Article 2: Creative Impact in Practice – Insights from CIRCE’s Fellowship Programme 2024

Introduction

Creative impact possesses the transformative power to reshape societies by challenging norms, fuelling shared imagination, and directing collective action towards concrete social and socio-technical innovations. By exploring new models of narration, cultural collaboration, civic participation, and creative tools, creative impact endeavours work to build and strengthen communities and the social fabric, planting the seeds for them to become agents of impact in their own right. In essence, creative impact doesn’t just reflect the diversity in our social and cultural reality—it complements broader efforts of change, laying the groundwork for deeper shifts in how systems function and evolve.

Since the summer of 2022, CIRCE has been dedicated to fostering creative impact. This year, this focus continued with the Fellowship Programme, ‘Creative Impact in Practice,’ which took place from June 1st to October 31st, 2024. Ten researchers, creatives, and practitioners from Europe’s cultural and creative economies (CCE) undertook pilot projects centred on public purpose. Technically, the aim was to test and transfer knowledge and creative research into practice, applying and testing findings to develop new services, practices, processes, or products. The overarching goal was to ensure that these projects make a significant social impact, contributing positively to society through creative solutions along three key topics:

• Communities & Care: Emphasizing empowering communities, fostering inclusion, and promoting social justice, particularly for marginalised groups.
• Sustainability & Environment: Addressing the climate crisis and biodiversity loss by implementing sustainable practices
• Democracy & Participation: Enhancing democratic processes and uphold democratic principles, institutions, and practices in present-day societies.

In addition to financial support, Fellows benefitted from a comprehensive mentoring programme, community-based learning opportunities, and partnerships with external organisations to apply and test impact solutions in real-world settings in the form of pilot projects. The programme was made possible through the support of the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. Click here for further details on CIRCE’s Fellowship Programme.

Building on the insights gained from the Fellowship Programme, this article stems from CIRCE’s perspective that advancing knowledge on creative impact requires a shared learning process alongside the Fellows to understand its characteristics and mechanisms. It explores practical insights into how creative impact shows and unfolds in practice, providing information for social impact professionals, policymakers, and the CCE. The analysis includes documentation, observations of working methods and intended outcomes, and a survey of participants, as well as interviews aiming to contribute to the broader discourse on the role of culture and CCE for societal challenges.

Cultural and creative practices fuel Inclusion, Representation, and Social Innovation

As elaborated in Article 1, creative impact can be defined as the impact generated through cultural and creative practices. Within CIRCE and similar contexts, it has the unique ability to highlight complex social issues, making them accessible and emotionally resonant. Through participatory approaches inherent to cultural engagement, it fosters trust, builds networks, and coordinates collective efforts towards social and socio-technical innovations. By connecting with people on a personal level, these targeted creative initiatives amplify unheard voices, promote inclusive action, and drive social change.

CIRCE’s three thematic areas—Community & Care, Democracy & Participation, and Sustainability & Environment—are intentionally designed to develop mission-oriented solutions for societal challenges across distinct fields. A significant commonality emerges in the way Fellows assess and analyse these varied topics. The emphasis on fairness, representation and inclusivity stands out as a unifying thread, either explicitly with a clear focus, such as in the Community & Care cluster, or by integrating these principles into the way Fellows approach social issues in Democracy & Participation. Even within the Sustainability & Environment cluster, these initiatives reveal the intricate connections between environmental challenges and social justice, or emphasizing the importance of collective engagement.

The societal challenges addressed in the Fellowship Programme span a diverse range, including inequalities in access to resources and representation, the absence of inclusive and commercially viable tools and solutions, the impacts of urbanisation and the decline of community spaces, as well as the pressing issues of climate change and environmental crises.

For instance, Trousers to Climb Trees acknowledges neurodiversity as a natural aspect of human experience and co-designs clothing that caters to the sensory needs of neurodivergent individuals, ensuring that they have access to everyday appeal that meets their requirement. Being historically a vehicle by which many bodies and minds have been excluded, the pilot project contributes to transforming fashion into a more inclusive domain.

Another example is Greening on the Verge. The pilot actively addresses environmental challenges by empowering black and brown communities in heat-prone neighbourhoods lacking green spaces. Recognising that climate change disproportionately impacts marginalised populations, the project facilitates residents’ active participation in creating and maintaining local greenery and hence contributes to inclusion and climate justice.

In many cases, the impact of these projects is directly felt within the CCE itself, illustrating that current socio-economic pressures of the sector intersect with the broader social issues. The Queer Space Project empowers LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs to launch and operate their own venues, directly addressing systemic inequities in the music industry. Through mentorship, peer learning, and community building, the pilot ensures that venue ownership becomes attainable for those who have historically faced barriers and marginalisation in business. Körperkino is another example. It introduces a new approach to storytelling that empowers underrepresented communities to share their own narratives through collaborative and participatory methods. By applying these methods in journalism and the sphere of cultural heritage, Körperkino sparks critical discourse on ethics in media and culture, power imbalances, and the need for equitable collaborations.

