Our Civic Programme puts community knowledge, expertise and skill at the forefront of what we do, and acts as a period of active research and development for our Associates Programme curriculum. The programme builds upon and extends the long-term relationships that we have built with local communities and organisations in Kent.

The Civic Programme responds directly to the gaps in the pipeline from early years to state school to higher arts education, providing opportunities for people of all ages to access and engage in creative projects guided by artists, thinkers and practitioners.

This programme is about community shaping and building, establishing longer-term creative projects that can situate art practice in non-traditional settings, such as healthcare centres and libraries. Projects have tangible impacts on wellbeing, access, community led expertise and social cohesion. They look to build cross sector partnerships and help participants shape their communities with support of the partner organisations.

The Civic Programme is also focussed on developing a new generation of Associate artists trained to work in a responsive way with site-specific ecologies and communities. Each year Associates meet the communities OSE are working with and have opportunities to develop projects and bonds with them, guided by the theme of each year and the lead artist. This gives Associates real-world experience of planning and delivering community led and social practice art co-devised with communities.

This programme strives to foreground the role of art practice in wider society by developing and delivering long term, cross sector partnerships and creative projects that can situate art practice in non-traditional civic settings, such as healthcare spaces, libraries and residential homes. This work  enables community shaping and building with tangible impacts on social outcomes, including wellbeing; special cohesion, health; education; inclusion and access and will help community members to shape their communities with support of the partner organisations we work with.