People + environments + art
Welcome to Social Art Space – a dedicated space for people who work in the arts within communities. Whether you’re called an arts worker, workshop facilitator, artist-educator, socially engaged practitioner, community artist… or something else, you can find resources, support and inspiration here alongside Jo’s project archive. Jo’s aim for the space is to share practice and knowledge she’s gathered whilst working in this field since mid 1990’s; navigating the goals of inclusion, access, collaboration and sustainability whilst working as an artist, designer, researcher, educator, arts advisor and creative producer.
New resources are frequently added here – each informed by a project or reflection on a professional experience and theres a monthly newsletter available here Wondering Out Loud
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A monthly bulletin for creative people who make meaningful work with communities. Fresh insights, prompts, practical tips, inspiration and reflections.
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Find useful products and resources designed to support your practice here. Beautifully made in collaboration with other artists, academics, researchers and experts in their field.
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Philosophy & approach
Jo’s practice explores the relationships between people, art and spaces – it can be described as ‘designing experiences for people, with people’. She is social entrepreneur and founder-director of the Studio Together an inclusive design and production project and Rocket Artists’ Studios, a not-for-profit CIC delivering arts provision for neurodivergent and/or learning disabled artists, that is also an accredited day service for Brighton & Hove residents.
Jo is a problem-solver and asker-of questions around the role of art, how it contributes to our relationships and how creativity and environment connect. She believes meaningful access to the arts is not only important in terms of our individual needs; such as health, belonging, self expression, etc but that it is also fundamental to our collective experience. This space is where she shares and documents her questions, projects, research and collaborations and also where you are invited to connect and join in.
Jo’s creative interests have always steered her towards a curiosity about people, the social systems that help or hinder us and the role that art plays throughout our lives.
Her research explores the relationships between art and design, product and process, communities and communication. An MA in inclusive arts practice focused her research around the combined experiences of being a commercial artist with her knowledge of working with marginalised groups. Her contributions to the field of Inclusive Arts practice continue through her academic teaching and research (at University of Brighton and various research and visiting lecturer positions) as well as her dedicated and passionate involvement in community based activities – through setting up, collaborating on and supporting several not-for-profit and enterprise arts projects.
This combined approach provides valuable, first-hand insights into ways of working that continues to drive her practice and research interests.
The language to describe an artist who works with people keeps changing … however, the key ingredients in Jo’s practice are people, art and environments. Jo combines these with plenty of opportunities for learning together through collaboration and questions to challenge norms and assumptions.
Background
JO HAS BEEN WORKING IN ART AND DESIGN alongside diverse community groups since 1994 and as an Inclusive Arts Practitioner since 2010. She trained as an Illustrator (BA) then as an Inclusive Arts Practitioner (MA), became Senior Lecturer in MA Inclusive Art Practice at the University of Brighton and external examiner at Portsmouth University. She was the business manager and a founding director of the not-for-profit supported studios and Community Interest Company: Rocket Artists’ Studios – an artist-led social enterprise supporting neurodivergent and learning disabled artists.
Jo is dedicated to the practical application of learning, teaching and sharing – which can merge academic research with universities, colleges, schools with third sector and business partnerships. She has co-designed and delivered teaching modules at masters, degree and diploma and certificate levels. A graduate and senior lecturer in Inclusive Arts Practice at University of Brighton she has worked with Central St Martins social design programme and Illustration MA at Portsmouth University, delivering training in social engaged and inclusive practice. Other academic roles include research supervisor at Carnegie Research, member of UoB ethics committee and external examiner for MA Illustration at Portsmouth University.