Arising from the findings of the 'Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience: Creation, Consumption and Exchange' (MCAHE) research project (AH/N007557/1), Volunteer Voices will develop an innovative programme of heritage volunteer training on contemporary art interpretation, resulting in a resource that can be rolled out to the heritage sector nationally. MCAHE research revealed that while volunteers play a key role in engaging visitors with heritage sites, the volunteers often lack the knowledge and confidence to introduce this audience to the contemporary artworks that are increasingly a feature of heritage programming. Without interpretation, many visitors struggle to fully appreciate and enjoy the art they encounter. Volunteer Voices is designed to address this gap through a co-developed training programme rooted in the MCAHE research. Volunteers will meet and work with creative artists, heritage staff and other stakeholders, gaining the knowledge, practical skills and confidence to introduce and interpret commissioned contemporary artworks to visitors at their heritage sites. The training programme will use methods of peer-to-peer learning, group social interaction and knowledge exchange which MCAHE findings showed to increase confidence and enable a reflective rather than 'reflexive' response to contemporary artworks. This training need has been identified as an urgent priority within the heritage sector who are keen to implement change regarding volunteer training: 75% of heritage organisations identified volunteer development, training or experience enhancement as their top priority after recruitment (Heritage Volunteer Group survey 2019). Heritage organisations rely heavily on volunteers to enrich their visitors' experience: nearly half of all heritage volunteers work in front of house, education or engagement but only 3% work in exhibition-based roles. Working with new Project Partners and stakeholders, this Follow-On Funding for Impact and Engagement project places volunteers at the heart of its activities and seeks to create and promote 'best practice' training which will benefit both volunteer and audience experience, enabling the full value of heritage organisations' investment in commissioning contemporary art (in terms of time, money, HO resources and the creative energy of the artist) to be realised.

Sustainability is a disputed term and concept, interpreted and imagined differently according to local urban contexts and histories. Although the term is used extensively across academia, professional and popular debate, there are often conflicting and contradictory understandings, creating a barrier to wider adoption of 'sustainable development' strategies. Meanwhile, although environmentalism and climate change are established areas of interest in the fine art field more complex meanings and understandings of sustainability have not been fully explored within urban public art practice. As an interdisciplinary project that connects the debates of fine art and urban design, Jetty investigates how a contemporary public artwork can meaningfully contribute to the reshaping of this multi-layered debate. The project is developed as a collaboration between artist Wolfgang Weileder based at Newcastle University School of Arts and Culture, and urbanist Simon Guy, Director of the Architecture Research Centre at the University of Manchester, with additional project partners from the arts, heritage, education and business community. At the heart of the Jetty project is the creation of a temporary large-scale architectural artwork integrated within the impressive wooden structure of Dunston Staithes, a landmark Scheduled Monument and Grade II structure on the south bank of the River Tyne in NewcastleGateshead. In developing the project the academic partners will work closely with Tyne and Wear Preservation Trust, the owner of Dunston Staithes as part of its initiative to provide a long-term and sustainable future for the structure. The artwork will be constructed in collaboration with trainees and specialist staff from Newcastle College Construction Skills Academy and RBAU Sunderland, providing an innovative opportunity for skills exchange for the benefit of young people entering the construction industry. Throughout its development and exhibition the Jetty artwork will be utilised as a catalyst for research and debate into local and professional meanings, interpretations and understandings of sustainability. Activity will focus on three distinct communities of interest considered to be at the centre of this discussion: the artistic community, including artists, commissioners and curators; urban professionals, including landscape and urban designers, architects, planners and policy makers; and members of the geographic community of NewcastleGateshead, including residents, community and local interest groups. Involvement of these groups will be achieved through a combination of focus groups, individual interviews, an international symposium, online activity, and as audiences for the public exhibition of the artwork. The knowledge gained through this project will be widely disseminated to local, national and international audiences via a range of activities including: the site-specific installation at Dunston Staithes; the Jetty project website; an interdisciplinary symposium hosted by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; publication of the Jetty book; co-authoring of academic articles for high-impact and relevant research journals; presentations at national and international conferences for artistic and urban professional communities. As a research project and case study, Jetty will benefit academics and practitioners working within the fine art, urbanism and heritage fields, providing new insights into the meanings, understanding and implications of sustainability across these different sectors. Through engagement with local communities and audiences in NewcastleGateshead Jetty will contribute to the cultural and social regeneration of the city, promoting it as a site for sustainable arts practice.

