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Communication and Creativity: Amplifying Voices, Inspiring Change

Across Uganda, Kenya, and the UK, one challenge echoes loudly—people struggling to speak and be heard. From families to schools to communities, poor communication fuels misunderstanding and isolation. That’s where Communication and Creativity steps in.

This bold, three-year project—funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council—unites artists, academics, and communities to explore how creativity can unlock better communication and empower marginalised voices.

We work across four dynamic fronts:

• Youth Workshops: Young people in school use the arts to break down communication barriers and create powerful, issue-driven performances.
• Community Collaborations: Intergenerational groups co-create dramatic productions that reflect real lives and spark real conversations.
• Family Dining Experiments: Families reconnect over shared meals, offering rare insights into everyday communication between the generations.
• Creative Community Hubs: Local community centres in Kenya and Uganda host free arts, sports, and learning activities to fuel expression and connection and to develop skills.

Rooted in arts-based research, our mission is to build creative communication skills in communities for them to inspire their stakeholders, development agencies or local governments to rethink how they engage with communities—by listening more deeply and communicating more creatively.

Project Goals

1. Empower Communities Through Better Communication
   Help individuals and groups—especially in Uganda, Kenya, and the UK—find more effective, culturally relevant ways to communicate, reducing conflict and alienation.
2. Promote Creativity as a Tool for Social Change
   Revalue creativity in education and community life, using it to unlock expression, build confidence, and foster understanding.
3. Raise Awareness Among Development Agencies
   Encourage NGOs and development actors to recognise and address communication barriers in their work, and to integrate creative, culturally sensitive communication strategies into their programmes.
4. Develop and Showcase Artistic Talent
   Build performance and creative skills across diverse art forms, culminating in national-level showcases that bring marginalized voices to broader audiences.
5. Use Arts-Based Research to Drive Impact
   Employ creative methodologies not just for expression, but also for gathering insights and sharing findings with both communities and stakeholders.

The talented project team is made up of colleagues from a number of partner organisations working locally and alongside us at the University of Leeds:

In Uganda we work with: 

• Makerere University
• Arts Applied Uganda
• We are Walukuba Community Centre, Jinja

Along with local schools:

• Lake Site Primary School
• Walukuba East Primary School
• Masese Seed Secondary School

In Kenya we work with:

• University of Nairobi
• Equator Ensemble, Kisumu
• The Communities of Kagaga and Osiri Villages

Along with local schools:

• Oren Mixed Secondary School
• St Peter's Konim Mixed Secondary School
• St Cornelius Nyangoto Mixed Secondary School

In the UK we work with:

• University College London
• Mafwa Theatre, Leeds
• Leeds Refugee Forum
• Co-op Academy Leeds
• Communities of Lincoln Green, Leeds

For more information on our team see the Contact Us page.

If you would like to contact us please email: [email protected]

For more information see the pages for each country

Uganda

Kenya

UK