PACE - Performance and Creative Enterprise

This is episode 3 in a special series for miaaw.net about social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s-2020s. 
The series is hosted by Jo Gibson (Research Fellow, Institute for Social Justice, York St John University) and Sophie Hope (co-lead of the De-centre for socially engaged practice and research at Guildhall School of Music and Drama).
 Echoes and the Unsaid 
 
EPISODE 03 | MARCH 27 | 2026 
PARTICIPANTS
Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope
COMMENTARY
In this episode we meet John Sloboda (Emeritus Professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Director of the Institute), Imogen Flower (researcher and evaluator), Toby Young (Professor of Composition at Guildhall School) and Maia Mackney (Public Engagement and Evaluation Manager at Guildhall School). 
We talk about their involvement in The Institute for Social Impact Research in the Performing Arts at Guildhall School which ran from 2019-2023. We find out more about how and why it started, its framing within the Research Excellence Framework, critical insights into debates about social impact, evidence and impact agendas and the burgeoning role of practice-research at Guildhall School. Thanks go to all our podcast contributors and to Rachel Kellet who couldn’t join us for this episode and everyone else who was part of Institute’s work.
 
REFERENCES
Music for Social Impact research project
https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/research-engagement-services/research/externally-funded-research/music-for-social-impact
SIMM platform https://www.simm-platform.eu/
COMA – contemporary music for all https://www.coma.org/
Embracing the Messiness: A Creative Approach to Participatory Arts Evaluation article by Maia Mackney and Toby Young (2021) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09548963.2021.2000330 
Whose social impact is it anyway? Directionality and the potential of affect in community music article by Impogen Flower (2024) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09548963.2024.2424580
Karen Wise and Cressida Lindsey music therapy evaluation in schools ResearchWorks event
https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/whats-on/researchworks-evaluating-music-therapy-designing-meaningful-and-flexible-protocol-for
Strengthening Music in Society conference report (2021)
https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-04/Strengthening_Music_in_Society_-_conference_report_April_2022.pdf
 
Introducing the De-Centre podcast on Miaaw.net https://www.miaaw.net/e/introducing-the-de-centre/
 

Sophie, Jo, and guests, discuss power sharing, community leadership, governance structures, co-creation, longitudinal evaluation, anti-oppressive working practices, and communities of practice. 
Echoes and the Unsaid 
 
EPISODE 02 | FEBRUARY 27 | 2026 
PARTICIPANTS
Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope
COMMENTARY
In this episode, Sophie and Jo talk to Jo Chard, Senior Producer for Disrupt at Guildhall School;  Divya Satwani, producer, Somatic coach and facilitator; Alan Lane, co-chair of Slung Low, a theatre company in Leeds; and Maia Mackney, Public Engagement and Evaluation Manager at Guildhall School. 
We talk about their involvement in Disrupt, an ongoing series of interventions, initiated in 2020 at Guildhall School, to explore ways in which cultural organisations collaborate with communities more equitably. 
We discuss power sharing, community leadership, governance structures, co-creation, longitudinal evaluation, anti-oppressive working practices, communities of practice and more!  Thanks go to all our podcast contributors and to Iona McTaggart, who couldn’t join us for this episode, and everyone else who has been part of Disrupt over the years. 
REFERENCES
Disrupt Toolkit: https://www.disruptfestival.org/toolkit
Slung Low https://www.slunglow.org/
Sharing power: the ethics of decision making and funding article by Maia Mackney and Jo Chard https://ncace.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NCACE-Research-Report-Collaborations.pdf
Old Fire Station Storytelling Evaluation Method: https://oldfirestation.org.uk/our-work/storytelling-evaluation-methodology/
Cards on the Table: https://www.cardsonthetable.org/
Barbican Communities and Neighbourhoods Team – Imagine Fund https://www.barbican.org.uk/imagine-fund-2024
Leytonstone Love Film: https://www.barbican.org.uk/leytonstone-loves-film-community-fund
Community Impact Collective: https://www.barbican.org.uk/community-impact-collective
Headway East: https://headwayeastlondon.org/
Jumped Up Theatre: https://jumpeduptheatre.com/
Can we talk about power? Online talk series curated by Suzanne Alleyne: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2021/event/can-we-talk-about-power
 
 

Jo Gibson and Sophie Hope begin a new series examining the history of social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
 
Echoes and the Unsaid | Episode 01
January 23 | 2026 PARTICIPANTS
Jo Gibson | Sophie Hope
 
COMMENTARYThis is the first episode in a nine-part series hosted by Jo Gibson (Research Fellow, Institute for Social Justice, York St John University) and Sophie Hope (co-lead of the De-centre for socially engaged practice and research at Guildhall School of Music and Drama). For the first episode Jo and Sophie introduce their research into social practice programmes and projects at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the 1970s to the 2020s, and give a flavour of what’s to come!
 
REFERENCESIntroducing the De-Centre podcast on Miaaw.netSign up to the De-centre for Socially Engaged Practice and Research mailing listMore about Jo Gibson’s work
More about Sophie Hope’s workGuildhall School of Music and DramaInstitute for Social Justice, York St John UniversityOur first miaaw.net podcast: Cultural Democracy in Practice