Bridging Histories: Creative Changemaker Network & Consultancy
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: School of Arts
Abstract
Our vision is a world where all people feel celebrated for who they are, rooted in our collective heritage, and empowered to make a positive change. The Bridging Histories' creative change maker network and consultancy will provide a vehicle for community-building, community investment, and positive changemaking, that appeals to people across the social and political spectrum. This funding will secure the foundations for an ongoing enterprise which we expect will become financial self-sustaining, with long-lasting and far-reaching impact.
Our resources will support individuals, grassroots communities, public sector and private sector organisations who want to address social challenges and historical injustices while bringing communities together. Often, organisations are too scared to attempt changes, for fear of getting things wrong. If they do attempt changes, they often do so in ways that are top-down, not sensitive to the diversity of local meanings and needs, and end up not being locally appropriate. Meanwhile, at community level, individuals often have unique insights on what is needed locally and want to make their own contribution to creating more just and harmonious communities, but can find themselves blocked out of decision-making and unable to access resources and support for their ideas.
Bridging Histories enables communities to addresses these challenges by offering a unique, coherent framework for building inclusive community, with appeal across diverse social groups. Our signature six creative prompts ('I am from' poetry and storytelling, recipes, street histories, family histories, memorials and changemaking) are image-based and fun, making it enjoyable and therapeutic for people to join in with them. Our methods will enable people to build community, generate unexpected insights and mutual understanding, and support creative local and global changemaking.
Our resources will support individuals, grassroots communities, public sector and private sector organisations who want to address social challenges and historical injustices while bringing communities together. Often, organisations are too scared to attempt changes, for fear of getting things wrong. If they do attempt changes, they often do so in ways that are top-down, not sensitive to the diversity of local meanings and needs, and end up not being locally appropriate. Meanwhile, at community level, individuals often have unique insights on what is needed locally and want to make their own contribution to creating more just and harmonious communities, but can find themselves blocked out of decision-making and unable to access resources and support for their ideas.
Bridging Histories enables communities to addresses these challenges by offering a unique, coherent framework for building inclusive community, with appeal across diverse social groups. Our signature six creative prompts ('I am from' poetry and storytelling, recipes, street histories, family histories, memorials and changemaking) are image-based and fun, making it enjoyable and therapeutic for people to join in with them. Our methods will enable people to build community, generate unexpected insights and mutual understanding, and support creative local and global changemaking.
Publications
Burch-Brown J
(2024)
Bridging Histories Education Packs
Stephenson, Ben
(2024)
City Participation: Principles and Framework
| Description | This award enabled Bridging Histories to launch as a CIC (community interest company), receive outstanding training and start delivering regular consultancy gigs. Thanks to the expert training of the ARC Accelerate programme, our core team members gained invaluable knowledge and support to understanding fundamentals of enterprise development. Because our work focuses on empowering community changemakers, we have been able to pass this knowledge forward and in turn teach key elements of this content to many changemakers, including undergraduates and collaborative partners in the UK, Uganda and Ghana. The funding enabled us to have one-to-one mentorship from the commercialization team, tailored training from the ARC Acclerate team and We were able to take the company into a much more secure and stable footing, providing regular freelance gigs for partners across our network and facilitating |
| Exploitation Route | Bridging Histories' basic educational pack can be used by people anywhere to build community and support reflective learning for all ages. We can support grassroots community initiatives who want to link with Bridging Histories and put the methodology into practice; we can be brought in on campaigns or funded projects that align with our values; and we offer consultancy to institutions from any sector aiming to improve radical inclusivity and connect with changemakers empowering under-served and at-risk communities. