Unveiling our community bench, beautifully covered in mosaics created by Arts Network members, meant so much this World Mental Health Day — especially as we celebrated alongside other community groups. We’re so grateful to King’s for helping bring this project to life and for supporting us as we begin to create and explore an archive of our work. We’re excited for this project to become a lasting part of Arts Network’s legacy.
Kate Price (CEO, Arts Network)
16 October 2025
"Anything can be an archive": King's PhD Students collaborate with Arts Network for World Mental Health Day
Arts & Humanities PhD students at King’s worked with Arts Network and the Young Foundation to explore archives and creative projects on World Mental Health Day.
A collaborative workshop between King’s PhD students and charity, Arts Network showcased a nature weaving workshop, campfire, and the unveiling of a community bench, decorated with mosaics created by Arts Network members. The workshop was held World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2025, at Wild Cat Wilderness, a community green space in Catford, south-east London.
Arts Network provides a supportive environment for people with mental health support needs, helping participants build confidence, develop skills, and strengthen social connections. This project highlights the charity’s commitment to creativity, community engagement, and archiving its history in innovative ways.
In the weeks leading up to the workshop, King’s PhD students Emma Bradley (History), Grace Brimacombe-Rand (English), and Alexander Murray (History) led a creative archiving workshop with Arts Network members. The workshop encouraged participants to explore the network’s archives, responding with their own creations, including terracotta pot designs that traced or adapted elements from the archive.
Anything can be an archive — from literature and books to visual art or photography. Anything you consider valuable and worth preserving can be part of your archive. Curation has value on a personal level, not just an institutional one. In the workshop, we brought out the Arts Network archives, which included old artwork created by former and current members, as well as early designs and logos from when the group was still finding its feet. Participants responded to these materials through their own artwork - it became a way to be in dialogue with the archive.
Emma Bradley, PhD student, Department of History
The workshop also formed part of the Undisciplined Spaces programme, co-produced by King’s and the Young Foundation to train postgraduate researchers in community engagement and project development. Undisciplined Spaces has been funded through an AHRC Impact Acceleration Account grant, and, from 2026, it will be funded by the faculty and run through the King’s Doctoral School for Arts & Humanities. It provided students with the opportunity to work collaboratively with a community partner, applying research skills beyond their theses.
For three years, Undisciplined Spaces has offered an innovative opportunity for arts & humanities PhD researchers to collaborate with local community organisations on engagement projects that make a positive difference. Some 40 researchers have been involved across six projects, receiving specialist training in community engagement alongside a suite of transferable methodological skills. In engaging with, and learning from, diverse communities, the researchers have proven a real credit to our faculty.
Edward Stevens, Senior Impact & Knowledge Exchange Manager
As part of this project, we came together around shared research interests, as well as our own individual passions. Archiving, memory, and history emerged as a common thread that informs both the design of the workshops and the overall project. Our engagement with the Undisciplined Spaces training programme in January, which focuses on co-production and impact work, further shaped our approach. It encouraged us to reflect on how to bridge divides that can exist between academic spaces and community organisations or charities.
Grace Brimacombe-Rand, PhD student, Department of English