Research Centre for Creative Economies, Coventry University

🎓 Join us - new #funded #PhD #studentship opportunity now live! 🎓 Supporting Policy and Practice for Thriving, Just and Sustainable Artist Livelihoods Creative United UK and the Research Centre for Creative Economies, Coventry University are pleased to offer a four-year Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD position, fully-funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership to start late September 2025. The project focuses on working with Creative United and its artist groups on “sustainable artist livelihoods”. It also offers funding beyond tuition fees and a stipend to support primary research activities, placements and other professional development activities. Areas to explore might include: - What does today’s #artist livelihood #ecology look like, across the devolved UK and in place/s? - What do working artists think a thriving, just and sustainable ecology should look like? - What would be the individual, societal and place-based benefits of such an ecology? - What international examples or experimentation exist which provide a pathway to the achievement of such an ecology? - How does UK policy and practice need to change in pursuit of thriving, just and sustainable artist’s livelihoods? Further details of the project, the application process and the M4C Doctoral Training Partnership are available through the link below. Initial application procedures, including two references, must be completed by 13th January 2025. For an initial conversation or advice about this multi-stage application, please contact the Lead Supervisor, CCE Director Nick Henry.

🎼 We’re excited to be hosting Black Sound Coventry – a series of music events celebrating the vibrant history of Black British music in the city! 🎼 Dr Benjamin Kyneswood, from our Research Centre for Creative Economies, Coventry University, is leading the digital preservation efforts, which will tell the story of 100 years of musical creativity in Coventry's Black British music heritage 🖤 Through Coventry Digital, a popular online archival resource that connects people to the city's past, Ben will ensure that personal artefacts and stories collected during the project are digitally scanned and made accessible for future generations.   In collaboration with the Gallery of Living History and Black Sound, the project includes a special exhibition at our Delia Derbyshire Gallery, open Monday to Friday (9:00–5:00) until 28 February 2025, to bring to life the significance black British music has on the cultural scene in Coventry.   ❕ 👇 Save the date 👇 ❕ 🎫 The Heritage Collection Day on Saturday 8 February invites anyone to bring objects related to their black music experiences in Coventry, such as concert tickets or records.   These items will be digitally scanned and their stories shared through audio clips, forming a ‘citizen-curated’ exhibition on the Coventry Digital platform. The day will also feature free talks and live performances from local musicians.   ✨ Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/ejg56fSB ✨ Book your place: https://lnkd.in/eGUYNTWJ #CovResearch Victoria Barker Nick Henry Shaun Hides

Do you have souvenirs of Coventry's black music heritage that deserve to be digitally preserved? Put 8th February in your diary to come along to the Delia Derbyshire building in Coventry... Black Sound Coventry is telling the story of 100 years of musical creativity and DIY ingenuity. Co-curated by acclaimed creative director Scott Leonard and Lloyd Bradley, one of the UK’s foremost black music experts, Black Sound is a collaboration involving the Gallery of Living History, which aims to encourage people to re-visit our history by telling the stories of those who may have been overlooked, forgotten or ignored. The Black Sound exhibition (18th January-28th February 10am-5pm) which was previously on display at the Black Cultural Archive in Brixton, and the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham, plots the narrative of contemporary black music in Britain from the arrival of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra from the USA in 1919 to Fuse ODG’s afrobeat answer to Do They Know It’s Christmas more than 100 years later. The final event of Black Sound Coventry will be the Heritage Collection Day on Saturday 8th February (10am-6pm), encouraging people to share their memories of the city’s black music heritage. Visitors are asked to bring in objects or souvenirs to be 2D or 3D scanned, digitally preserving them for future generations to discover, learn from and enjoy. Benjamin Kyneswood from the Research Centre for Creative Economies, Coventry University will use the Coventry Digital platform to make the scans, and the stories people tell, available online.

A busy start to the year for CCE colleagues, and looking forward to lots more place-focused creative economies work in the year ahead. And of course we are not the only ones, as you can see in our bookmarked links below. What else are you reading? Culture Central's Growth Enquiry: https://lnkd.in/etUghHfe Priority regions and extra funding for creative industries as part of Government Industrual Strategy: https://lnkd.in/gzkaFSw3 Arts Council England's development actions: https://lnkd.in/gSu9UUz3 The European Commission's Creative Europe focus on innovation and sustainability: https://lnkd.in/ghKVWJex

Thought provoking visit to Porta Nova roses this week with colleagues from the Sustainable Flowers Research Project. Reducing environmental impacts from flower production and trade is an imperative. Great to see innovators tackling these challenges head-on. Research Centre for Creative Economies, Coventry University Coventry University SUSTAINABLE FLORISTRY NETWORK

We are pleased to share this new workshop report which summarises the recent launch event for the 'Plastics, Packaging and Waste in Floriculture' guide. The event, organised by the Floriculture Plastics, Packaging and Waste Working Group, welcomed 60 attendees from different parts of the cut-flower industry to Coventry Cathedral and involved a series of interactive displays demonstrating how floristry can eliminate plastics and engage in better waste management. There were also panel discussions featuring key industry stakeholders. Watch a short video on the event here: https://lnkd.in/eWZFggm9 Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/edca2GAt

