Civic Lab

The 4th CivicLAB annual conference was hosted at Artcore Gallery in Derby on 4 July 2024. 

It was designed to support academics, creative and cultural industry professionals and freelance creatives to share their insights on research and practice through a place-based approach to knowledge generation. 

Find out more about the 4th CivicLAB annual conference.

The Third CivicLAB Annual Conference took place in Derby, a UNESCO City of Life Long Learning and home to World Heritage Sites. This conference had been designed to support academics, creative and cultural industry professionals and freelance creatives to share their insights on research and practice through a place-based approach to knowledge generation. This event was the third CivicLAB Conference, hosted by the University of Derby in partnership with Derby County Community Trust and Artcore.

The CivicLAB is led by Dr Rhiannon Jones, Associate Professor (Civic) at the University of Derby.

The two-day conference explored this through a series of presentations, keynotes, workshops, networking sessions and an (optional) community meal. 

The conference setting provided a thinking space to bring together participants from academia, creative and cultural industry, third sector and freelance practitioners.

Together, discussions took place in relation to approaches to building civic practice, research and community capacity as a means of addressing long-standing social issues. 

'Designing for Civility and Cultural Impact' - 7 - 8 July 2022, Derby, UK

CivicLAB Symposium called for participation from practitioners and academics who centre their research and teaching practice on participatory culture, creative dialogue and experiential design for social impact.

CivicLAB Symposium explored, discussed and reimagined the value of creative practice to the public sphere with a special theme on ‘Designing for Civility and Cultural Impact’. The Symposium explored how we build civic communities and how practitioners and academics create the conditions in which those communities can sustainably develop, innovate, and thrive within the social, economic, environmental, health, wellbeing and cultural challenges of the 21st century.

The online Symposium: CivicLAB presents the work of researchers, artists and creative industry colleagues from across the UK, including international colleagues from Venice, Finland, USA. Speakers were from European Cultural Academy, Tate Exchange, Derby County Community Trust, Derby Theatre, Derby Cathedral, University of Manchester, East Street Arts, Space and Place Lead, Council for Higher Education Art and Design (CHEAD), Fashion Academics Creating Equality (FACE), University for the Creative Arts, Cumulus Association, University of Swansea, Mighty Creatives, University of Nottingham, University of Derby.

Each speaker focuses on participatory culture, creative dialogue and experiential design for social impact. Questions asked include: How do we build communities (Manzini, 2019) and how can we create the conditions in which those communities can sustainably develop, innovate and thrive within the social, economic, environmental and cultural challenges of the 21st century?

Researchers and practitioners in the LAB amalgamate a diverse span of creative practices and perspectives across the arts and social sciences to contribute to this burgeoning field of enquiry; interrogating, extending and redefining the value of creative practice to the public sphere.

• Welcome address by Vice-Chancellor Professor Kathryn Mitchell, CBE DL, University of Derby
• Keynote by Dr Cara Courage, an independent arts and placemaking researcher and publisher.
  Cara is the author of Arts in Place: The Arts, the Urban and Social Practice (Routledge, 2017), the co-editor of Creative Placemaking and Beyond (Routledge, 2018), and editor of The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking (Routledge, 2021). She is also taking up a new role at MOCAD and former Head of Tate Exchange and Interim Co-Director, Learning and Research, Tate

CivicLAB Symposium convener: Dr Rhiannon Jones 
CivicLAB Symposium steering group: Professor John Steel, Dr Daithí McMahon, Jade Murden

To find out more about the 2021 Symposium, visit: 

• CivicLAB Symposium, University of Derby, 2021
• CivicLAB Symposium Proceedings, University of Derby, 2021
• DerbyVoice - Creative Placemaking: CivicLAB Symposium, University of Derby, 2021

The Cultural Heritage Network brings together stakeholders from across the region to start new conversations and collaborations while sustaining more established ones, and to think about how CivicLAB can work in partnership to support experimentation and engagement in a sector so central to the region’s civic, cultural, social and economic health.

Recent Event

Civic Lab Cultural Heritage Network: Co-Production and Care

Co-production has become something of a buzzword in the museums and heritage sector – and in academia - in the past decade, as practitioners, institutions, funders and audiences have started to reflect more on whose experience is represented and who gets to have a voice (or not) in the shaping of historical narratives. But while there is certainly will to engage in co-production among heritage professionals and academic researchers, in practice, doing it in a way that is non-extractive, non-exploitative and recognises imbalances of power and access is difficult – and arguably should be difficult – as it involves recognising deeply embedded structures and mindsets that have shaped the museum and heritage sector, and even the idea of heritage itself, over hundreds of years.

This panel discussed some recent attempts at co-production in our region. While celebrating successes, they also reflected on the challenges and the difficulties of these projects but also the practical ways in which we can build relationships of care, trust and equity to ensure the wellbeing of all who take part in them.

Speakers Included:

Anisha Parmar is a jewellery designer and artist who challenges the practice of cultural and heritage organisations through creative partnerships. Recent projects have included the Arts council-funded Empowered Adornment: Gold Jewellery Stories and My Adornment is My Power, a collaborative project at Kedleston Hall to reclaim the stories of the jewellery in the South Asian Museum there.

Simran Sandhu is Senior Programming and Partnerships Officer at the National Trust, based at Kedleston Hall.

Creative placemaking with young people: the role of justice and protest

A S.H.E.D / CivicLAB panel in partnership with the National Justice Museum

Chaired by Matt Hawthorn, co-lead of CivicLAB Research Group at the University of Derby, the focus of this discussion is on the role of creative placemaking, the importance of co-design and innovation as an approach to engage young people with museums, civic pedagogy, design, artist and cultural practice, and issues around protest and justice.

This project is led by Dr Rhiannon Jones supported by National Justice Museum and Arts Council England.

Find out more about Protest S.H.E.D

Derby Book Festival is an annual event that “brings Derby’s residents together in a love of books and inspires new readers to appreciate the pleasure and power of reading”. The event is held three times a year and features a year-round community programme with three main strands: shared reading, shared writing and school programme.

The Civic Lab events at the Derby Book Festival have allowed over 15 published academics to date, a platform to share their work with the public.