year finalist (2020), UK Green Gown Awards: Benefiting Community (2021). She has been selected as a social regenerative entrepreneur and is a Catalyst Grant holder from, the Royal Society of Arts (2023-4) and it is a UKRI ARC Accelerator funded project (2025).
www.linkedin.com/in/dr-rhiannon-jones-frsa-a15047258
https://www.derby.ac.uk/civic/
CHAIR: Dr Rowan Bailey
This event is co-hosted by CHEAD and Dr Rowan Bailey, Director of the Centre for Cultural Ecologies in Art, Design and Architecture. Rowan is a Reader in Cultural Theory and Practice at the University of Huddersfield and specialises in place-based making in the arts and humanities.
She is Project Lead for Cultures of _; a thematic annual place-based public realm programme, involving exhibitions, installations, performances, workshops, podcasts, talks and discussion on a variety of topics across the arts and humanities. Programmes include: Cultures of Place (21/22), Cultures of Sound (22/23), Cultures of Creative Health (23/24), Cultures of Climate (24/25).
Rowan is also Principal Lead of the Creative Health Hub at the University of Huddersfield. For more details about the Centre for Cultural Ecologies in Art, Design and Architecture, see: Centre for Cultural Ecologies in Art, Design and Architecture – University of Huddersfield