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Communities and Social Services/Policy Construction Creative Economy Education Environment Financial Services and Management Consultancy Healthcare Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Government Democracy and Justice Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Retail Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | We have built a powerful network of diverse creative changemakers, with representatives from around the globe. We are shaping the way people in organizations and institutions think about inclusive empowerment. To date we have distributed 60+ grants to changemakers; had hundreds of events and campaigns, engaged 30,000+ people, directly invested in communities more than £150,000, delivered 7 commercial gigs in 2024, and had 50+ requests for partnership in 2024. We focus on impactful consultancy and campaigns, and integrate these active campaigns into teaching and research. The capstone of each year is our three week University of Bristol international Arts, Activism and Social Justice Summer School which trains undergraduate changemakers and showcases changemakers from across our network. We built up Bridging Histories under the umbrella of University of Bristol, and set up as a community interest company in 2003. The ARC Accelerate funding gave us the capacity to take our first consultancy gigs and to start bringing in regular income through consultancy. We specialize in changemaking based in lived-experience, with particular background in empowering Caribbean and African-heritage changemakers. This funding enabled the development in strong global partnerships in countries with colonial histories linked to Britain, with strong current partnerships in Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon and the US. Bridging Histories resources are now being used in schools and community groups across Northern Uganda via Francis Foundation for Homeless Children, who support 1500 young people across Gulu, Kitgum and across Acholi and refugee South Sudanese communities in Northern Uganda. With support from multiple funding streams, we created a Bridging Histories Education Pack with content for every age group from primary school to adult learners, including an Easy Read Education Pack. We have seen aspects of the curriculum materials picked up in local schools, and used organically in key important moments in local communities. Organically with partners we have developed innovative teaching methodologies for decolonizing the classroom at University of Bristol. We frequently create teaching opportunities at University of Bristol for community partners, who often attend other lectures from the courses to which they are contributing. We have been building courses with content designed to be of interest and service to community partners and contributes to capacity building. A particularly important innovation has been in opening up the classroom for core partners from Uganda to join classes virtually and participate in lectures and discussion. This has been extremely well received both by undergraduates and by partners. For instance, in the Environmental Philosophy unit in Autumn 2024, we were joined weekly by 5 - 10 Ugandan partners from the Francis Foundation for Homeless Children who participated in the lectures, with content addressing topics of shared interest including food justice, African agrarian ethics, permaculture, green engineering, green criminology, and green changemaking. We also have been bringing guest lectures virtually from academics in Cameroon and Ghana, creating opportunities for comparative philosophy and exchange of ideas, and offering opportunities to their students in return. In the classroom we have been collaboratively refining changemaking initiatives from our partners, which we've been able to take further in a spring unit on Bridging Histories Changemakers serving undergraduates from across the faculty. Bristol students have been exceedingly positive about the benefits to their learning. The collaboration has resulted in strong project development and success in attracting significant investment for the Ugandan partnership. This synergistic partnership played a pivotal role in helping the Ugandan team to secure over £500,000 pounds investment from the Ugandan president, including an investment of £56,000 from the Office of the President of Uganda to bring up to 20 Ugandans to Bristol to contribute to the 2025 Arts, Activism and Social Justice Summer School (June-July) and Global Day of the Drum 2025, along with £30,000 investment towards a community sustainable agriculture initiative emerging from our changemaking workshops. We are now working on a number of campaigns arising out of changemaking priorities surfaced by our ambassador network, ranging from repair cafes to drugs policy to policing and security, to inclusive engagement. In Ghana we have been working with small-scale gold miners to promote and develop strategy for transitions to mercury-free mining, and working with Ghana's new GoldBod (Gold Board) in preparation for introduction of a new bill in March on mercury-free gold mining. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Creative Economy,Education,Energy,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Inclusive Engagement in Participatory Democracy |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The framework has been taken up by the Green Party in Bristol as key guidance and is influencing practice in Bristol City Council. The principle of participation emphasise citizen-led placemaking, inclusivity, meaningful engagement, focus on specific issues and early and effective engagement which goes beyond hearing people's voices and instead is about building collaborative long-term relationships and empowering people with funding and scaffolding to make changes that are important to them. |
| URL | https://www.bristolurbanforum.org/_files/ugd/23ac22_fe51e5f5f87243ebace34ee597ed5634.pdf |
| Description | MAKERS (Making and Knowledge Exchange for Repair and Sustainability) |
