ROLE
Research · Concept Development · Community Building · Event Design
Research · Concept Development · Community Building · Event Design
THE QUESTION
How can creative collaboration enhance connectedness and foster social wellbeing?
My MA research began with a simple observation: despite having more ways than ever to connect, creative people can still feel remarkably disconnected from one another. I became particularly interested in how introversion, competition and practical barriers can make spontaneous creative collaboration difficult.
FROM RESEARCH TO EXPERIMENT
I initially imagined an online platform connecting people through local creative volunteering and skill-sharing. But rather than building another digital network, I decided to test the idea in the real world.
I created Creative Connectedness, an independent community on Meetup.com where people could exchange creative skills, ideas and experiences through free, non-profit events.
Creative Connectedness — final MA project presentation at Central Saint Martins
MAKING IT REAL
Within the first month, the community attracted around 50 followers. I began organising free creative events and workshops, using each one as an opportunity to test the idea of spontaneous collaboration and observe what happened when people were simply given the space to create and connect.
WHAT I LEARNED
The experiments showed that people were not only willing to collaborate when given the opportunity — they often wanted to contribute something of their own.
Participants began proposing workshops, sharing ideas and using the community as a platform to test their own creative practices.
What started as an academic research project therefore became a small, functioning creative community, with me acting as its organiser, facilitator and catalyst.
A TURNING POINT
Looking back, Creative Connectedness was an early example of something that has continued to shape my practice: an interest in the space between creativity, people and wellbeing, and in designing experiences rather than simply designing objects.