Giving this a boost as a reminder before we head toward the end of term! There are two live #PhD #opportunities to #study with us currently - more information available here: https://lnkd.in/eBFdXDZx

Last week, Dr Benjamin Kyneswood took the stage at the Key Cities Innovation Network Conference, to share his exciting work in digital archiving 🎤 👏 Hosted by the University of Bradford, the conference focused on culture, place and development. As Associate Professor of Digital Heritage and Culture at our Research Centre for Creative Economies, Coventry University, Ben specialises in community voice and photographic archives. Last year he created Coventry Digital, an online repository of over 70,000 images, videos and documents that preserves and shares the city’s history. At the conference, Ben shared how Coventry Digital enables civic participation and storytelling, while creating sustainable, place-based archives that preserve history and inspire future generations. Ben’s work extends beyond Coventry too - he is also digitising India’s post-Partition heritage with Hamilton Studios and created Scarborough Atlas - an online platform linking digital twins of artefacts at Scarborough Museum to fascinating trails across the Jurassic coastline. As a member of the Key Cities Innovation Network, Coventry University works alongside other UK universities to bring forward new ideas for place-based policy and scalable innovation. We’re proud to see Ben at the forefront of these conversations 💬 🙌 Find out more about Ben's work: https://lnkd.in/eawT_sDK #CovResearch

A £13.5 million investment in developing two of the UK's creative clusters has been announced by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The funding will support two new five-year programmes designed to strengthen the West Midlands and Liverpool regions as centres of creative innovation. 🌟 CreaTech Frontiers in the West Midlands will focus on developing the region’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses, specialising in research and exploration of creative technologies like video games, virtual production and immersive reality. Creative SMEs will be able to apply for grants from a £1.8m fund, access academic R&D expertise, mentoring and training, and use research and development labs to create new products and services. More than 70 paid internships and 16 funded PhDs will be made available through the initiative, while Birmingham Opera Company will engage young people from deprived areas in the West Midlands in co-creating performances and discovering potential careers in the sector. The list of industry partners also includes Capture Ltd and Elemental Compute, with support from sector bodies WMCA, TechWM, Create Central, and Culture Central. It's being led by Birmingham City University in partnership with Coventry University, the University of Birmingham, The University of Warwick and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Industry and sector partners such as the West Midlands Combined Authority, TechWM, Create Central, Culture Central, Vodafone, Digital Catapult, Rebellion, Holosphere, Reach plc, Elemental Compute and HOLLYWOOD GAMING LIMITED have also been lined up to participate. 🌟 Liverpool City Region’s MusicFutures project will establish the region as a music research and development (R&D) powerhouse and ecosystem. The scheme aims to fuel artistic, technological and intellectual property breakthroughs, support the creation of high-paying jobs and open pathways for music professionals into sectors like gaming, film, and extended reality XR. It will include funding for SMEs, bespoke training for music makers, and industry mentorship. A new MusicFutures clinic will serve as a hub for legal and business support, specifically designed to assist small businesses, independent creators, and innovators who lack access to professional IP services. More than 20 strategic partners from across the area will be involved in the programme, The ACC Liverpool Group, Adlib, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Liverpool City Council. https://lnkd.in/ezxkVT3D

We had a truly inspiring day at University of Bradford yesterday with the Key Cities Innovation Network Conference on *Culture, Place & Development*, just five weeks before Bradford takes on the mantle of UK City of Culture. Chaired by Prof. shirley congdon, the Conference was opened by Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe of Bradford Council and Cllr Jemima Laing of Plymouth City Council, and we had thought-provoking keynotes from Darren Henley CBE (Arts Council England), Dr Jaideep Gupte (Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)) and Shanaz Gulzar (Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture). Innovation projects presented by colleagues from 14 member cities and universities explored – faith, sport and place in shaping identity – capturing heritage archives with local communities – emotional geography and the mezzo-level in community development – collaborative placemaking with minority subcultures – developing coastal creative ecosystems – long-term culture and place partnerships – strategies for leveraging meanwhile spaces, and – civic partnerships in city regeneration Thanks to all who participated, including Bishop Toby Howarth and Professor Udy Archibong MBE (University of Bradford), Dr Benjamin Kyneswood (Coventry University), @Dr Tony David Sampson (University of Essex), Dr Lizzie Reed (University of Southampton), Prof. Chris Bennewith FRSA SFHEA and Prof. Katharine S. Willis (University of Plymouth), Cllr Hannah Robinson-Smith, Dr Emma Barnes, Lindsay Taylor, and sam ingleson (Salford City Council and The University of Salford), Dr Daniel Keech (University of Gloucestershire) and Prof. Nicky Marsh (University of Southampton), Cllr Kevin Johnston (Sunderland City Council) and Kath Wynne-Hague (Hull City Council). Huge thanks also to Hannah Ward and her team at University of Bradford for helping to make the event a success. Key Cities | Rachel Cooper OBE, Lady | Pete Massey | Malcolm Garrett MBE RDI | Paul Hollins | Thea Behrman #keycitiesinnovation Photos: Kiran Mehta