Creative mindsets - bias and belonging in the creative arts studio

This episode of interrogating spaces brings together the organisers and student and alumni facilitators of the Creative Mindsets initiative that has been running at UAL since 2017.

Creative Mindsets works to improve attainment by developing growth mindsets to address stereotype threat and bias. It has delivered over 150 workshops with both staff and students in the last two years.

The podcast presents a focused discussion of different aspects and occurrences of bias within the UAL learning environment and beyond. The recording gave space for honest feedback and a chance to discuss real-life experiences on the phenomenon of bias at a range of levels, from the personal to the systemic. Through this, the discussion can inform a way forward for a more empathetic teaching practice that incorporates a sense of belonging within the studio environment
Podcast Contributors:

Ernestine Chua
Ernestine is a second year student studying BA Illustration & Visual Media at London College of Communication.

Humiraa Firdaws
Humiraa is a second year student studying BA Illustration & Visual Media at London College of Communication. Instagram: @whatihadinmind

Vikki Hill
Vikki Hill is Educational Developer: Attainment (Identity and Cultural Experience) and is also a Senior Fellow of the HEA. Vikki is part of the Attainment Team and works with staff and students across UAL to develop inclusive pedagogies and practices to address inequitable outcomes for students with particular focus on psycho-social phenomena such as bias, belonging and compassion. Vikki leads the Creative Mindsets initiative.

E. Okobi
E is an educator and interdisciplinary artist who works with performance, sound, video and text. She has devised and performed in social practice art staged at museums such as the British and Brooklyn Museums, and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). She has developed and facilitated educational programming for New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), and the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. She is also a journalist and writer.

Joel Simpson
Joel Simpson is an artist whose practice involves walking tours of London, focusing on how histories of colonisation shape the design of urban public spaces. He graduated from BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts in June 2018. In September 2018, Joel started co-delivering Creative Mindsets workshops, before becoming Project Assistant from July - December 2019.
_______________________________________________________________________

Many thanks to the technicians and staff within the Sound Design programmes at LCC for helping to make this recording happen.

More information on Creative Mindsets can be found here: https://ualcreativemindsets.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

Creative Mindsets is delivered by:
Vikki Hill, Educational Developer (Attainment), is the main contact for information.
Professor Susan Orr, UAL Dean of Learning, Teaching and Enhancement