Our History

The Centre for Creative Communities (CCC) was founded in 1978 as the British American Arts Association by Jennifer Williams, an American resident in London who remains the director of CCC today. The organisation’s original purpose was the furthering and support of cultural exchanges between the UK and the US. BAAA’s activities included organising arts festivals and seminars in both countries, as well as the administration of several exchange programmes for artists working in all art forms.

In 1988, while continuing its cultural exchange work, BAAA turned its attention to the role of the arts in urban regeneration through its seven year project Arts and the Changing City. It aimed to develop an understanding of the role of the arts in urban renewal, to raise the profile of UK activity in the field via contact in the international arena, and to encourage cross-sector discussion about community development. Besides reaching a number of these targeted outcomes, Arts and the Changing City showed that the arts have a number of goals and audiences in common with other sectors. It also demonstrated that partnerships across sectors can bring added value to the work of each partner.

From that time, the organisation increasingly focused its attention upon the role of the arts in education and in community building. Cross-sector partnerships have become a trademark of the work of CCC. The partnerships involved in arts, education and community development are among the most powerful in terms of illustrating CCC’s vision. They comprise a number of diverse groupings and sectors including arts in schools, cultural institutions with education programmes, arts in other settings, such as hospitals, prisons, etc, and the training of artists and of the teachers of art.

By 1998, BAAA was working almost exclusively in the latter areas and its brief had become more international than bilateral, and so the organisation’s trading name was changed to the Centre for Creative Communities to reflect these changes. CCC now occupies a key position within several networks and serves as a broker of partnerships, linking local, regional and international policy makers and funders, both public and private.

Its current focus is on creative personal and community development anchored in learning, connectedness and trust. Through a series of research and animation projects, collectively called Common Threads, CCC collaborates with projects and communities that it sees as benefiting under-served people. It is particularly interested in new methods of governance, evaluation and training used to address contemporary complexity, uncertainty and intractable inequities.

The Centre publishes its own books and reports as well as Interchanges, a free monthly e-newsletter. It also maintains a Library & Resource Centre available to the public by appointment. Consultancies, Publications and other services are available in the Services section of this website.

CCC is supported by donations and grants from foundations, corporations and individuals. It works in partnership with government departments, funders and other organisations interested in promoting activities and policies that lead to the development of creative communities.