In April, Bow Arts Trust hosted a workshop exploring the histories of socially-engaged practice in the art gallery, organised by researchers-in-residence Emily Fuggle, a PhD Researcher at Queen Mary, University of London and University of Edinburgh Lecturer in Art History, Culture and Society, Dr Elysia Lechelt. Emily and Elysia are both members of the Bow Research Group, established by Bow Arts in 2025 to explore the impact of the creative industries in the UK.

Here Emily reflects on the workshop. You can read the full article she has written here.

What can the histories of engagement in galleries tell us about how we work with artists and audiences today? Our workshop, funded by the Queen Mary Centre for Public Engagement, brought together academics researching the histories of socially-engaged gallery practice with arts workers in the sector to consider this question.

Socially-engaged practice in the art gallery is a broad umbrella, which we define as work which is, to varying extents, consciously democratic, participatory, activist, inclusive or aimed at enhancing collective wellbeing, with a focus on addressing societal challenges and fostering more equitable futures. Understanding how these practices have evolved is essential for appreciating their value and role in contemporary society and arts organisations today.

In our session, we wanted to look across the various forms of socially-engaged practice taking place in the art gallery, stretching from the 1930s to the 1990s. Our workshop sought to explore, historically, how community engagement, social inclusion and ideas around mental health have found a place in the art gallery.

Speakers

We invited three researchers whose work investigated the art galleries of the recent past, to look at how these ideas were taking shape at different moments in time.

Dr Sophie Hope, Lecturer in Socially-Engaged Practice at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, focused on histories of arts participation in the gallery.

Dr Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art of the Global Diasporas at the University of Edinburgh, drew on her research into grassroots art-making to consider how Caribbean artists brought new socially-engaged ways of working inside the gallery space, and without.

Bethlem Gallery Director Sophie Leighton took forward the theme of mental health, moving from the institutionalised space of Bedlam through to the reimagining of the art gallery as a patient-focused therapeutic space at Bethlem Art Gallery.

We reflected on these histories and reoccurring ideas, particularly the varying appetite for risk within cultural institutions; the difficulties, and constraints, of funding; and the importance of galleries which are able and willing to provide a space for experimentation.

The talks also raised questions around who advances socially-engaged practice, and how we can develop genuinely artist- and audience-centred ways of working, whether within or outside of the institution.

Workshop with arts practitioners

Theatre maker and researcher Dr Malaika Cunningham led a reflective session with arts workers, who came from cultural organisations across the city, including the Migration Museum, UCL Museums and Galleries, Crafts Council, Tower Hamlets Archives, Koestler Arts, the Imperial War Museum and more.

We mapped our personal beginnings, key moments of inspiration in our work and the lessons we’d learned across our careers to inform new ways of working.

Several connecting themes emerged:

• Play and experimentation
• Getting political through reading
• Seeking out alternative gallery spaces
• Commitment to engage with, and represent, refugee experiences

Our artist for the day, Julia Miranda, created a visual representation of the morning’s discussions, which is available for download here. Julia’s map of our conversations provides an important reference point for arts workers’ reflections and journeys; as well as the similarities and differences across the histories we explored.

We hope this workshop prompts an interest in continuing to explore how all our past stories shape our present.

A network of participating researchers and practitioners has developed from the morning’s activities. Emily Fuggle and Elysia Lechelt welcome hearing from anyone interested in the project. Please contact Emily for more information.