Communities of practice: bridging academia & the creative industries

As hybrid identities bridging academic, researcher, artist and producer increasingly come to the fore, this talk explores examples of the mutual benefits that these collaborations bring to their participants and wider communities of practice.

Chaired by Professor Tim Cole, this roundtable discussion will explore the experiences of a panel that has worked closely in and across academia and the creative industries, providing insight on how these projects and communities begin and evolve.

Tim Cole is Professor of Social History at the University of Bristol, and writes and teaches social, environmental and landscape histories of twentieth century Europe. His latest book About Britain (Bloomsbury 2021) sees him retracing the routes from guidebooks published during the 1951 Festival of Britain a lifespan later to reflect on continuities and changes in the landscape. Tim is also Director of the Brigstow Institute at the University of Bristol where he fosters new research partnerships between academics from radically different disciplines with creatives and communities.

Angie Bual is an artist, producer and co-director of Trigger. Winner of the Creative Producer Arts Foundation Award and Clore Fellow, Angie has 15 years of producing experience, and has initiated and run several cross artform and sector projects with National Theatre of Scotland, Science Museum, Edinburgh Art Festival, Fuel, Battersea Arts Centre, Historic Royal Palace and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. She is a member of the London Area Council of Arts Council England and a Bristol Creative Fellow. Trigger are representing the UK in Australia as part of the 2021/22 British Council season.

Kate Pullinger is Professor of Creative Writing and Digital Media at Bath Spa University, England, where she is Director of the Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries. She is Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded Bristol + Bath Creative R+D partnership as well as the Research England-funded South West Creative Technology Network; both of these projects bring together academic research, creative technologies and the creative industries. Professor Pullinger is also the academic lead on Bath Spa University’s enterprise and innovation research hub, The Studio at Palace Yard Mews, and an Editor on The Writing Platform, an online magazine that draws together digital technology and creative writing.

Emma Cole is a scholar of the reception of Greek and Roman literature. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Classics at the University of Bristol, and an AHRC Innovation Fellow leading the project ‘Punchdrunk on the Classics’ (2019-2021). Together with her project partner, Punchdrunk theatre company, she is exploring the synergy between classical literature and immersivity; the project will lead to artistic outputs in collaboration with the company, the monograph Punchdrunk on the Classics: Ancient Greek Literature and Immersive Experience (under contract with Palgrave Macmillan), a seminar series on Knowledge Exchange and the Creative Industries (2019-2020), and a conference on Antiquity and Immersivity (March 2021).