U Matter Leicester

Exploring health through a socio-cultural lens with artists and researchers

Who I worked with: University of Leicester

Partners: A range of artists, community advocates and healthcare workers

Project Description

As Public Engagement Manager for the College of Life Sciences, I was responsible for delivering a community engagement project funded by the Edith Murphy Foundation linked to the new medical school and research facility on campus. Through this funding, I encouraged community use of the building by inviting local charitable organisations and support groups to use meetings rooms for free during evenings and weekends. I established an art gallery designed to display art based on various areas of health and wellbeing in the reception area, which in turn supported developing artist-researcher collaborations. I funded a range of community partners to explore health by engaging with marginalised and underrepresented communities through creative arts based methods. It led to a range of projects, events and partnerships delivered over three years, many of which continue beyond the project.

Examples of Output

• A range of gallery exhibitions and events

• Community partnerships and projects

• Arts based explorations of health and wellbeing e.g. The Domino Effect - Talk Prostate

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Learnings and Insights

Facilitating artists and community partners to engage with support from institutions can be effective at addressing gaps in free events and engagement that can support health. A place-based approach to building partnerships for community engagement can help act as a springboard for enhancing the impact of university-backed projects through research and civic engagement. Working over time to build a group of community partners able to consistently build relationships with diverse communities leads to a broader range of engagement and integration.

Many partners enjoyed an opportunity to be creative and innovative knowing they can be funded effectively. This led to new areas being explored and new insights for further development