When it comes to making our world fairer and more equitable, there’s clearly a lot to be done and this applies to the visual arts as much as any other sector. So, it was with much gratitude to Dr Cecilia Wee and the Contemporary Visual Art Network England team, that we were given the opportunity in 2022 to pilot a paid peer-support programme for artists from marginalised and under-represented communities here in the North West.

As we approach two years on from the Embracing Possibilities project, we asked those selected artists and arts workers* in the North West to reflect on their experience of the programme. We asked each of the 11 artists what they are doing now, and if being part of this group has had an impact on their professional practice and creativity.

*We define artists and arts workers from marginalised and under-represented communities, especially those from Global Ethnic Majority backgrounds, those who identify as D/deaf, disabled or neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Also:

• Tomoko Freeman
• Helen Songa
• Niki Colclough
• Danielle Chappell-Aspinwall

A Little History of Embracing Possibilities

Organised by Dr Cecilia Wee from CVAN England’s Fair and Equitable programme and Sue Flowers, Network Manager for CVAN North West, the project brought together artists from across the region passionate about climate justice, place-making and health & wellbeing, who have a desire to grow their local networks. The project responded to the findings of the Fair and Equitable programme research report ‘Fostering Equity in the Visual Arts’ that highlighted the need for self-organised professional development activity, particularly peer networks and skills sharing opportunities for artists and arts workers (p.35).

From an open submission, 11 artists were invited to attend our first Embracing Possibilities event held in Blackpool in August. The day was full of getting to know each other, sharing discourse, understanding and hope. Our newly appointed creative producers were able to attend and this led to a rich mix of opportunity for all those attending.

Artists shared presentations and processes in diverse ways from throwing clay to blue wellbeing, and if we’d had more time, we might even have tried a wild swim from the seafront!

Our second event was held in Liverpool and explored the pioneering work of social activists in Toxteth L8. After an introduction at the beautiful Granby Winter Gardens , historian and activist Laurence Westgaph led us on a tour of the area. A super healthy lunch was grown and provided by Squash and participating artist Hellen Songa in their community garden The Grapes, which was followed by further creative discourse linked to our themes of fairness, equality, climate justice, health and wellbeing.

Artists left the beautiful venue at Squash feeling tired but inspired. Feedback from participants noted ‘the opportunity to experience an event with a truly holistic focus – not just an emphasis on development via statutory means (funding, evaluation workshops etc) – but to really focus on the creative journey as an experiential process’.

“One key thing I wanted to note was the emphasis on allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in a room full of relative stranger;, an experience I found profoundly liberating!”

“Thank you so much it was an incredibly organised day. I learned so much from all of the artists and feel so much more confident about networking, or ‘making professional friends’, and the work that I do”.

Amongst the many important learning points this pilot has brought up so far has been that by paying artists professionally, giving them time to have a voice and express their ideas, dreams can be achieved and new creative possibilities can start to emerge.

Our second event was held in Liverpool and explored the pioneering work of social activists in Toxteth L8. After an introduction at the beautiful Granby Winter Gardens , historian and activist Laurence Westgaph led us on a tour of the area. A super healthy lunch was grown and provided by Squash and participating artist Hellen Songa in their community garden The Grapes, which was followed by further creative discourse linked to our themes of fairness, equality, climate justice, health and wellbeing.

Artists left the beautiful venue at Squash feeling tired but inspired. Feedback from participants noted ‘the opportunity to experience an event with a truly holistic focus – not just an emphasis on development via statutory means (funding, evaluation workshops etc) – but to really focus on the creative journey as an experiential process’.

“One key thing I wanted to note was the emphasis on allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in a room full of relative stranger;, an experience I found profoundly liberating!”

“Thank you so much it was an incredibly organised day. I learned so much from all of the artists and feel so much more confident about networking, or ‘making professional friends’, and the work that I do”.

Amongst the many important learning points this pilot has brought up so far has been that by paying artists professionally, giving them time to have a voice and express their ideas, dreams can be achieved and new creative possibilities can start to emerge.

This is important work… we are taking a pebble in the pond approach to change, and by using some of our resources in this way we hope to make a small splash upon the visual arts water: we hope this will ripple out to permeate an exchange of knowledge and further develop understanding and inclusivity in what we all do.