Although people are living longer than ever before, the number of people with dementia is increasing, and 1 in 5 people over 80 will have dementia by 2021. People with dementia and their families often become disconnected from society through the stigmatizing effect dementia has on taking part in everyday activities. Added to this, the current economic climate has meant reductions in many services, and there is often a lack of meaningful activity available to this population. Yet many people with dementia wish to remain within their communities, in the home of their choice, near their family, carers and friends, with the support of health and social care services. This research aims to address the disconnection and marginalisation of people with dementia and explore how the vision for dementia supportive communities might benefit from creative activities. Specifically, it will use a visual art intervention as the catalyst for change for understanding community connectivity, challenging attitudes and promoting well being. Research to date, although limited, suggests a number of potential benefits of arts participation to the quality of life, health and well-being of people with dementia. This project wishes to build on this to address a new area, which will maximise the involvement of, and potential benefit to communities. It will look at how participation in community arts interventions can increase well-being and connectedness between the dementia community and wider society. It will also examine another new area, to further understand the underlying processes that create the connection between arts participation and good outcomes. To realise the aims, the research will be set within three areas of the UK. These consist of ethnically and geographically diverse communities to contextualise the research. In each area our project partners will deliver the same visual arts intervention over a 12 month period to different groups. To understand the impact, the research will assess changes over time in the well-being and social connectedness of people with dementia, and how these changes can in turn have positive effects in communities (facilitate change in societal attitudes and promote participation and inclusion) through social contagion. The processes and outcomes of the research will be assessed using a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches, and will use art, both as a tool for analysis and for visual, creative representations of the results. The research builds on existing relationships and develops new ones with community and policy partners, such as arts organisations, museums, galleries, health and social care practitioners, charities and local government. This will ensure full engagement and maximum benefit and impact for research, policy and practice. It will also contribute towards building future sustainability.

'Mapping contemporary art in the heritage experience: Creation, Consumption and Exchange' is an interdisciplinary research project that will critically examine the role and practice of temporary visual art commissioning within heritage properties in Britain today, mapping the current landscape and exploring the impact of this activity on its producers and audiences. It approaches this subject from multiple perspectives, bringing together the knowledge and experience of scholars, artists, heritage professionals, volunteers and visitors. Art commissioning has always been linked with Britain's great historic properties. Recent decades have seen many heritage organisations vigorously re-engaging with contemporary art, investing in this as a way of developing new opportunities for public engagement with heritage properties and their histories. Arts organisations including Arts Council England (ACE) strategically support this work, promoting it as a significant means of fulfilling their mission to promote excellence and public benefit. For many artists commissioned work for heritage properties is an increasingly important strand within their practice. However, and despite strong support from major organisations including the National Trust and ACE, the actual impact of such projects on their producers and audiences is poorly understood. Similarly there is little collective professional understanding of the broader character of the contemporary arts in heritage field and its commissioning practices. As a creative practice-led collaboration with two major UK heritage partners this project makes a strong and unique contribution to the production of new knowledge around this significant but under researched area of the visual arts. Through case study research centring on the development of new art commissions at four heritage properties the project will explore in detail how contemporary artists engage with heritage narratives and how these artworks are received and consumed by visitors. The case studies will be accompanied by the production of a new online resource that develops, expands and digitises an existing audit of such projects making this publicly available as a platform for further professional exchange. In doing so the research will generate a better understanding of UK contemporary arts in heritage practice and its future development needs. To deliver the project, specialist scholars and artists from Newcastle and Leeds Universities will be joined by a professional curator from the leading art in heritage organisation Art & Heritage to work in partnership with ACE, The National Trust, Churches Conservation Trust and the Contemporary Visual Art Network. The new understandings and insights generated by the project will be disseminated across the contemporary arts and heritage sectors. This will be achieved through the use of complementary channels designed for different target audiences: the public exhibition of the commissioned artworks at the heritage properties; a website and blog that will document the project for an online audience; a project exhibition profiling the commissioning process for the benefit of an arts and practitioner audience; a research report for circulation to our project partners, strategic arts and heritage organisations and relevant policy makers; an international conference aimed at sector specialists and academic audiences; conference papers and published articles in academic and professional journals. As public facing research this project will have specific benefit for practitioners, organisations and heritage visitors as well as for other academics working in the contemporary arts and heritage field, including creative-practice led researchers. It has the capacity and potential to stimulate new public interest in contemporary arts in heritage practice in the UK and internationally as well as providing much needed new knowledge for the sector, including for its funders and policy makers.

This proposed project aims to understand how creative interventions help develop connectivity and resilience for older people. This will be achieved through critical reflection on the outcomes from a range of relevant projects across the Connected Communities portfolio such as community gardening, filmmaking, built environment, product design, digital media theatre, music, cultural learning and visual arts interventions for those with early stage dementia. Juxtaposing the results from different projects will result in innovative ways of thinking about resilience and propose solutions to issues raised by community partners. Four seminars will be undertaken consisting of presentations, workshops, and breakout sessions. Synthesising learning points from across the Connected Communities portfolio will help draw together the diverse, yet shared issues. Equal Arts, the C.I. and main community partner will recruit a group of older people who will play a full part in the workshops and explore what resilience and connectivity means to them. Researcher participants will also be invited to bring along community partners to ensure discussion is grounded in their lived experience. Policy makers such as Arts Council England will also be involved and part of the management group to ensure that they are part of the process.