__In 2021, SWDTP Human Geography PdD student Gemma Lucas joined the Arts and Culture, University of Exeter team on a work placement. In this blog, she reflects on her experiences during this time and what she learnt from managing the collaborative arts commission Cinna Solar X Wild Hive. __

A fundamental part of my Arts and Culture placement was a collaborative arts project Cinna Solar X Wild Hive. Delivering this project, I learned a huge amount about how both artists and cultural organisations understand and explore topics relevant to my research. Throughout the placement as whole I have also developed a huge amount of insight into the benefits and challenges of working with artists and other non-academic partners.

I have learned, for example, that working with people who have similar understandings to me about the topics we are exploring, but who are from very different backgrounds, can lead to much richer work because of the different pools of professional and personal expertise we can draw upon together. For example, in the arts project I managed during my placement, I collaborated with a graffiti artist and a botanical artist to explore the topic of intersectionality, mental health and creative practice. We are all feminists and committed to anti-racist work, but our practices are completely different. Knowing that we had a shared politics and vision allowed us to build trust in each other, and in the process, and to bring our different skills and knowledges into conversation with one another to produce artwork and public engagement workshops.

Something I have learned from the collaborations during my work placement at Arts & Culture Exeter is that an ethics of consent and care must be central to any collaboration and is particularly crucial when working with people who are marginalised by race, gender, sexuality, or any other intersecting oppression. This is more pressing than ever in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic that has added immeasurable pressure and difficulty to so many peoples’ lives.

This placement has also provided me with experience that will be invaluable for my PhD methodology. I have learned about the artistic process, and how artists and arts organisations are already creatively responding to social issues. I have also developed the skills that I will need to work collaboratively with artists during my PhD which will involve using creative methodologies to explore gender, yoga, body shame and mental health.

Working on the Cinna Solar X Wild Hive project and the Moving Shame workshop project with the support of Arts & Culture Exeter have also provided a range of opportunities to develop and refine my knowledge of the substantive topic of my PhD research. Through the conversations I have had with both my placement supervisor Sarah Campbell, the rest of the Arts and Culture team, and my collaborators on both projects, I have developed my understanding of a wide range of topics relevant to my PhD, from intersectionality, to wellbeing and mental health, to the embodied aspect of creativity.

I have had a brilliant, thoroughly enriching experience working on these two arts projects, and during my work placement at Arts & Culture Exeter as a whole. I have learned a phenomenal amount, including a huge array of transferrable skills that will be helpful regardless of my future career path. I have met so many interesting and fascinating people and made connections that I am sure will lead to unpredictable but exciting opportunities in the future.