The focus on broadening access, diverse participation, and equitable representation within creative impact is both significant and to be expected. Traditionally, culture and the CCE have a representational function showcasing a diversity of perspectives. However, their institutions have historically excluded certain groups and narratives, making the cultural sector itself a subject of contradiction. By acknowledging that culture itself can act as a barrier to social progress, creative impact initiatives highlight this ongoing transformation within the sector. These pilots address contradictions of the sector by challenging existing power structures—specifically, who controls cultural production, how content is disseminated, and whose voices are amplified.

Own lived experiences shape the very nature of working on creative impact

Creative impact initiatives often originate from own lived experiences. Personal encounters with societal issues—whether in private or professional life, or observations from the immediate social environment—are driving motivation for change. In many cases, belonging to the very community facing those societal challenges gives individuals first-hand insight into specific issues. This connection allows to identify meaningful opportunities for making a difference and tailoring solutions to actual needs.

Deep involvement in creative impact work carries several implications. On the one hand, immersion allows to address societal issues more effectively by enabling a closer understanding of the challenges faced by communities. This proximity facilitates the ability to mobilise relationships, access resources, and activate networks crucial for creative impact work. It also allows to identify overlooked opportunities and encourages entrepreneurial thinking in developing solutions for typically unmet needs. By focusing on these more immediate and attainable opportunities, fellows generate meaningful effects already in the process of their work. This is to show, that proximity to a challenge is an important aspect in both design and effectiveness of impact.

On the other hand, being embedded in these communities can impose an additional psychological burden. Creative impact work demands a deep commitment to places, communities, and individuals. The same closeness that enables meaningful work also intensifies the sense of accountability and responsibility. Operating within dense relational networks often brings a strong sense of duty, which can itself become a source of stress. This pressure compounds the challenges already present in the CCE, where precarious working conditions are common.

Supporting creative impact initiatives as an organisation requires a reimagined approach to accountability—one that prioritizes care without compromising transparency. Within the Fellowship Programme, this was achieved by streamlining reporting and documentation requirements to reduce administrative burdens while ensuring accountability through trust-based, transparent collaboration between CIRCE and the Fellows. Clear expectations, open communication, and regular check-ins allowed for effective oversight while fostering strong, supportive relationships.

At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that the Fellowship Programme was not without its challenges. The late approval of projects and the condensed five-month timeline placed considerable pressure on both Fellows and the programme itself. Many Fellows ambitiously set high goals—sometimes to secure their selection or due to underestimating the complexities involved—which contributed to additional stress. Recognising these factors, CIRCE sought to mitigate pressures where possible, ensuring that participants could focus on delivering meaningful impact. By balancing close engagement, intentional care, and robust accountability frameworks, organisations can create environments where creative impact work remains focused and achievable.

Delivering Creative Impact – Exploring Key Modes of Action

Beyond the similarities in themes and conditions, the approaches to working and delivering on societal challenges reveal distinct patterns that seem to be characteristic of creative impact. Expanding upon research by Julie Battilana & Marissa Kimey (2017) on social change, an examination of the various modes and mechanisms used in creative impact work reveals three clear categories:

• Raising awareness: Through creative productions and cultural formats awareness of values, ethics, and lifestyles is effectively being raised. By engaging people with these themes, fellows bring social issues into focus and emphasise the importance of addressing them.

• Innovating Solutions: Fellows develop new approaches to societal problems, whether commercial (e. g. products, services, or business models), or in forms of commons (e. g. toolkits, practices, knowledge resources, and cultural artefacts). These efforts not only address immediate needs but also equip communities to act as agents, driving and scaling creative impact.

• Co-creating: Fellows create opportunities for various actors and stakeholders to come together and coordinate around shared issues and solutions. By leveraging creative formats and promoting cultural participation, they foster collaboration and co-creation within emerging networks, thereby building stronger communities.

Each of these modes of working addresses different key domains responsible for generating creative impact: awareness as a foundation for change, innovation as a response to challenges, and collaboration as a means of scaling and sustaining solutions. Taken together, they form a comprehensive approach that combines visibility, ingenuity, and inclusivity to achieve meaningful societal outcomes. Fellows often blend these modes, recognising that none is sufficient in isolation: Awareness must lead to solutions, innovation must be scalable, and collaboration must underpin sustained impact.

