Community Exchanges Programme 25/26
Please note, this opportunity is only open to Undergraduate, MA or PhD students, or graduates/alumni from Camberwell, Chelsea or Wimbledon
About Community Exchanges
Are you a BA, MA, or PhD student or graduate (from Camberwell, Chelsea or Wimbledon) interested in delivering creative workshops for community groups? Do you want to explore what inclusive community practice looks like and means?
Community Exchanges is a paid programme for emerging artists, designers, and cultural practitioners to be supported to develop and deliver creative workshops with locally based organisations and people in Southwark, Westminster and Merton (the local boroughs that the three colleges sit within).
Across this time, you will be provided with paid training and delivery opportunities and develop the skills to apply your creative practice in a community-focused environment.
The programme will provide:
-
Paid training, development and workshop facilitation opportunities
-
Paid time to connect with experienced community and artistic practitioners who will mentor you and support your journey
-
Professional and peer-driven support to develop and test your ideas
-
Advice on establishing, engaging, and nurturing relationships with communities, audiences and participants
-
A testing ground to collectively explore inclusive, anti-racist community practice, exchange, and co-production methodologies
-
Materials budget up to £400 to help your creative workshops come to life
Draft Programme Overview & Timeline
The programme will begin with an overview of community engaged practice, including examples of best practice from across the cultural sector. There will be ongoing paid training sessions, and we will support you to develop your ideas into deliverable projects, supported by a network of professional arts and community mentors and industry professionals.
You will be supported to identify and engage participants, and we aim to pair you up with interested local community groups with whom we have established relationships.
By applying for this opportunity, you will be expected to be available for all sessions in the initial training window. Workshop delivery times for your own projects are more flexible. You will be paid for attending training and therefore there is an expectation for you to show up like any other job.
Please note: Failing to attend a high number of training sessions may result in you not being taken forward into the delivery window, so please check the dates below carefully and ensure you will be available to take part before applying.
Community Exchanges Mentors
During your time on the programme, you will connect with mentors from a multitude of experiences who can support, advise and talk through your ideas. These mentors have been selected due to their relevant experience which broadly includes community practice, socially engaged art and design, digital technologies, and local expertise.
Feedback from Community Exchanges Alumni
Many of those who have been involved in the first Community Exchanges cohort have gone on to secure ongoing work delivering creative workshops with community groups locally and nationally.
Participants fed back that they felt heard, supported and have taken ideas and made them into deliverable projects for community groups they are passionate about.
Some quotes from previous cohorts:
-
“(the programme) helped enrich the understanding that I had on a base level.”
-
“There was a lot of empathy in the programme, listening and understanding – which I've applied to my workshops – realised how important it is to be heard.”
-
“One of the best things was support with partnerships and getting myself out there. It was a major support to make local connections.”
-
“The training sessions were really helpful to understand different methodologies within community engagement. The skills building helped build my confidence which helped me prepare my workshops and led to successful delivery.”
-
“It was motivating to meet people who are speaking about working in community engagement and have that experience.”
Application Process
If you are interested in joining the 25/26 Community Exchanges programme, we want to hear from you!
You can send your application in written form, via voice recording or video format. If you are writing your proposal, please ensure it does not exceed 600 words. There is no minimal word count and you will not be penalised for writing less!
If you would like to submit your application via voice recording or video format, please contact [email protected] for more information on how to do this.
Please note, the format is to ensure that different capabilities are allowed to shine – the format you select will make no difference to the outcome.
Eligibility Criteria
Community Exchanges 25/26 is open to any Camberwell, Chelsea or Wimbledon (CCW) Undergraduate, Masters or PhD student, as well as CCW graduates/alumni.
This programme particularly encourages applications from:
-
Those whose social, financial or personal circumstances mean that gaining experience in the world of community arts is much more difficult, or not possible
-
Those who are from, or are currently living in, Southwark, Westminster or Merton
Please remember that this is an introductory programme – if you have no experience but great ideas, we really want to hear from you. Those with some experience are also very welcome to apply.
Your Proposal Should Include:
-
Working title of the workshops/events you'd like to deliver
-
A brief summary of the activities that will take place
-
Target audience or community group that you might like to deliver workshops for and why this audience is a community you would like to connect with
-
Whether you’d like to work with one group for a series of workshops or deliver one workshop to different groups
-
Some examples of community organisations, groups or partners you might like to work with, or signpost your activities to (please remember that your activity MUST take place in Southwark, Westminster or Merton)
-
These could be (but are not limited to): local organisations, community groups, collectives, schools, colleges and faith groups, community centres, online communities, community hubs
-
You don’t need to have these relationships at the time of applying, just give us some examples
Note: Some Community Exchanges participants will have the opportunity to support delivery of workshops with existing local partnerships our team has. You may wish to think about a project specifically for:
a) Lyndhurst Primary School – Art Week for early years (3–4 y.o.) up to Year 6 (10–11 y.o.)
b) Spring Community Hub (Holiday Activity for Teens)
c) Pimlico Toy Library (families and young children's workshops, Easter Holiday)
d) SET Social/SET Wimbledon
e) Westminster Council Community Team (intergenerational activity for young people and over 60s)
Finally, please also tell us why you want to develop skills to become a creative practitioner in a community-focused environment and take part in Community Exchanges.
Good luck!
FAQs
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us – [email protected].
How many workshops can I run and how long may they be?
You can deliver up to 3 × 2-hour workshops.
Where can I deliver my workshops?
Anywhere in Southwark, Westminster or Merton. We have some existing partners that you may have the opportunity to work with as outlined on p.5.
If you would like to, it might help to think about creating a project with one of these organisations/communities in mind. If you have your own places or organisations in mind, as long as they are in one of our localities (Southwark, Westminster or Merton), that’s fine too!
Who can I deliver my workshops for?
Any local group/community you’d like to work with or provide activities for. Examples from previous programmes include:
-
Young people, children, families, over 18s, working class people
-
People from the global majority, over 60s, people with special educational needs, disabled people
-
ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) people, people from migrant backgrounds, blind and partially sighted people, people from LGBTQIA+ communities, and school groups
People have also had open activities that are not hoping to work with a specific group, though having a specific audience in mind is often useful as you are able to create an activity that is best suited to who you are working with.
Please note: there are many more groups that you could work with than listed above, so if you are thinking of something different, that’s fine!