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Institute for Creative Arts Practice
Creative arts practice at Newcastle University.
Welcome to the Institute for Creative Arts Practice
Our purpose and vision
The Institute for Creative Arts Practice exists to both celebrate & support research and practice in creative arts.
Our vision is to develop and promote Newcastle University as a world class hub for practice-led research, creativity, learning and teaching with significant impact regionally, nationally and internationally.
Led by Prof Richard Talbot, the Institute’s primary aim is to catalyse and support the practice and research undertaken by the significant number of creative arts practitioners within Newcastle University. This activity encompasses Filmmaking, Music: Composition and Performance; Creative Writing; Fine Art; Architecture; Curatorial Practice; Digital Cultures; Theatre & Performance.
Our work promotes the creative arts both within and beyond the University and is enhanced through the events, facilities and venues on our Creative Campus. The Institute supports individual research and practice, as well as dialogue between disciplines, collaborative working and co-production.
We also facilitate a monthly Creative Practice Research Forum (details here) which invites attendance and contributions from disciplines, practitioners, and professionals from within and beyond the University. These presentations complement the Researcher Education and Development Programme, by providing additional sessions for creative arts practice Postgraduate Research students.
How we work
- open funding calls
- supporting strategic research clusters
- themed workshops for researchers
- relationship building initiatives, such as external placements for undergraduates, postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers
- discretionary seed-corn funding for selected research projects
- supporting applicants throughout the process of applying for external funding
- discretionary funding for established funded research projects
- supporting supplementary activities and impact generation
- workshops and training to provide support for researchers transitioning from PGR to Early Career Researchers
Our Research Clusters
The Institute supports the following cross-disciplinary research clusters:
- Word and Image – led by Dr Ed Juler
- Art in Heritage - led by Dr Rebecca Farley
- #WeTheRural – led by Dr Menelaos Gkartzios in the Centre for Rural Economy, (CRE)
In partnership with Humanities Research Institute:
- Medical Humanities (art & science/medicine) led by Professor Anne Whitehead, Dr Vicky Long & Dr Olivia Turner
- Performance Research Network – led by Dr Emma Whipday & Dr Ruth Raynor
Funding for Research
Through the annual Research Institutes Fund and other funding opportunities, we provide seed-corn funding for blue-skies creative arts practice projects initiated by both staff and PhD students from across the University. These awards sometimes act as ‘match-funding’– helping colleagues for example secure Arts Council England or other funding.
Institute supported projects can be found here: Current Projects and Past Projects.
Wider Collaborations
We also work closely with our sister Faculty Research Institutes - Humanities and Social Sciences and support several joint research initiatives. For example, with Humanities we support the Performance Research Network, the Centre for Heritage and MATCH (Materiality, Artefacts & Technologies in Culture & History)
Collectively the three Institutes support the cross-university Methods@Newcastle hub and contribute to initiatives relating to Anti-Racism, and Research Culture within the University.
Our Partners
As well as facilitating dialogue between creative arts practitioners, and between practitioners and other disciplines internally, much of Newcastle University’s creative activity is outward facing and is concerned, in multiple ways, with places and people. Much of it is international in its reach. A significant proportion of our creative activity is therefore collaborative and co-produced and is often conducted with our partners - external arts and other organisations – thereby exchanging knowledge and expertise and remaining connected.
We have particularly strong relationships with:
- Maltings Visual Arts (BVA)
- Northern Print
- Visual Arts in Rural Communities (VARC), based at High Green, Northumberland
- Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival
- Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) – Great North Museum, Hatton Gallery, Laing Art Gallery, Discovery Museum
- NewBridge project
The Institute is also a member of the European Society for Artistic Research (SAR) and The Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD).
The Institute’s work on campus
Prof Richard Talbot chairs the University’s Culture Campus Committee, which is reviewing ‘Representation on Campus’, temporary art works and safe spaces on the University’s Newcastle campus. The Institute supports numerous cultural events, including the Newcastle Poetry Festival and NUSU’s Festival of Cultures. All of the above activities are broadcast via Social Media and archived on our website.
Core Team
The Institute’s core team are Prof Richard Talbot, Mel Whewell and Mel Blacklock. If you'd like to know more about anything that we do, please get in touch.