Reflecting on the journey of Culture Labs, the people and places that have shaped it, and why neighbourhood-led cultural development matters more than ever.
14 October 2026
Today marks an important milestone for Culture Labs, as the AHRC Creative Communities programme launches new research exploring how community innovation can help shape the future of devolution across the UK.
For us at Local, it's an opportunity to reflect on a journey that began several years ago, rooted in a question that continues to shape our work:
How can we create the conditions for people to have greater agency in shaping the cultural life of their places and neighbourhoods?
It's a question that sits at the heart of our creative placemaking practice, and one that has guided the development of Culture Labs from its earliest beginnings.
Where it all began
The Culture Labs methodology emerged from the doctoral research of Local's founder and Creative Director, Dr Claire Tymon, exploring creative civic engagement and the role of culture in connecting people, communities and place.
In 2024, Local began working alongside CTConsults to support the development of the emerging Kirklees Cultural Strategy. This presented an opportunity to explore how the ambitions of a district-wide cultural strategy could be meaningfully connected to the people and communities it was intended to serve.
We were interested in the relationship between strategic cultural development and everyday cultural life. How could people influence decisions about culture in their neighbourhoods? How could existing creative networks, community assets and local knowledge be recognised? And how could cultural strategies move beyond consultation towards shared ownership and action?
These questions informed the development of Culture Labs as a participatory, place-based methodology designed to bring people together to explore the cultural life of their neighbourhoods, identify opportunities and develop collective action.
Our early pilots took place in Holmfirth and Batley libraries, creating welcoming spaces for conversations about culture, community and place. In Holmfirth, a photography walk led by artist Ellie Waters offered another way for participants to explore their surroundings, using creativity to open up conversations about how people experience and connect with their local environment.
These early experiences helped us test and refine the approach, reinforcing the importance of starting with people, their lived experiences and the cultural assets already present within communities.
An opportunity to deepen the research
In September 2025, Claire was appointed as an AHRC Creative Communities Community Innovation Practitioner, hosted by the University of Huddersfield's Centre for Cultural Ecologies.
This provided an exciting opportunity to build on the work already underway, bringing together academic research, creative practice and community knowledge to explore the potential of Culture Labs as a methodology for neighbourhood-led cultural development.
Working with Kirklees Council, the Culture Collective and a growing network of cultural and community partners, the research enabled Culture Labs to be developed and tested across four distinct places: Marsden, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury and Ashbrow.
Each place brought different experiences, challenges, strengths and ambitions. And each reminded us why a neighbourhood approach matters.
Through creative workshops, cultural asset mapping, storytelling, participatory filmmaking and collective action planning, participants explored what culture means to them, what is already happening in their communities and what might be possible in the future.
Crucially, the Labs weren't about arriving with a predetermined solution. They were about creating space for people to listen, connect, question, imagine and begin shaping their own priorities.
Different places, shared ambitions
Across the four Culture Labs, we encountered extraordinary generosity, creativity and commitment.
We met people who have spent years sustaining local cultural activity, often with limited resources. We heard from people who wanted to be more involved but didn't always know how to access opportunities or influence decisions. And we explored the barriers that can prevent communities from participating fully in cultural life.
While each neighbourhood had its own identity and priorities, some common themes emerged: the importance of accessible cultural spaces, stronger connections between people and organisations, increased space and visibility for local creativity, and opportunities for communities to influence decisions that affect them.
The research also highlighted the value of working at a neighbourhood scale, where relationships, trust and local knowledge can provide the foundations for meaningful cultural development.
For us, Culture Labs are not simply about developing cultural activity. They are about strengthening the relationships, confidence and collective agency that enable people to become active cultural citizens.
This has implications beyond the cultural sector, connecting with wider ambitions for community wellbeing, belonging, regeneration and civic participation.
Research shaped by collaboration
None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary people and organisations who have supported, challenged and contributed to the development of Culture Labs.
We are hugely grateful to the brilliant research team at the University of Huddersfield - Claire, Claire, Laura and Professor Rowan Bailey - for their encouragement, critical thinking and collaboration throughout the Community Innovation Practitioner programme.
Our thanks also go to colleagues at Kirklees Council, CTConsults, the Culture Collective and the many creative and community organisations who have contributed to the journey, including The Children's Art School, Kirklees Local Television (KLTV), WOVEN Festival and many others.
Participatory filmmaking became an important part of the research, helping participants explore and communicate their experiences through their own stories and perspectives. Special thanks go to our wonderful filmmaking collaborators, Alistair Macdonald, Chris Chinnock, Stuart and the Men's Talk team, and KLTV, for bringing such care, creativity and sensitivity to this process.
