Partner: Story of London Festival, Bow Arts Trust, Tower Hamlets Libraries & Archives, Heritage Lottery Fund, Poplar HARCA

Themes: Social housing, community-led programmes, socially engaged arts practice, community regeneration, libraries and archives

Tools: archive materials, documentary filmmaking, volunteer-led guided walks, community archive open days, panel discussions, blogging

Read the blog HERE

Watch the trailer for the film HERE

Partners: Mental Health Foundation, Brixton Prison, Dragon Cafe, Union Dance, MIND, Time To Change, Goldsmiths University, Parliament Week, Mind and Soul Choir, Wigmore Hall, Joycelyn Pook, Aurora Orchestra, Heath Quartet, Cathja Community, Albert Potrony

Themes: Tackle mental health stigma, arts and health, singing for mental health policy-led research, socially engaged arts practice, community arts development, community curation, lived-experienced centred work, digital evaluation

Tools: dance, spoken word, visual arts, workshops, forum theatre, music, singing, walks, forum discussions, film screenings, durational programming, digital evaluation tools

Read the brochure for the festival HERE

Partners: School for Social Entrepreneurs North West, Blackburne House, Our Bright Future, Myerscough College

Themes: Climate change, Youth social enterprise, social enterprise, nature led change

Tools: Lantra 1 bee keeping, Design thinking, creative coaching, Instant enterprise game, values game, bag of creative surprises, social enterprise ideas canvas, lean tools

Client: Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University

Partners: Jan Brown, Track Dinning, Grace Belcher, Lauren McMahon, Karmen Penny, Dr. Maureen Royce

Themes: Collaborative team work, Coaching skills, Enterprise, Entrepreneurship. Curriculum co-design

 Tools: Double Diamond, Creative comprehension, Mapping, Multi sensory, Wheel of Life

Partner: School for Social Entrepreneurs

Clients: Working with Cancer, We Rise Ltd., Act On It

Themes: Leadership Coaching, Social entrepreneurship, community driven business, lived experienced led

Tools: Creative leadership coaching, active listening, business mentoring, enterprise skills development

The Resilience Toolkit for creative microbusinesses - use to calculate risk, and receive tailored advice linked to improving your resilience HERE

COVID-19 had a devastating impact on the creative and cultural industries. Small and micro-businesses have been hit particularly hard. To avoid future shocks, businesses must build resilience. This is typically done by either diversifying – offering new services or entering new markets – or pivoting in an entirely new direction.

Reorganising a business in this way isn’t easy. It relies on several characteristics which many micro-businesses lack, such as a digital/non-digital hybridity. If you’re a business owner, you may need support adapting to the unexpected market forces.

That’s where the Resilience Toolkit comes in. The tool helps you identify risks to your business, provides tailored resources on improving resilience and offers an opportunity to build a community of like-minded creative business owners.

Anna B. Sexton was part of the UWE CERR Project Resilience Programme advisory board

Partner: Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)

Themes: ???

Tools: ???

Client: Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University

Partners: Jan Brown, Track Dinning, Grace Belcher, Dalhousie University, Canada; IDRAC Business School, France

Themes: Creativity, UNSDGs, teamwork, social innovation, co-design, action learning

Tools: Design Thinking, Empathy mapping, Double Diamond, team work, walking,  

Overall partner: The Big Help Project

Creative project management: Grace Belcher

Launch partners: Novotel Paddington Village Liverpool, Sciontec, KQ Women’s Networking

Themes: Creative play, mental health, community, mindful making, lived experience

Tools: Collage, paper crafts, photography, coaching skills, active listening, mental health first aid, mindfulness

Crowdfund Backers include:

Big Help Project

Shaun Lavin - Kall Kwik Liverpool

Rachael Halliwell

Naomi Woddis

Sara Knight

Tim Coleman

Olivia Bellas

Katy Elliot - 5 Star Food Safety

Musa Idris - Vuecomms

Mick Clarke - 2020 Networks

Jess Jones @ Tiny Sunshine Shop

Winsome Duncan @ Peaches Publications

Hannah Meredith

Jed Barr @ We Are Causeway

Jennifer Leach @ Outrider Anthems

Mark Barratt @ Complete Tech Solutions

Robyn Bainbridge

Joanna Oliver @ Chameleon Collaborative CIC

Anna B. Sexton

Partner: Human Organising Co.

Community members: Patrick Andrew, François Knuchel. Philip Woodford

Venue support: Clarence Centre for Enterprise & Innovation

Themes: Expert interdisciplinary collaboration, community engagement

Tools: Active listening, systems thinking, community engagement tools and processes, artist walks, panel discussions, talks, workshops

Partners: LJMU LCR Gradute Futures, Liverpool John Moores University, Student Futures, Unitemps

Grace Belcher worked with Open To Create… July - Sept 2023 as part of a fully funded graduate career development work-based learning placement. The project is connected with talent and skills retention in the Liverpool City Region

Themes: Graduate career outcomes, professional skills development, entrepreneurial development, entrepreneurial development, co-design, creative collaborations

Tools: Active listening, creative coaching, networking, workshop facilitation, public speaking, marketing & communication tools, AI

Partners: Hackney Museum, Hackney Archives, Hackney Council, Access All Areas, Euan’s Guide, UK Disability History Month, Nights in the Museum

Themes: Diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging, lived-experience led-codesign, co-curation, community led curation

Tools: Design thinking, arts making, graphic design, talks, panel events, pop up photo booths, quilting, print making,

Read our case study HERE

Clients: Hackney Museum, Hackney Council, deep:black, Penny Stanford, Jennifer Kavanagh - Journey Home game

Themes: Accessible museums, wellbeing in museums, socially engaged programming, lived experience driven programming. arts and health

Tools: Book making, board games, postcard art, upcycled art, object handling

Partners: Bow Arts Trust, Find Your Talent - DCMS, Tower Hamlets Council, Chisenhale Gallery, Whitechapel Art Gallery

Themes: Community arts education, parent led afterschools clubs, gallery education, arts in schools, artist educators, creative social enterprise

Tools: Community consultation, artist-led workshops, illustration, talks, workshops, graphic design, publishing, symposium event

Partners: Secret Agent Marketing, Marlborough Town Council, Wiltshire Council, Arts Council England, GWR-FM

Themes: Destination marketing, Market Town of Culture, High Street regeneration, placemaking. artist led change, socially engaged community arts

Tools: active listening, co-design, design thinking, creative coaching, creative writing, theatre, webdesign, social media, public speaking, events,