Blog

This week marks exactly a year since the first national lockdown.

We want England’s diversity fully reflected in the individuals and organisations we support and the culture they produce.

In the latest instalment of our Women in Leadership series, we speak with Claire Somerville, Chief Executive of Babylon Arts, about the importance of culture and creativity and her drive to champion young people’s access to it through opportunities. She tells us more about the projects she’s been involved with as well as reflecting on the past year and giving some advice to her younger self.

To mark International Women’s Day, we caught up with two of Create Studio’s directors, Shahina Johnson MBE (CEO and artistic director) and Marilyn Fitzgerald (director and production manager). Create Studios is a film and digital media CIC and social enterprise in Swindon giving young creative people, often from diverse backgrounds, skills to equip themselves for a career in the creative industries through ground-breaking mentorship and training programmes.

This week, The Box in Plymouth unveiled My Story – four new digital pieces of work by creative practitioners who identify as part of the city’s LGBTQIA+ artistic community. The works aim to celebrate the diversity of the local community, mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of Plymouth's Pride in Our Past project, and celebrate February's LGBT+ History month.

We caught up with one of those chosen to create a new work for My Story – musician and writer Elani Evangelou – about her inspirations, creative process, hopes for the future, and how venues like The Box are supporting LGBTQIA+ voices in the arts. For her commission, Elani created a digital zine featuring her poetry, visual art and photography to tell her own and her friends’ stories.

Sophie Baker is one of our Apprentices – she started her role in April 2020, just after lockdown began, and so joined the organisation remotely. She shares why she wanted to apply for an apprenticeship, what she’s learnt so far, and how 2020 has made her value her own creative and cultural memories.

Liz Johnson, Director of Museums and Collections Development, blogs about our role in supporting collections in museums across the country.

Embedding environmental thinking in everything you do.