But above all, our greatest thanks go to the Culture Lab participants themselves.
To everyone who gave their time, shared their experiences, opened up conversations, challenged assumptions, contributed ideas and trusted us with their stories: thank you.
Research of this kind depends on relationships and trust. We recognise that participation requires time, energy and generosity, often from people who are already doing so much for their communities.
We hope that the connections, conversations and ideas developed through Culture Labs will continue to grow, and that participants feel able to take the baton forward in shaping the cultural futures of their neighbourhoods.
As Claire reflects:
"Culture Labs has always been about creating the conditions for people to have a greater say in the cultural life of their neighbourhoods. What has stayed with me most throughout this research is the generosity, creativity and commitment of the people who took part. They've reminded me that meaningful cultural development begins with relationships, trust and local knowledge.
My hope is that this research helps make the case for sustained investment in neighbourhood-led cultural development, so that the ideas, energy and ambitions emerging from Culture Labs can continue to grow. This isn't about delivering another short-term cultural project. It's about building the relationships, skills and infrastructure that enable communities to shape their own cultural futures."
Dr Claire Tymon, Founder and Creative Director of Local and AHRC Creative Communities Community Innovation Practitioner
Sharing the research and learning
Today, we're delighted to share three research outputs developed through Claire's AHRC Community Innovation Practitioner programme:
• A research case study, exploring the development and delivery of Culture Labs in Kirklees, the participatory methods used and the learning emerging from the process.
• A devolved policy paper, considering the wider significance of neighbourhood-led cultural development and how approaches such as Culture Labs can contribute to cultural democracy, civic participation and policymaking within devolved regions.
• A podcast, sharing reflections and insights from the Culture Labs journey and the people involved.
Together, these outputs offer an opportunity to share what we have learned with cultural practitioners, researchers, policymakers, local authorities and communities interested in more participatory approaches to cultural development.
Explore the Culture Labs case study
Read the devolved policy paper
You can also watch the Culture Labs CIP Showcase film below.
We'll also be sharing the final reports from the individual Culture Labs shortly, capturing the distinctive conversations, priorities and emerging actions developed in each place.
What happens next?
While today marks the culmination of the AHRC research programme, it is certainly not the end of the Culture Labs journey.
In many ways, it feels like the beginning of another important chapter.
Culture Labs have contributed to the development of the emerging Kirklees Cultural Strategy, demonstrating how district-wide cultural ambitions can be interpreted, shaped and activated at a neighbourhood level.
Our hope is that the research findings and recommendations will support Kirklees Council, the Cultural Strategy Steering Group and wider partners to embed the Culture Labs methodology within future cultural development and decision-making.
But the research also points to opportunities beyond Kirklees.
As greater powers and responsibilities are devolved to regions and local areas, there is an important question about how communities can meaningfully participate in shaping the decisions and investments that affect them.
Culture Labs offers an emerging approach to connecting neighbourhood knowledge and lived experience with cultural strategy, public policy and local decision-making. Its potential lies not only in supporting cultural development, but in strengthening the relationships, capabilities and civic infrastructure that enable communities to influence change.
If we want communities to play a meaningful role in shaping cultural development, we must invest in the conditions that make this possible.
That means recognising the time and commitment of local people, providing access to skills, resources and support, and creating opportunities for community-led ideas to influence wider strategies, partnerships and investment.
It also means ensuring that the relationships and trust built through participatory research are not lost when individual projects or funding programmes come to an end. Culture Labs remains a work in progress. The methodology will continue to evolve through practice, research and, most importantly, through collaboration with the people and places that shape it.
At Local, we are committed to championing Culture Labs and supporting opportunities for its continued development, working alongside communities, cultural partners, researchers and policymakers to explore how it can support more inclusive, democratic and sustainable approaches to place-based development.
We believe culture has an important role to play in strengthening communities, building connections and enabling people to influence the places where they live and work.
And we believe that the people who contribute to the cultural life of our neighbourhoods should have a meaningful voice in shaping what happens next.
The research may be complete, but the work of building more culturally democratic places continues.
And we look forward to seeing where Culture Labs goes next.
Acknowledgements
The Culture Labs methodology emerged from Dr Claire Tymon's doctoral research and was subsequently developed through her creative placemaking practice, including work undertaken through Local Creative Project in collaboration with CTConsults and Kirklees Council.
Claire's Community Innovation Practitioner research was undertaken at the University of Huddersfield as part of the AHRC Creative Communities programme, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and hosted by Northumbria University. The research was developed in collaboration with Kirklees Council, cultural and community partners, and Culture Lab participants across Kirklees.
