I was appointed as an Arts & Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellow in September 2012, one of six new senior posts across the UK linked to the direction of AHRC priority themes and cross-disciplinary programmes. I had responsibility for the Connected Communities programme, along with the other Connected Communities Leadership Fellow, Professor Keri Facer, University of Bristol. It was an exciting, prestigious, and challenging responsibility, which was renewed in 2015 for a second three-year period. The post concluded in 2019. This short early video, filmed on a visit to the Creative Citizens project team in Birmingham in December 2012, tells a little of some of the aims of the programme:
And here is a podcast Keri and I made a couple of months into the programme, late 2012, talking about what we thought Connected Communities would, or ought to, involve.
AHRC funded me to work two days a week on Connected Communities, and two days on my personal research. The wonderful team I worked with at first Salford and then UEA consisted of postdoctoral research associates and project administrators.
Postdocs
- Dr Emma Webster, The Impact and Value of Festivals project (UEA, 2015-16)
- Dr Lucy Wright, DIY Culture and Participatory Arts project (2016-17)
- Dr Lizzie Bennett, Creative Spaces and Public Cultures project (2018-19).
Administrators
- Dr Deborah Woodman (Salford, 2012-14)
- Rachel Daniels (UEA, 2015-18)
- Jess Knights (2016-18)
- Michelle Bagnall (2018-19).
Keri and I had an active website dedicated to the programme and our Fellowship activities, and you could follow the programme on Twitter via @ahrcconnect.
Events
Here are the main events I was involved in organising for and with the AHRC Connected Communities programme.
2019: Member, organising committee, Rhythm Changes 6th international jazz conference, Kunstuniversität Graz.- 2019: Lead organiser, Street Music conference, The Forum, Norwich
- 2018: Lead organiser, New Perspectives on Participatory Arts conference, UEA
- 2017: Punk in the Provinces symposium, Norwich Arts Centre
- 2017: Reggae Futures: Reggae Research Network vs. Bass Culture, two-day and evening conference, London
- 2017: Member, organising committee, Rhythm Changes #5 conference, Re-Sounding Jazz, Amsterdam Conservatory
- 2017: Global Challenges Research Fund and Collaborative Research symposium, UEA
- 2017: Co-organiser, Litcom 1: Literature and Communities conference, Writers’ Centre, Norwich
- 2017: Lead organiser, Reggae Research Network, AHRC symposium, UEA
2016: Organiser, Utopia and Connected Communities conference, British Library- 2016: Co-organiser, Jazz and the City symposium, South Bank Centre, EFG London Jazz Festival
- 2016: Member, organising committee, KISMIF punk studies conference, Porto
- 2016: Organiser, Changing the Future Research Landscape? A Connected Communities Early Career Researcher Conference, UEA.
2016: Organiser, Research (Jazz) Festivals: A Day of Ideas and Discussion, Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
2016: Member, organising committee, Jazz Utopia, 4th international Rhythm Changes jazz conference, Birmingham City University.- 2015: Lead organiser, Soundings and Findings: A Connected Communities Research Conference, UEA.
- 2015: Organiser, Festival Cultures one-day conference, UEA
- 2014 Professor in Residence, EFG London Jazz Festival
- 2014, co-organiser, Future Thinking: AHRC Audio-Visual Archives symposium, MediaCityUK Salford
- 2014 AHRC award, Carnivalising the Creative Economy film and knowledge exchange panel, Creative Economy Research Showcase, King’s Place, London, March (£7,274). Watch the film we made with jazz researchers and festival directors here
- 2014 Curator of AHRC academic content for Cheltenham Jazz Festival, May
- 2014 Member, organising committee, 3rd Rhythm Changes Jazz Beyond Borders conference, Amsterdam Conservatory, September
- 2013 Member, organising committee, Digital Economy ‘all hands’ meeting, MediaCityUK Salford, November, plus workshop coordinator on AHRC Digital media communities
- 2013 AHRC Community media panel coordinator, Salford Media Festival, November
- 2012 Lead organiser, International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM UK & Ireland) biennial conference, Salford: Imagining Communities Musically: Putting Popular Music in its Place
- 2011 Community Music: History and Current Practice, its Digital Turns and Future Soundings symposium, Salford, October.