Lizzie King

Since being a part of Embracing Possibilities program my practice has had quite a significant development.  My practice has always been working with experimental forms of photography and I had previously played around at the borders of sound and sculptural forms of display but this was an undeveloped experiment for me previously.  In the last two years these are avenues that I have delved much deeper into and have been able to advance.

Between ’23-’24 I was able to take part in Sound Diaries with Sound Arts Research Unit – Oxford Brookes University where I spent a lot of time recording the sounds of my local park from trees and from underwater.  I really developed my understanding more from this time of how I wanted to work and how to get the best from the equipment I was using. Very much like Embracing Possibilities one of the real highlights of being a part of this was meeting other amazing artists who have similar interests.

At the beginning of Embracing Possibilities I was focusing on how we connect with green spaces and had just begun to look into ways my photographic practice could become more sustainable and ecologically conscious.  Since then sustainability has become a central research focus in my practice.  I have become increasingly intrigued by how we connect with other species and what the human and more-than-human relationship looks like within an arts context.  The sustainable side has developed and my research on that topic has grown.  In 2023 with Gwen Riley Jones we created work and organised events at the University of Salford supported by the Arts Collection called Sustaining Photography where we engaged with students, staff, and the local community to come and learn alternative photographic practices that were more ecologically friendly.  We also created work and had an outdoor exhibition that lasted almost a year.  This was an exciting time that only clarified for me the importance of having these conversations and the opening that photography can be in its expanded forms for starting those talks.

Since Oct 23 I have been artist in residence with Open Eye at their Wigan and Leigh Hub.  This has been a super exciting thing to be a part of.  I have been undertaking an environmental commission which I have focused on Wigan Flashes a post industrial site turned into a nature reserve.  It has been over a year of getting muddy, experimenting with different substances and plants, chatting with dog walkers, and listening to canal boats.  I was able to show the work created twice between October and December 24, the work became much more sculptural taking up more space than I have previously and part of that was the physicality of the sound work.  The work focuses on multi-species creation in the flashes as well as considering the ecological impact of what is made.

Ruth Flanagan

Lavinia Travis

Lavinia Haslam M.A, B.A(Hons)
Creative Arts Based Researcher, Co-Chair of REN (Race and Equality Network), Chair of GFSN Good Health and Well Being.

I am a single mother of two with African-European heritage, I embarked on my journey in the creative realm after graduating as a professional photographer from Bradford University in 1999. Following a life of adversity, I earnt my M.A in Fine Art 2022 and am an active grass roots member of black arts organisations across the north west.
Through my art, I seek to unravel the complex layers of life, often drawing on the “5 Ways to Wellbeing” framework to explore how creativity can foster resilience and community
belonging. My practice is deeply rooted in the values of race and climate justice, with a focus on education as a transformative tool. As an artist of African-European descent, I am
committed to amplifying diverse voices and advocating for inclusive cultural spaces that reflect all histories and experiences.

CVAN Northwest has played a pivotal role in shaping my journey as a creative. My first engagement as a paid artist took me to Blackpool Art Collaboration, where I connected with
like-minded artists who share my commitment to social justice. This opportunity allowed me to build lasting relationships and a rm the importance of collective action in the arts.
A subsequent visit to Granby Winter Street Gardens in Liverpool 8, guided by Laurence WestGaph, illuminated historical sites of memory that resonate deeply with my own family
history. The experience inspired me to further explore the Liverpool race riots and their connection to my roots, sparking a new line of creative inquiry.
At Tate Liverpool, I collaborated with LGBTQ+ communities to produce zines, using art as a medium to amplify silenced voices and challenge societal norms. These experiences
rea rmed my belief in art as a vehicle for meaningful change.

Water is a recurring theme in my work, representing both the resilience of nature and its calming effects on mental health. By incorporating materials such as cyanotypes, fabric, old
photography, and virtual reality, I aim to memorialise the past while advocating for racial equality and global social and climate justice.
The opportunities provided by CVAN Northwest have been instrumental in deepening my commitment to using art as a tool for advocacy, healing, and the pursuit of a more equitable
world. Through continued collaboration, I hope to contribute to a cultural landscape that honours all voices and histories, fostering connections that inspire collective resilience and
progress.

View Lavinia’s website here

Follow Lavinia on Instagram here

Grace Collins

What feels like luxury?

