Within the cohort are disabled-led dance, theatre and live performers Gateway Arts, children’s theatre and puppeteers Barmpot Theatre, theatre-maker Ben Norris, award winning writer Emma-Louise Howell and composer Jenni Pinnock with writers Helen Arney and Brian Mackenwells. 

The range of artistic work includes spoken word performances set on treadmills that delve into the nature of elite sport, new musicals celebrating Lincolnshire’s own mathematician Charlotte Scott and the first all-female fire brigade, contemporary dance pieces exploring fatherhood against a backdrop of brutalist design, playful exhibitions bringing Lincolnshire’s rare chalk streams to life, and innovative performances that tackle the housing crisis through technology. 

To date the Innovate Artist scheme has successfully fostered creative ecologies, engaging 11 artists so far, with these five new additions bringing the total to 16. Current artists are presenting captivating new works such as Captain Godfrey and the Last Shanty and Community Resilience: Private View at Lincoln Arts Centre throughout April. 

The Innovate Artist scheme is designed to build and maintain artists local to or with a dedicated practice within Lincolnshire or within 40 miles of Lincoln. Artists are supplied with tools to further their creative ideas, including business strategy support, advocacy, and a network of partners open to presentation opportunities, rehearsal space in-kind, complimentary tickets for go-see trips, staff time, and mentoring. 

Explore all the artists here.

This is all made possible and powered by the Centre for Culture and Creativity at the University of Lincoln, a ‘think and do tank’, researching and leading on cultural programmes and creativity, who secured the University’s Arts Council National Portfolio status in April 2023.  

The University of Lincoln is one of 12 universities to be included in Arts Council England’s National Portfolio of Organisations. This recognition, from the foremost agency for creativity and culture, means that the University of Lincoln can now be considered one of the premier venues for arts and cultural provision in the UK. As part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio of Organisations, the University deliver projects and activities through the Lincoln Arts Centre and Barbican Creative Hub.