Creativity is not just for artists, it’s for everyone

About us

At CoCreate, we offer the tools and safe spaces for you to explore self-expression. Creativity helps us rediscover the playfulness, joy, and wonder we experienced as children. This concept emphasises the vibrant and accessible nature of creativity. By engaging in artistic activities, we can reconnect with our inner child, finding joy and wonder in everyday life.

It’s how you feel

Your journey with us can build a sense of inner strength, completeness, and wellbeing. We offer a better way, providing the tools needed to foster deeper conversations and connections with ourselves and others around us. The work we do goes beyond our lifetimes, as being creative is not just beneficial for individuals but essential for all of us over the long term.

  • Got an idea but not sure how to get it started? We’ll work with you from the first spark of inspiration through to the final report, helping you design and deliver a project you’ll be proud of. Our support includes consultation, research, training, project design and delivery – all aimed at creating meaningful projects that engage communities and help people feel better and live better. Get in touch for an informal chat about how we can CoCreate together.

Our services

  • We know evaluation matters – not just for funders, but for learning, improving, and sharing your impact. As practitioners, we understand the challenges of making evaluation both meaningful and manageable. Using a mix of creative and traditional methods, including Theory of Change, we’ll help you capture outcomes and stories that reflect your work. Whether built in from the start or added at the end, we’ll work with you to shape an impact narrative that makes sense and makes a difference.

  • We offer training for artists, organisations and commissioners who want to deliver or support participatory arts. For artists, we provide mentoring and bespoke packages to help develop creative practice in community settings. For organisations, we offer training that builds knowledge and confidence to design effective programmes. Topics range from project planning, ethics and accessibility to evaluation, wellbeing practice and working with vulnerable people. Join one of our workshops or contact us to create a tailored package that meets your needs.

Meet our directors

  • Co-director

    Anna is a socially-engaged artist and an experienced project manager, arts fundraiser and evaluator. She started her career working in adult mental health services but has worked in local authority arts development since 2000. During this time she developed a particular interest in arts, health and wellbeing; working with numerous groups, individuals and organisations on wide-ranging creative projects. 

    Anna knows from her own lived experience the power of the arts to support mental health and emotional wellbeing, to aid recovery and to make sense of our experiences.

    She brings her skills in puppetry and visual arts, her passion for working with people and the firm belief that inspiration and beauty can be found all around. 

  • Co-director

    Gemma is a lived experience theatre maker, writer and community artist.
    In 2008 she co-founded the award winning, York based, organisation Converge, and led the work of Out of Character theatre company.

    Through this work she developed a love for working in arts and mental health, produced events, new performances, and worked across art forms to mentor community artists of the future. 

    Gemma is trained in contemporary theatre, and has worked professionally across the sector working with charities, venues, and with touring companies, sharing her expertise in community and participation work.

    She has shared her knowledge of arts and mental health work for academic publications and conferences. Gemma is a visiting lecturer, and teaches in further education. She has a special interest in evaluation, documentation, and training for the sector. 

  • Co-director

    Rosie is a visual artist whose work is based on place and space. Her art practice is focused on her experience of life and the world we live in.

    She also has over 20 years experience of working in the arts. Including senior roles such as the International Arts Manager for the Arts Council of Wales, and freelance work, project management, research and fundraising in support of a wide range of community led arts projects. Her belief that access to arts and culture has the ability to change lives underpins what she does.  Many of her projects with the community use textiles from large-scale community banners to slow stich sessions, all of which support ideas of taking time through creativity.

    She has continued to combine her own personal practice alongside working as a community arts practitioner most recently becoming a co-director of CoCreate. These roles complement each other as her art comes from life with the emphasis on reflecting the everyday. She works mainly with recycled, found and natural materials and is currently investigating ways of working without creating further waste, through continuing repurposing of found objects and materials as well as film, photography, sound and performance.

Who we’ve worked with

All CoCreate projects are developed collaboratively. Together we work to make beautiful things happen; using the arts and creativity to enable people to connect, to tell their stories and transform their lives.

  • Access Wellbeing at Hope House

    Bournemouth Central Primary Care Network

    Bournemouth University

    Dorset Blind Association

    Dorset Community Foundation

    Dorset Deaf Activities Group

    Dorset Museum

    Extraordinary Bodies

    Health and Nature Dorset

    Lighthouse Poole

    Millbrook Healthcare

    Poole Museum

    Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum

    Talbot Village Trust

    The Powerhouse Poole

    Wiltshire and Dorset Deaf Association

  • ArtCare

    Arts by the Sea Festival

    Arts Development Company

    BCP Council

    Bournemouth University

    CAN/Public Health Dorset

    Christchurch Primary Care Network

    Dorset Council

    Parks in Mind – The Park Foundation

    Poverty Truth Commission

    Salisbury District Hospital

    Sandy Hill Arts

    University Hospitals Dorset (UHD)

    Victoria Hospital (Wimborne)

  • BCP Living Legacies

    Community Action Network / Public Health Dorset

    Community Wellbeing and Mental Health Fund

    Dorset Community Foundation

    People’s Health Trust

    People’s Postcode Lottery

    Postcode Community Trust

    Talbot Village Trust

    The National Lottery Communities Fund

Contact us

CoCreate operates from a digital office, and we centre our activities within the communities we serve.

You can get in touch by email, the form on this page, or through social media. We’re happy to hear from you whichever way feels easiest.

Our door is always open for you to reach out. Please note our team works part-time and often remotely away from computers.

We’ll respond as soon as possible during working hours, which are weekdays from 10am to 6pm.

Email
info@cocreate.org.uk