My name is Gee Collins, I’m an artist based in St Helens who’s interested in justice, access, social health and how people interact with art. I took part in some of the Embracing Possibilities sessions back in 2022, including a group meeting in Blackpool’s Art BnB and another in Liverpool’s Granby Winter Gardens. At that time, I was thinking about longing, luxury and desire and shared this with the other artists in a short activity by asking “What feels like luxury to you?”. My hypothesis was that when asked “What do you want?” some people hear ‘want’ as ‘need’ and will answer only within the realms of what they think is possible. This might mean that people who have more experience getting what they want continue to get what they want, while people that historically haven’t had their wants taken seriously, stop asking. 

My interest in getting people to speak their desires is tied up in my practice as a socially engaged artist, that is, an artist who considers conversation and relationships as an important medium within my work. I share this with many other socially engaged artists who find their interests and skills relevant to, or co-opted by, consultation processes:

“Indeed, socially engaged art has become a form of community-consultation-by-art that identifies, gathers, sanitises, archives and exploits the social capital of local people.  It operates on the principle of trust. Socially engaged artists are specialists in gaining the trust of community members; more likely to be trusted than business consultants.” – Stephen Pritchard

“The system is set up for working class people to be ‘engaged’ by ‘facilitators’ and ‘mentors’, who help them water down whatever they want to do in order that community aspirations align with those in positions of influence or power.” – Darren McGarvey, Poverty Safari, pg49

I don’t agree with these critiques entirely. I think that the ‘soft’ skills of relational work are also gendered, racialized and undervalued. I think the people who are best at getting people to chat together over a cup of tea are also people who are really good at listening and have had to (for whatever reason) get really good at making other people feel safe. I’ve experienced and seen the effects of good facilitation, which can create individual and group empowerment that makes real demands for a more just world. I also know many facilitators who co-opt the funding they can get access to, to share power and build community.

At the time of Embracing Possibilities, I was slowly growing a strong network through professional work and online platforms, but I was massively disconnected from community. I had few opportunities to create long-lasting connections with people who were different to me, partly through lack of access to stable housing. This dispossession was a barrier to my work: How could I say that I worked with communities when I didn’t belong to one of my own? 

Since the Embracing Possibilities sessions, I’ve had direct outcomes from our meetings, like working with Sue Flowers on research projects and featuring Cara Macwilliam’s work at STASHED in the Whitaker museum. More indirectly, by speaking about my concerns, I realised my own desires to be in community in my hometown (St Helens) and support a stronger arts ecology here. I learned that I didn’t only need this for my professional art practice, but also for the human part of me that needs to think about things with people and make art to process what arises from that. 

As of 2025, I’m working on a research project into the affordability of artist studios in St Helens, which you can find out more about via https://www.instagram.com/artistledsthelens/ I’m also focusing on my glass engraving practice, as a way to process my relationship to the industrial histories of my town.

Keep up to date with what I’m doing on Instagram and my website.

Joseph Travis

I’m Joseph I am a maker and creative based in Fleetwood. I have been working as a creative since 2010 when I started Red Fox Pottery with my other half straight out of university, where we opened a brick-and-mortar store after that closed my other half trained as a nurse and I worked to become more professional with my teaching. I also did a Masters by Research at the Manchester School of Art.

During the first session of the Embracing Possibilities project, I met the group at Art B&B at Blackpool and did a demonstration with my pottery wheel, as it was learning to throw on the wheel that gave me confidence and focus in my life. For the second session of Embracing Possibilities I painted live from my home office as the group did the tour of Granby and Liverpool, I painted the buildings they were looking at live on streaming.

Since participating in the Embracing Possibilities project I have developed my practice to reflect on social histories of place and focused more on the history and architecture of a place. This has led me to work in collaboration with organisations such as The New Langdale Photographers and Healthier Fleetwood. This led to my first-ever ACE project grant, which I ran over the summer of 2024.

The things that stuck with me from the project are the people I met on the project, their stories and their work and how they were trying to navigate the world with their work.

The project made me want to find my own path in all this, because working as a creative can be a hard slog at times and I was taking jobs that left me burnt out and exhausted all the time.  Since the project, I have been working at doing things so I can continue working as a creative.

Recently I submitted a second ACE Project Grant working with Partnerships I have developed in the town including Fleetwood Museum. Whilst that is being decided I have been working on some personal development and signed up to a Cultural Leadership Skills Bootcamp run by Blackpool and the Fylde College. Both these things are due in part to taking part in Embracing Possibilities and looking at alternative ways to develop my business as a creative.

Explore more of Joseph’s work here