| Organisation | University of the West of England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Bridging Histories were brought on board by Laura Fogg-Rogers and Kat Corbet at UWE Engineering, alongside Fancy Finance and EOTO UK, to co-design and deliver engineering and repair workshops with at-risk young people in St. Pauls. MAKERS project actively supported local community groups in helping them to develop new skills around making and repair, promoting self-sufficiency and empowerment of individuals and communities, and highlighting engineering as a career choice. We brought partners and participants on board, and co-designed a series of seven workshops running from April to June 2024. These sessions served young people out of employment, education and training, and aimed to introduce participants to new engineering skills and inspire future aspirations. It has led to ongoing collaboration and we have ongoing events including further repair cafe activities with Matt Pang and a Green and Healthy Careers Fair in May 2025. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The UWE team brought the vision and coordination for the MAKERS workshops, raised awareness of the value of repair for sustainability and enhanced participant's material awareness, while creating an environment of fun and belonging. They organised and delivered content for the workshops: Introduction to Basic Electronics Scooter and (Electric) Bike Mechanics and Maintenance An Introduction to Python Coding Computer Aided Design (Tinkercad) Routes into Higher Education and Engineering Tour of UWE Bristol's Engineering Building (Featuring Virtual Reality Rooms, Simulators, and a wind turbine building activity.) Trip to Pytch Bristol (A sustainably run event production company.) They generated follow-on opportunities for participants at all levels of engagement. |
| Impact | The MAKERS project won a Staff Award in Sustainability from UWE, as a hub for connection, creativity and sustainability and has been shortlisted for the prestigious Green Gown Awards. Evaluation and publication development is ongoing. https://blogs.uwe.ac.uk/engineering/makers-project-brings-engineering-skills-to-young-people-in-st-pauls/ |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Storytelling on the Grosvenor Road - Weekly Wednesday Pop-ups |
| Organisation | Bristol City Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We delivered 8 storytelling workshops, under our 'Gazebo on the Green' outside the St Paul's Learning Centre in Bristol. We had |
| Collaborator Contribution | Bristol City Council Culture Team funded our 8 events with £5,000 as part of their High Streets renewal funds serving Ashley Road / Grosvenor Road. The BCC team supported capacity building for Bridging Histories, by funding adult and child safeguarding training and enhanced DBS checks for team members, and enhancing the BH team's understanding of site permissions, project management, risk assessment, and monitoring and evaluation. |
| Impact | 8 events involving storytelling combined with arts and crafts. 1) Community Pottery - brought bi-toned squares of clay with a darker layer on top and lighter layer underneath; and LiYera@ brought spray paint and stencils to use on vinyl records. People were prompted to create a picture sharing street history or family history from the area. A toddler drew a picture of the local cat, and older people made images of e.g. the Black & White Cafe, Hepburn Rd, Denbigh Street, Crystal Dove, sound systems etc. 2) The Sustainable Engineering outreach team from UWE (Laura Fogg-Rogers) created a station where people could compete in making wind turbines. 3) Peg from UWE taught sewing and people shared stories about their clothing items 4) We created a festive banner celebrating Ethiopian New Year, and hung it outside the Rastafari Culture Centre, and then people reminisced and traded stories while listening to rare taped recordings of Ras Bandele's Culture Show from the 1990's, with Niyabinghi chanting, while making God's Eyes out of socks and yarn. 5) We did lantern- making using plastic bottles and papier mache, and got people sharing Bridging Histories stories like memories of a favourite street or family history. 6) We recorded storytelling using Bridging Histories prompts, journeying from St. Thomas to Latvia to Ghana and learning much more about local people we see around. 7) We brought in the school holidays with a toy-swap, which was very popular and attracted many participants 8) We had a hugely popular painting workshop with Jasmine Coe, getting people to notice a piece of nature around them and paint in response to it |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Company Name | Bridging Histories Cic |
| Description | |
| Year Established | 2023 |
| Impact | We have built a powerful network of diverse creative changemakers, with representatives from around the globe. We are shaping the way people in organizations and institutions think about inclusive empowerment. To date we have distributed 60+ grants to changemakers; had hundreds of events and campaigns, engaged 30,000+ people, directly invested in communities more than £150,000, delivered 7 commercial gigs in 2024, and had 50+ requests for partnership in 2024. We focus on impactful consultancy and campaigns, and integrate these with teaching and research. The capstone of each year is our three week University of Bristol international Arts, Activism and Social Justice Summer School which trains undergraduate changemakers and showcases changemakers from across our network. We built up Bridging Histories under the umbrella of University of Bristol, and set up as a community interest company in 2003. The ARC Accelerate funding gave us the capacity to take our first commercial gigs, of which we delivered 7 in 2024 |
| Website | http://bridginghistories.com |