33,000 everyday artists
33,000 everyday artists at King’s aimed to unlock the potential of staff, students and faculty through embedding an ‘everyday culture of creativity’ across the university.
It tested the hypothesis that creativity and creative potential can be recognised, integrated and embedded into every area of life at King’s in a systematic and sustainable way.
Within every member of staff or student at King’s College London beats a creative heart. Some beat louder than others. Some might struggle to think of themselves as creative. But whether it’s writing and drawing, researching and dancing, thinking and questioning, inventing and playing, everyone has something they’re passionate about – something uniquely creative, original and worth valuing.
In the spring term of 2016 the university celebrated, encouraged and brought to life the 33,000 everyday artists that form the cultural community at King’s. From January onwards – playing on the alumni portraits at the front of buildings on the Strand and Waterloo campuses – the project started to build an interactive digital artwork celebrating and showcasing the extraordinary individuals that make up King’s. All students and staff were encouraged to share their passions, inspirations and hobbies to create a growing repository of everyday creativity.
During the project, creative activities popped up across King’s inspiring staff and students to do, think and share their creative endeavours. In March 2016 the project launched the ultimate 31 day creative challenge – a series of simple daily prompts designed for every one of the 33,000 everyday artists at King’s. The 31 day challenge invited people across the university to complete a creative task, think about how it affects them and share that with colleagues and friends – exploring, documenting, designing, questioning, making up, composing, playing and reflecting as part of their daily life.
Project Films
A film about the 33,000 Everyday Artists project:
The project formed part of the 64 Million Artists campaign and more details are available in the video below:
Research sketchbook
The 33,000 Everyday Artists Research Sketchbook is a research blog to accompany the project with contributions from the project team. Blog entries include keeping the playspace open for creativity and artists interviews that were part of the 64 Million Artists project.
Project team
64 Million Artists
64 Million Artists was co-founded by Jo Hunter and David Micklem in April 2014. They have worked with organisations and funders such as Arts Council England, Brighton and Hove City Council, Arts Admin, Julie’s Bicycle, King’s Place and Creative People and Places projects in Blackpool and the North East.
David Micklem and Jo Hunter are experienced producers, cultural leaders and strategic thinkers with a demonstrable track record in supporting artists, delivering significant arts projects and influencing policy.
David has played a central role in some of the most talked-about performance projects of the last decade including Punchdrunk’s mould-breaking The Masque of the Red Death, Royal de Luxe’s The Sultan’s Elephant, BAC’s One-on-One Theatre Festival and WildWorks’ BABEL. From 2007 until 2012 he was Joint Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Battersea Arts Centre, a ground-breaking theatre in South London. As a corporate trainer for creativity specialists Upping Your Elvis he has worked with clients such as Diageo and ITV.
Jo was Head of Strategic Development at Battersea Arts Centre and has worked as a programmer, practitioner, producer and funder with organisations such as Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Youth Music, DCMS, Julie’s Bicycle and as part of the Bristol City of Circus. In the corporate world she has worked with clients such as Channel 4, BBC and Land Securities.
For 33,000 Everyday Artists, they collaborated with Dr Nick Wilson and Dr Laura Speers from the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King’s.
Dr Nick Wilson
Nick's research and teaching focuses on the transformational potential of creative and artistic engagement in everyday life. He is Deputy Head of the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, King’s College London, and Programme Director of the MA Arts & Cultural Management. He is also an editor of the Journal of Critical Realism, and training to teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. His book The Art of Re-enchantment: Making Early Music in the Modern Age was published by Oxford University Press in 2014.
Dr Laura Speers
Laura joined CMCI in September 2015. She was previously Postdoctoral Associate for Knowledge Exchange and Postgraduate Training at Queen Mary University of London. Laura’s PhD explored the identity politics of participants of the London hip-hop scene, focusing on how artists negotiate authenticity and what 'keeping it real' means lived out on a day-to-day basis. Her monograph, Hip-Hop Authenticity and London Scene, which is based on her PhD research, is due out with Routledge early 2017.
33,000 everyday artists is a collaboration between King's College London's Department of Culture, Media &Creative Industries and 64 Million Artists. It was supported by the university's Culture team.