For Reimagining Stories in the Anthropocene, raising awareness lies at the very core of the pilot. The initiative highlights the ‘power of cinema to influence individual environmental behaviour’ and explores innovative approaches to impact investing in cinematic storytelling to enhance this transformative potential.

Körperkino advances the idea of storytelling by pioneering an entirely new methodology of co-narration, aiming to provide ‘people tools to have agency over their own narratives and also supporting that through partnerships with those actors and outlets that amplify and broadcast these narratives.’ To achieve this, Körperkino works in close collaboration with journalists from Deutsche Welle, striving to integrate this approach into mainstream media.

Survival Kits for Artivist Communities tackles the distinct challenges faced by art-activist collectives operating in a sector often marked by limited structural support. Through facilitated workshops on self-reflection, community mapping, and capacity-building, the pilot empowers collectives to strengthen their internal resilience. These targeted interventions equip communities to navigate an increasingly complex political landscape and sustain their creative and activist efforts.

Caring Culture highlights the lack of communication and support between grassroots cultural centres and public authorities in Slovakia. It facilitates dialogue through workshops and cultural events, bringing together cultural managers and political decision-makers. Also, by collaborating with audiences and local grassroots initiatives, it develops transferable best practices, aiming to inspire more caring, inclusive, and value-based cultural policies locally and beyond.

The pilot Spaceship SEZhighlights the importance of public involvement in shaping urban spaces, using the contentious development plans for Berlin’s iconic Sports and Recreational Centre (SEZ) as a focal point. By introducing cooperative community archives and world-building as artistic methods of storytelling, the pilot aims to strengthen public participation and inspire visions of alternative futures. To foster more inclusive and community-driven urban development, the pilot allows collaboration with residents, artists and urban planners.

Pilots such as Trousers to Climb Trees and Lou & You demonstrate how co-creation is seamlessly integrated into innovation processes, utilising human-centered design or co-design methods with users during product development. Maureen, the founder of Trousers to Climb Trees, emphasises that co-design principles rooted in the CCE are ‘unique in that they improve the quality of participation.’ Moreover, a design principle that caters towards human needs is essential for success, particularly when addressing underserved communities. Isabel, the founder of Lou & You, emphasises the importance of engaging communities ‘in a way that engages them personally, emotionally, and with care.’

Collaborating and co-creation for sustaining and scaling creative impact is also part of the pilot Empowering Democracy. It has developed a business model around creative campaigns designed to promote democratic values on social media. By partnering with private companies committed to pluralistic principles, the pilot seeks to extend its reach and deepen its impact.

From a cultural policy perspective, it is therefore essential to consider all dimensions of creative impact work. While experimental projects and local community collaborations are important, the advocacy-oriented and partially activist aspects are crucial for achieving outreach and engagement. Experimentation, local collaboration, and advocacy are distinct yet interconnected domains of creative impact. Understanding their interplay is essential, as each enhances the overall effect and contributes to success.

Although funding for innovation in the CCE increasingly acknowledges the value of experimentation and hence the need for bureaucratic flexibility, and while social work in arts and culture emphasises local collaboration and relationship building, the advocacy work integral to creative impact often goes unrecognised by public funders. This oversight is significant, as it is only through the integration of advocacy with experimentation and community collaboration that meaningful impact and systemic change can be achieved. Awareness-building not only mobilises communities but also empowers them to co-create and adapt solutions. Funders supporting creative impact initiatives should take these nuances into account when designing support measures to ensure they align with the unique needs and dynamics of such projects.

What makes creative impact unique?

Although not always deliberate, the Fellows’ work inherently reflects a systemic approach to tackling complex problems (see also Article 1). The intended impacts of these pilot projects are as varied as their perspectives. Across the board, the pilots aim to achieve long-term societal change by transforming social norms, promoting equity, and building powerful ideas and visions towards a more inclusive and sustainable future. Many focus on direct improvements for individuals, enhancing lives and well-being through participatory practices or targeted, empathetic tools and interventions. Others emphasise strengthening communities through physical spaces, highlighting the essential role of infrastructures and environments in fostering participation, belonging, and collective empowerment. Running through all these efforts is a unifying theme: culture.

Creative impact often takes shape through culture as a collective domain within society. Culture encompasses the material, intellectual, and emotional attributes that define a society, including its arts, lifestyles, human rights, value systems, traditions, beliefs, and practices. Choosing to operate within this shared domain offers significant advantages for addressing societal challenges, as the fellows’ pilot projects demonstrate.

Many pilot projects focus on delivering cultural and creative innovations in the form of resources and practice that address specific challenges and empower communities. These innovations aim not only to meet immediate needs but also to transform the ways those needs have traditionally been addressed.

