Written by:
Elly Mead
Are you part of a local network of groups and organisations working to improve your neighbourhood? Would you like to do more work together but just can’t seem to move from conversation to joint action?
We are interested in supporting 2 community-based groups or organisations to deliver a “Cross-pollination” event in their neighbourhood as a way to help activate their local network.
Cross-pollination is a design-led, creative approach which brings people and sectors together to share and identify common and complementary interests, skills and live projects and explore ways to put them together to stimulate collaborative work. Please see this blog post on a cross-pollination event that we recently delivered in Glasgow and read more about the Cross-pollination research project here.
Our Cross-pollination research team can provide:
- Training, mentoring and practical resources for you to use
- A bursary for your time (and that of participating partners) – up to £3,000
- A budget to cover the requirements for hosting the cross-pollination event (physically and/ or digitally) – up to £2,000
Successful applicants would have to run the cross-pollination event over the summer and then bring participants back together six weeks later to explore whether and how the network is working differently.
At the end of the initiative, we will also bring together representatives from participating places to share their experiences.
Important dates
- Expression of interest submission deadline: 15 July
- Selection of successful applications: by end of July
- Cross-pollination event: by end of September
- Reflection event: by end of October
- Sharing event: November
How to apply
Your expression of interest, submitted through the Google form link below, should contain:
- A brief description of your group/organisation and your network of partners
- Why you think cross-pollination could help in your area and network
- Description of the place and issues, ideas, interests that bring the network together
Please submit your expression of interest by completing this Google form by 12 noon on Friday 15 July.
Link to the Google Form in text – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczPN7oMD2vIjjdzxwWhIs-d_RvXCrYlD6GTm70wmEZIXLwYw/viewform.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this call contact katerina.alexiou@open.ac.uk
This call is organised by The Open University and The Glass-House Community Led Design as part of the AHRC-funded Cross-pollination project.