Our Create to Collaborate project was set up in late 2019 to investigate these questions, and in autumn 2021, we completed our fifth and final creative workshop as part of the project. But the story continues, and so do the partnerships, the evaluation, and the conversations.

Moving to an online world

In the face of the pandemic, delivering a large public engagement project has been hard. We had to redesign everything for an online world, which brought challenges and opportunities. We could reach more people, but how do you get creative via a screen?

We were lucky to work with great partners, who helped us navigate a lot of this. These included our creative collaborators ZU-UK, Elleanor Shipman, and Coney, and community organisations Off The Record, Knowle West Media Centre, and Wellspring Settlement. It was vital for us to have our partners’ expertise in the project. Our creative partners designed and delivered all five of our workshops. Our community partners connected us with local people and informed our plans.

Exploring themes together

Between January and October 2021, with our partners, we delivered five creative online workshops. These covered five broad themes and worked with five different groups of people, including researchers and members of the public:

1. Healthier Childhoods, with ZU-UK and Off The Record
2. Wellbeing and mental health, with Coney and Wellspring Settlement
3. Public health, air pollution, with Eleanor Shipman and Knowle West Media Centre
4. Health data, with Coney
5. Exploring inclusive discussion, with ZU-UK

Getting creative, making connections

Our creative partners aimed to use creativity to build rapport between strangers on a zoom call - not an insignificant challenge. This involved playing games, sharing stories, drawing, getting up out of our chairs, posting anonymous secrets, listening in silence, searching our houses for special objects, forming teams and groups, and more. Each workshop was different from the last, because each one was designed with the community participants in mind, and the broad health topic we were focusing on.

On Listening, In Silence

Create to Collaborate was always meant to be about bringing new voices to conversations around health topics, and in fun and creative ways. For our final workshop, we were interested in exploring how people with access needs can be included in these conversations. To think about this with a group who has experience of communication challenges, and following a creative interest for ZU-UK, we decided to deliver a workshop for people who experience hearing loss.

This two-hour zoom workshop took place entirely in silence. Participants might admit that they were sceptical about this. But it was all down to the topic: our silent workshop focused on listening. Participants received a workshop pack through the post and on-screen captions gave further instructions. By the end of the session, most reported having thought about listening, and what it means to them, in a new way.

And we haven’t stopped talking. In late November some of us are getting together again to continue the discussion.

Did it work?

Can we build relationships online, begin to discuss health topics, and use creativity as a tool to do this?

Create to Collaborate is a research project, and to deliver this research, we’ve been pleased to partner with NIHR ARC West, led by Dr Michelle Farr, and Bath Spa University. As we go, we’re evaluating the project with qualitative methods, including observation and interviews.

The delivery stage of Create to Collaborate is now complete, and so is much of our data collection, but our analysis stage is very much ongoing.

Next steps

We set out to explore how creative spaces for conversation can be developed, and how these might lead to working relationships or innovative ideas. Because this extends (we hope) beyond the delivery of five workshops, we put aside some funding for later, so that the conversations that have been started can continue. These follow-on projects will deliver outcomes directly informed by the participants involved in initial discussions.

To focus on one example, our research partners NIRH ARC West have used the outcomes of our healthier childhoods workshop to develop a strand of research around school disciplinary procedures. Read more about this, and the collaboration with Bristol City Council. Our follow-on funding will contribute towards enhanced public engagement around this topic, ensuring it’s as informed as it can be by the views of young people.