Working in Collaboration: universities, local authorities and place-based cultural development

Partnership working between universities and local authorities is a timely and significant area of development for places at risk of creative depletion under the pressures of austerity and cuts to cultural funding. In this article, I propose to present fresh thinking about ecologies of collaboration in the field of place-based cultural development and in the contexts of IMD deprivation. Kirklees will serve as a place-based case study representing partnership working between the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Huddersfield and the Creative Development team at Kirklees Council. Using the example of Cultures of (a thematic and curated place-based public realm programme running out of the School of Arts and Humanities) I will present a tool kit of handy tips for thinking and doing place-based cultural development in collaboration with universities and local authorities. This cultural programme has 4 iterations feeding directly into Kirklees’ future cultural, tourism and heritage strategies and the broader West Yorkshire Combined Authority vision for culture across the 5 districts (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield).
I will offer three ways of thinking about working in collaboration. Firstly, how partnership working in place-based ways can generate new avenues for knowledge and cultural exchange between academic and non-academic partners, thus contributing to the shaping of place in and through a mixed ecology of stakeholders and communities. Secondly, how the tools of co-creation and co-production can lead to new forms of engagement with culture on the high street. Thirdly, how place-based cultural development in collaboration is a way of fostering lifelong learning cultural experiences between audiences, which includes academics, students, members of the public, creative businesses, cultural and creative providers, charity and voluntary sectors. I will argue that as arts and humanities researchers in a university setting this way of working can offer a pragmatic and action-orientated way to build cultural resilience in a place.