Resources such as products, services, and toolkits emerging from the CCE are central to the pilots’ impact strategies. Some initiatives focus on directly addressing individual or community needs, particularly in terms of health and well-being (e. g.  Lou & You and Trousers to Climb Trees). Others act as empowerment tools, enabling communities to take ownership of their challenges (e. g.  Greening on the Verge and Survival Kit for Artivist Communities). Through directly meeting needs or enabling self-sustaining dynamics, these projects create impact that is both immediate and ongoing. Empowered communities, in turn, often contribute to creative impact themselves, further amplifying the reach and sustainability of the intended efforts of the pilots.

While resources aim to fulfil unmet needs, the practices embedded in the pilots redefine how these needs are addressed. Fellows develop innovative methodologies, techniques, and approaches that transform production and dissemination logics within the CCE. Central to these practices is an emphasis on participation and co-creation. By actively involving affected communities in research and solution-building, the pilots ensure that their approaches are context-specific, widely accepted, and sustainable. Examples include human-centred design (Lou & You), participatory storytelling (Körperkino), co-design (Trousers to Climb Trees), and community-building strategies (Spaceship SEZ and Caring Culture). These methods integrate the lived experiences, expertise, and talents of community members into the innovation process. By doing so, they not only deliver more effective solutions but also introduce inclusive production models within the CCE, fostering equity, shared ownership, and collaborative engagement.

Narratives, as both products and practices, have a prominent role in pilots as they shape societal mental models. They are not only means for conveying facts but also tools of inspiring collective action. Stories have a unique ability to resonate with people, and the pilots leverage this by evoking emotions, making complex social issues relatable, and motivating action (e. g. Reimagining Stories in the Anthropocene). Through participatory media and visual storytelling (e.g., Empowering Democracy), the pilots challenge dominant narratives and norms, working to create more inclusive, democratic, and balanced alternatives. Storytelling is used to counteract the instrumentalisation of narratives by extremist groups and restore balance to public discourse. By fostering dialogue and reflection, these initiatives open up new possibilities for societal transformation. They also demonstrate how culture can effectively amplify ideas and practices, ensuring they resonate within communities and promote constructive change. When social initiatives are rooted in cultural contexts, they tend to be embraced more readily than those relying solely on political, scientific, or economic approaches.

Cultural spaces and infrastructures also play a critical role in the pilots. They serve as hubs for social exchange, where communities can collaborate and shape decisions about spaces tied to their cultural heritage and identity. For example, Spaceship SEZ functions as a place for recreation, respite, and community gathering, fostering shared experiences and collective moments. Moreover, it serves as a living archive of past memories, reflecting its role as a space where historical narratives remain alive and tangible. Beyond serving as gathering places, cultural spaces often become refuges where individuals with shared identities or experiences can find solidarity and empowerment. Projects like the Queer Space Project highlight how such safer spaces engage resource sharing, personal growth, and community building.

All these examples demonstrate that culture as a shared domain is an effective means of addressing social challenges. It enables changes to be deeply rooted in society more profoundly than when originating from domains like science, politics, or economics by building on shared values, norms, and practices. By utilizing cultural mechanisms, social initiatives can be communicated, accepted, and implemented more effectively, ultimately leading to sustainable and profound societal transformations.

While it is often emphasised that culture alone cannot solve social problems, it is nevertheless an important catalyst for initiating social change. It shapes key dynamics within systems — including practices, narratives, resource flows, relationships, and mental models — that sustain these issues. As such, creative impact, in collaboration with actors from various sectors and societal spheres, serves as a vital force for transformation. Strategically, it holds significant potential for policymakers by fostering cross-sectoral cooperation, inspiring more responsive policyframeworks, and promoting inclusive, community-driven solutions to complex systemic challenges.

References

Arjunraj (2024). Körperkino: An Interactive Toolkit and App Prototype for Collaborative Storytelling. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Battilana, J., & Kimsey, M. (2017). Should You Agitate, Innovate, or Orchestrate? Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://doi.org/10.48558/3YGB-3M56.

Beaumond, Flore (2024). A New Financial Model for Supporting and Distributing New Environmental Stories. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Henschen, Isabel (2024). Lou&You. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Laverty, Maureen S. (2024). Trousers to Climb Trees. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

N.N. (2024). Empowering Democracy. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Raiselis, Diana (2024). Queer Space Project. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Schrade, Nepo (2024). Greening on the Verge: A starter-kit for community-led public realm interventions in Berlin. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Schulz, Jorinde (2024). A toolbox of creative strategies for participation in urban development processes. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Tóthová, Barbora A. (2024). Caring Culture. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.

Yin, Aiwen (2024). Survival Kits for Intentional Communities. CIRCE Fellow Report 2024 – Creative Impact in Practice. Online.