Our Artists

Create’s professional artists

Our programmes are delivered by exceptional artists who share our commitment to empowering lives.

All are professionals in their specialist fields (eg musicians, photographers, dancers) who have outstanding communication skills and a wealth of experience in leading creative arts projects in community settings. They act as facilitators, encouraging, inspiring and motivating our participants to explore their creativity, develop existing and new life skills, become more confident and have fun. All participants’ contributions are encouraged and valued: their ideas and the development of their creativity are at the heart of every Create project.

We provide our artists with free professional development opportunities every six months through our Artist Sharing days, which enable them to network, enhance their workshop skills and learn from professionals in our community settings. Each day – delivered by external speakers and our artists – has a particular focus, for example, recently: Alzheimer’s; the environment/sustainability; prisoners; wellbeing, young psychiatric patients.

Read interviews with some of our artists by clicking below. To apply to join our artist pool, check our vacancies page for details.

RACHEL MCGIVERN (visual artist)

“Creativity is really valuable to everyone. It gives us the time and space to explore an idea without the pressure of it being anything other than an idea and enjoy just the free flow of it.”

Beth Coleman (dancer)

“I was really concerned that that connection you get from dancing together wouldn’t happen via Zoom, but by day three it fizzed into life.”

MIKE POYSER (musician)

“Whether you’re writing a song about spreadsheets, or about some of the most intimate emotions you’re experiencing in life, creativity is an important tool which enables you to reflect on how you’re feeling.”

Nurturing Talent

We are committed to investing in artists, enabling them to develop the skills and experience to run high-quality creative arts workshops in challenging community settings.

Our Nurturing Talent programme gives six emerging artists each year the opportunity to work as supporting artists on a range of our projects, attend professional development training days and work in pairs to design and deliver their own workshop in a community setting. Each artist receives a bursary; and collectively they support hundreds of workshops across the year.

“NURTURING TALENT HAS BEEN THIS AMAZING PLACE WHERE WE’VE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE SOME SPACE, LOOK AT OTHER PEOPLE’S PRACTICES AND WORK ACROSS DISCIPLINE. IT HAS PROVIDED US WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER AND FROM REALLY EXPERIENCED ARTISTS.”
autumn sharkey – Nurturing Talent 2022/23

Applications for 2025/26 are now open. To find out more about the scheme, click here.

Watch the short video below to hear from some of our current Nurturing Talent artists.