Research and Education

Attenborough Arts Centre is a centre for innovation, pioneering research which champions the vital importance of art and creative thinking across society. Our particular research specialisms include: equity, diversity and inclusion; education; health and wellbeing; digital culture; environmental sustainability and the economy.

We work with the University of Leicester, a top 30 University research institution, to create collaborations between artists, academics, students and our communities to stimulate creativity and creative thinking across disciplines. We have long-term relationships across many different Leicester communities and work collaboratively with them and academic colleagues to achieve real-world impacts for University research.
Attenborough Arts Centre staff work in partnership with University Colleges, Schools and departments to enhance the University’s Education and Teaching programmes by providing guest lectures, workshops and visits to Attenborough Arts Centre.
Attenborough Arts Centre plays a key role in the University of Leicester’s submissions to the Research Excellence Framework, Teaching Excellence Framework and Knowledge Exchange Framework.
Our Research and Education partnerships are listed here:

Artists

We run commissioning programmes which enable artists to create new artistic work.

We have a track record of commissioning innovative new visual art and performance works which go onto tour the UK, reaching audiences of thousands. For more information, please see our Artists page.

Heritage Hub

The University of Leicester’s Heritage Hub facilitates collaborations that combine cutting-edge university research, sector and lived experience. They support people and organisations to explore, investigate and celebrate their heritage, undertaking innovative data gathering and research to inform strategy and maximise social and economic impact.

Attenborough Arts Centre is partnering with the Heritage Hub to deliver programmes which bring heritage to life through the lens of contemporary art and artists.

  • Creative Health Network – a new interdisciplinary network which aims to promote interdisciplinary, community-based collaborations for Creative Health, and share research resources across the region to directly benefit the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities through the arts, creativity and culture, including researchers, community and civic partners, patient groups, health professionals, arts organisations and creative practitioners.
  • Leic Survey is a cost-effective digital survey tool co-created with charities and cultural organisations. We are currently piloting LeicSurvey at museums and heritage sites to evidence the impact of arts and cultural events and research.

Institute for Digital Culture

The University of Leicester’s Institute for Digital Culture undertakes research with the culture sector as it adapts to a digital world. Attenborough Arts Centre is partnering with the Institute for Digital Culture to:

  • Deliver a collaborative PhD programme on inclusive digital culture, embedded at Attenborough Arts Centre, offering two-way expertise sharing and knowledge exchange to pioneer new and innovative research.
  • Deliver Creative Engagement research fellowships which bring artists together with academics to foster interdisciplinary collaborations, focussing on addressing issues of equity, diversity and inclusion.
  • Promote a public annual event series foregrounding inclusive digital culture.
  • Champion digital artists through the development of networks and events.

School of Museum Studies

We work in partnership with the world-renowned School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester in a variety of ways:

  • Our staff teach on a range of Museum Studies modules and regularly provide tours of and engagement with the exhibitions in our art galleries
  • Attenborough Arts Centre is the subject and case study for the Digital Design module each year, inviting students to create a design proposal in response to our needs
  • Attenborough Arts Centre hosts two student summer work placements each year
  • We work with academic colleagues at the School of Museum Studies to collaborate on our exhibitions and public programmes

Research Centre for Museums and Galleries

We have worked with the University’s leading Research Centre for Museums and Galleries on a Creative Engagement Fellowship supporting the Everywhere and Nowhere project with artist Christopher Samuel and are working in partnership to develop new approaches to disability arts through the lens of anti-ableism.

Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS)

LIAS is focused on catalysing, promoting, and sustaining interdisciplinary research collaboration across the University and city. Attenborough Arts Centre is partnering with LIAS to develop new research opportunities for academics and artists.

SENsory Atelier

SENsory Atelier is an award-winning practice-as-research programme, working to identify and evaluate the benefits of bringing artists and creativity into the classrooms of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), achieving significant impacts in pupils’ attainment, communication, confidence and wellbeing. The programme enables children to lead their learning journeys and supports teachers without specialist arts subject / cultural education expertise, to reframe our understanding of how children learn.

Creative Engagement Fellowships

Our Creative Engagement Fellowships programme ran over 2 years with Wellcome Trust funding, bringing artists to collaborate with University of Leicester academics on a range of interdisciplinary projects which focussed on themes of equity, diversity and inclusion. To learn more about the projects, click here.