Kim Wide

Background

About Kim Wide

With extensive experience at the forefront of the Socially Engaged Arts (SEA) sector, I am a leader in community placemaking, co-creation, cultural democracy and developing a representative and relevant cultural sector. My work centres on fostering sustainable,"community-first" cultural practices and approaches that go beyond co-creation to build transferable skills, empowering communities to drive their own social change agendas. As the Founder, Co-CEO, and Artistic Director of Take A Part (TAP), a leading SEA organisation, I spearhead numerous initiatives. Establishing creative community social enterprises, heritage/cultural organisations, cultural democracy networks and platforms and projects focused on spatial, economic, environmental, educational, and housing justice. Through TAP, I facilitate knowledge transfer and increase the application of community-led projects and programmes. My work focuses on how marginalised groups can dismantle and rebuild inherited/colonial forms of cultural making. I develop new co-creation applications that directly empower underrepresented communities, strengthening the cultural sector by prioritising their voices and reinterpretation of history. I am the founder of Social Making, the UK's only international biennial symposium dedicated to Socially Engaged Arts practice. My sector contributions have been recognised with an MBE for 'Services to Social Engagement in the Arts,' marking the first time social arts practice has received such an honour by the Crown. I am also a Clore Social Leadership Fellow, Clore Fellow, and AHRC Awardee. My work has been published by leading institutions, including the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Arts Council England, Engage, Arts Council Ireland, Manchester Metropolitan University, Gulbenkian Foundation, Centre for Cultural Value, UCL Press, Routledge, Birkbeck University, and NACAE. I have been a guest/visiting lecturer at Arts University Plymouth (UK), Boston University Metropolitan College (USA), King's College London (UK), University of Guelph (CAN), University of Nottingham (UK), Nordic Summer University (SE), Queen Margaret University (UK) etc. I have collaborated with and supported diverse organisations - Local Trust, Royal Academy of Dance, Birmingham Museums Trust, Canal & Rivers Trust/National Waterways Museum, Arts Council Ireland, Arts Council England, Engage, British Council, and the BFI. My international SEA collaborations extend to Canada, India, Japan, Malaysia, and Ireland. Get in touch to support a generous cultural world: kim@takeapart.org.uk