Introduction

Between 2021 and 2024, the Centre for Cultural Value ran a programme called Collaborate, which supported innovative research collaborations between UK cultural sector practitioners and academic researchers.

As Partnerships Manager for Collaborate, I had the privilege of mentoring these research partnerships as they evolved. My practice centres on experience design and putting people at the heart of processes. Working with the Centre for Cultural Value team, I drew on this to make sure each element of the programme was designed to create conditions where collaboration, new ideas and thinking can flourish.

We wanted to create a programme that was human-centred, uniquely responding to the needs of cultural sector professionals rather than shoe-horned to fit within university funding systems and dynamics.

Rising Arts Agency: This Is The Work (Photo: Olumide Osinoiki)

Certain elements were ‘baked in’ to the programme design to support a positive and productive collaboration experience. For example:

• We offered information sessions on what constitutes good collaborative practice.
• Cultural sector applicants were given time to meet and ‘sound out’ prospective academic applicants during a matchmaking process.
• Time was built in to encourage meaningful partnership development.
• We mentored research teams through any emerging challenges or issues relating to the collaboration.
• We offered the teams the flexibility to pivot in response to emerging circumstances and insights.
• We facilitated a series of reflective milestone meetings where each project could check in and reflect on their experience of the partnership itself, as well as the research.

This resource shares what we learned about successful collaboration from the Collaborate projects, drawn from my reflections and those of the research partners.

Thanks to the openness and honesty of those partners we can now share these insights more widely.

1. Find your shared values and common ground

Spending quality time with your prospective partners pays dividends in the long term. Create time at the outset of your research collaboration to really understand each other’s world views and come to the table with genuine curiosity about your research partners’ perspectives and motivations.

Seek to identify shared values, map common goals and test chemistry. This will lay the vital groundwork to sustain a partnership through thick and thin, avoiding the pitfalls of a ‘marriage of convenience’.

The Collaborate programme offered cultural sector applications matchmaking meetings with academics to do just this. Jess Bunyan, Co Director of Rising Arts Agency found this slow-build approach helped generate new ideas: “We had shared values. It felt like every time we had a conversation, there were a million more things we wanted to chat about.”

2. Invest in development time

A great collaboration cannot be rushed. Development time is essential for understanding how you can productively work with each other, and determining what your research partner is and isn’t able to commit to.

You can then build this knowledge into your project planning so you can work within each other’s capacity.

3. Address power imbalances

When designing Collaborate, we found that assumed hierarchies (for example, between large university partners and smaller cultural organisations) were often a barrier to successful research collaborations. We recognised that partners being equals around the table is an essential starting point.

Collaborate partners were encouraged to be open about where power imbalances lie, what this might mean for the collaboration and the research, and how to address them.

Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum (Photo: Irish Linen Centre)

For example, a collaboration between a small arts organisation and a large university will need to be open about the time university processes take and build this into planning. The administrative weight of the research project might be disproportionate for a small arts company. Or there may be perceived power imbalances between the research team and the research participants which could affect authentic participation.

Recognising power imbalances such as these means you can put strategies in place to level the playing field.

4. Value difference and learning from each other

We found that the most interesting learning happens when both partners come to the collaboration without preconceived ideas and are open to the possibilities that might emerge. This created a climate of curiosity, where everyone in the partnership was genuinely interested in how each other works, which was a more enriching experience for all involved.

Holding a space for questions, ‘what ifs’ and the creative collision of ideas increased the opportunity to generate fresh perspectives and ways of working.

As one of the Collaborate cohort commented: “It’s about openness and not being restricted and stay-in-your-lane thinking... you’re laying the path as you go.”

5. Be authentic in your communication with one another

You’ve discovered your common ground, you understand and value your differences, and you’ve been upfront about power balances. You’re now in a strong position to nurture open and productive communication as research partners.

Remember that academics have a particular way of talking and writing that isn’t always immediately accessible. Also, partners may have divergent understandings of certain terms. Be upfront about this and develop a mutual understanding around language.

6. Cultivate a culture of care

We designed the Collaborate programme to be people-centred because we wanted to establish a culture of care and address the needs of everyone who took part including participants.

Conclusion

“I’ve worked on collaborative projects before, but this has been… like the truest sort of collaboration… where we’re figuring things out together, learning new things about each other. And just really working together.” - Katy Pilcher, Aston University

We’ve discovered how collaborations between cultural practitioners and academics can hold immense value, but are rarely straightforward. They can be complex to navigate and need to be carefully primed and ready for curve balls.

In some respects, a good collaboration is like improvisation: you set the ground rules and use these to navigate the unexpected, open to whatever emerges. These ‘messy spaces’ provide exciting opportunities for growth, innovation, emergence and new knowledge. We know because we have seen this first hand.

Credit: Crafts Council and Glasgow Caledonian University (London) Living Lab with Legacy West Midlands.  (Photo: Gene Kavanagh)

Watching these collaborations grow and flourish has been a hugely rewarding experience. It’s taken some partners to previously unimagined places, where the whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts. Our partners have come away enriched and inspired, with many intent on continuing their collaboration to further the learning.

Our hope is that many more cultural and academic partners will be motivated to work together in this way, as equals in a joint venture of discovery, always looking out for each other, and where everyone raises their game, powered by shared values and common goals.

Links to more resources and reading

• The Collaboration Guidebook - a resource by Take Note
• Sharing learning: How funders can support impactful research collaborations
• How to… approach anti-racist audience and community research
• How to… amplify diverse voices in research and evaluation